be the ones to clean it up.”
The result was Weatherford’s
crime rate fell dramatically.
In 2007, the City of Weatherford
offered Blaisdell a new challenge, the
post of assistant city manager, and he
accepted it as quietly as possible.
“I am willing to serve in whatever
[capacity] they feel like I’m needed
the most,” Blaisdell said at the time.
In April of 2008, he became
the assistant city manager and was
appointed interim city manager in
September 2008. Then, he became
the city manager on Jan. 6, 2009.
Under Blaisdell’s management,
the City of Weatherford successfully
sailed through some choppy waters
that included a water crisis, an
economic downturn. and an Animal
Shelter crisis. Weatherford weathered
them beautifully. The animal shelter
came through and was reorganized
and now boasts a euthanasia rate
of under 4 percent – down from 60
percent three years ago.
In February, Blaisdell announced
that he intends to retire on April 30,
2015.
“For the last 25 years I have had
the honor and privilege of serving
this great city,” Blaisdell said. “I take
great pride in the accomplishments
that have taken place and the goals
that have been achieved. There have
been outstanding accomplishments
that truly make Weatherford a great
place to live, work and play. I am
honored to have been associated with
this great community, citizens and
employees.”
“Jerry is a police officer by heart,
but took the role of city manager
when the city needed him to serve in
a different capacity,” Mayor Dennis
Hooks said. “He took the reins of
the community and calmed the
waters. He is a people person with a
‘can do’ attitude and a tremendous
organizer. I have always trusted him
with key decisions that impact the
city, citizens, public and employees.
His dedication to creating a better
community and his dedication to
the employees has gone above
expectations in every aspect.”
Blaisdell confirmed what Hooks
said.
“Yeah,” he said. “I’m a policeman
at heart. It’s like (Parker County
Sheriff Larry (Fowler). It was never a
job to us; it was much more than that.
The best time I ever had was when I
was a lieutenant and a captain. … I
will tell you this — one of the reasons
I came down here was because ... it
was a chance to transition, and still
be around to watch it. … You know,
the same reason I left the police
department. There is a point in time
when you look and you say, ‘OK. You
need to prepare people to run this
place.’ Then, you need to step back
and let them run it.”
The Weatherford City Council has
named Assistant City Manager Sharon
Hays as Weatherford’s next city
manager and James Hotopp will step
into the spot Hays occupied. “New
blood” is indeed taking over, just as
Blaisdell hoped.
Those are indeed big shoes to fill.
Blaisdell seems very pleased with this
development.
“I’m afraid that we will not see
the likes of Jerry Blaisdell again,”
Swancy said. “Everybody today is far
too politically correct and nobody
has the leadership skills that Jerry has.
Jerry’s leadership has been extremely
valuable through the worst and best
times of the city. His strong leadership
skills have allowed us to progress in
the direction we sought. When we
needed to ‘circle the wagons’ we
did.”
Blaisdell and his wife,
Carol, have three adult children
– two are police officers – and six
grandchildren. He plans to continue
to make Weatherford his home and
stay active in the community.
“I’ll still be around. This is still my
home,” he said.
__________________________
Update:
Since retiring as Weatherford City
Manager on April 30, Jerry Blaisdell
has been “marching to the beat of a
different drummer,” and these days
“every day is Saturday.”
“I do what I want to do,” he said.
“I still live in Weatherford and drop
in at city hall, occasionally, and say
hello to people; but [basically] I’m
just doing whatever I want to.”
“It’s been good to me,” he
said. “We [he and his wife] love
Weatherford.”
DECEMBER 2015 PA R K E R C O U N T Y T O D AY
solved, those aren’t the ones that
haunt you,” Blaisdell said. “The cases
like the Carla Walker murder, the
ones that go unsolved, those are the
ones that stay with you. Those are the
ones you can’t forget.”
He also worked with area
property owners. teaching them
to work together to keep their
neighborhoods crimefree.
That’s how Blaisdell met Kay
Granger a young business owner
who volunteered to organize a
neighborhood watch.
“I came to admire Jerry Blaisdell,”
Granger said. “He has a real gift
for community relations. He is
very hardworking and has a rare
dedication to whatever assignment he
takes on.”
In 1989, the City of Weatherford
launched a search and after
interviewing 89 applicants offered
Blaisdell the post of Weatherford’s
Police Chief.
“Weatherford is extremely lucky to
have him,” Granger said.
Blaisdell was 45. He had been
with the FWPD for 23 years and felt
like it was time for new challenges.
He accepted the position.
One might assume that after
tackling the task of cleaning up Fort
Worth’s gangster-infested Northside,
Blaisdell would be ready to coast.
But Blaisdell was ready for new
challenges.
“When I came to Weatherford,
I knew that it was an area that was
about to experience significant
growth,” Blaisdell said. “One of the
areas was the South Main Street
problems.”
Blaisdell experimented putting
officers on first golf carts then
bicycles.
“Finally, we tried a horse patrol,”
Blaisdell said. “That worked well. The
kids liked the horses and the crime
rate plummeted by 70 percent.”
Across the nation, gangs were
making a resurgence. To an
extent, the trend made its way to
Weatherford. Blaisdell had a unique
way of approaching aspiring gang
behavior.
“Like graffiti,” Blaisdell said.
“Whenever we would find graffiti, we
would clean it off within 24 hours. If
we caught someone doing it, they’d
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