Bowie City Manager to Retire; Fitzwater to Serve in Interim

BOWIE, MD — Bowie City Manager David Deutsch -- who oversaw the establishment of the city’s police department -- has announced that he will retire in June after serving in the position for 23 years.

Deutsch was hired to be City Manager in May of 1993. Since then, Bowie has become a larger, more diverse city. When Deutsch arrived in Bowie, Dick Logue was mayor. Bowie’s population was about 37,000, and the Bowie Senior Center was housed in a couple of small rooms at what is now the Kenhill Center.

During Deutsch’s tenure, Bowie saw the construction of the Bowie Town Center and the Bowie Center for the Performing Arts. The city built a state-of-the art senior center and municipal gymnasium for local residents. The city also established its own police department in 2007, after 77 percent of Bowie voters supported its creation in a 2005 ballot question. A new City Hall building opened in 2011 to house the administrative offices of the city government and the growing Bowie Police Department.

Under policies set by the City Council, fiscal responsibility, transparency, and strong residential services have been the hallmarks of Deutsch’s time in Bowie, the city says in a news release. Since 2009, Bowie has maintained a AAA bond rating from Standard and Poors.

Mayor Fred Robinson, who has been in office since 1998, said of Deutsch, “I consider him to be unquestionably the best city manager in the state. His talent, skill, work ethic, and his commitment to service have been a very strong component in Bowie’s success as a remarkable community. While we wish him well in all his future endeavors, he will be missed.”

Deutsch is a graduate of the State University of New York at Stonybrook and he earned a master’s of public administration degree from the Maxwell School of Government at Syracuse University. He began his career in local government as a teenager with a summer job in the Public Works Department of the city of Rochester, NY. He went on to positions in Windsor, CT, and served as manager of Springettsbury Township, in Pennsylvania for 13 years.

Deutsch and his wife, Jane, plan to retire to the beach and spend more time traveling and enjoying time with family and friends. He will also work part time as a consultant for an executive search firm that specializes in recruiting local government officials.

The city manager is the chief executive officer of the City of Bowie government. It is the only position in city government to be appointed by the City Council.

No timetable has been set yet for the hiring of a new city manager, but it is expected that Assistant City Manager John Fitzwater will serve as acting city manager until a replacement is named.