Deputy City Manager worked his way up city ranks over 23 years
By Mike McCombs
The Island News
Deputy City Manager Reece Bertholf has been hired as the City Manager for New Hope, Minn., a suburb of Minneapolis. He has not yet set a departure date, but Bertholf is slated to begin his job in New Hope on June 12.
“I just had the opportunity to land in an amazing community with some really phenomenal people in the City of New Hope,” Bertholf said, “and the time was right for me to make the move.”
Bertholf found out Thursday, May 4, that he was the New Hope committee’s top choice. They negotiated a contract agreement, and the committee ratified the contract unanimously, 5-0, on Monday night.
He has been deputy city manager of Beaufort since August 2021. Beginning in January 2020, he held the dual positions of both assistant city manager and fire chief.
“We are excited for Reece and his family for this opportunity,” City of Beaufort Mayor Stephen Murray said. “We are a better organization because of his service and wish him well in his new position.”
In his 23 years with the City of Beaufort, Bertholf literally worked his way up from the bottom. A native of Minnesota, he began his career in 2000 in Beaufort as a volunteer firefighter with the Beaufort/Port Royal Fire Department, after serving four years in the Marine Corps. He was promoted throughout his tenure at the Fire Department, and became chief in 2015.
“In the Spring of 2000, I literally showed up as a young Marine at the fire station down there at 135 Ribaut Road and agreed to volunteer at the fire department. And little did I know how that would change my life,” Bertholf said. “I didn’t have an education. I didn’t have a job. I was a working man in the Marine Corps. I was a blue collar, common engineer. And that organization took me in and showed me the way to a career. A month before 9/11, … I started my work with the (Beaufort/Port Royal) Fire Department. I got out of the Marine Corps on Friday Aug. 10, and I started work on a Monday, Aug. 13, at the City of Beaufort Fire Department. And life happens.”
While working full time, Bertholf earned a Bachelor’s degree from the University of South Carolina Beaufort and an MBA from The Citadel.
“I decided to go to school, and the City supported me to do that. I was able to get a world class education right here from Beaufort and Charleston, culminating in some time with the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard most recently, last year. And all of that has been supported by my employer her at the City of Beaufort, and I’m forever grateful for that,” Bertholf said. “But the biggest ting I wanted to say was that it’s been all about the people. It’s been about the citizens I’ve interacted with, it’s been about the people I’ve worked along side, it’s been the teams I’ve been fortunate enough to lead that really set me up to have a remarkable career with the City of Beaufort.”
City Manager Scott Marshall said the search for a new deputy city manager is pending an evaluation of staffing needs and a determination of the skill sets that will be required of the successful candidate for the position.
“Reece’s departure after 20 plus years with the City leaves a big hole to fill,” Marshall said. “I’m grateful to have had him here in my first few months, but he is more than ready and deserving of the opportunity that awaits him in Minnesota. He will be a very effective city manager.”
Mike McCombs is the Editor of The Island News and can be reached at TheIslandNews@gmail.com.
