Steamboat Pilot & Today

Steamboat Springs — It’s wonderful to hear that Steamboat Springs City Manager Jon Roberts continues to make significant strides in his recovery from serious injuries suffered in a ski accident earlier this year. If his doctors are correct, Roberts could make a full recovery as soon as July.

If and when Roberts returns to his full-time role as the city’s top executive, we’ll join the community in welcoming him with open arms. But until that time, we’d like to give special recognition to Wendy DuBord, Steamboat’s veteran deputy city manager who has risen to the challenge of serving in an interim manager capacity time and again throughout the years.

DuBord undoubtedly doesn’t want the recognition; it’s just not her style. And it’s that unassuming, steadfast leadership that has made DuBord such an indispensable fixture in City Hall since the mid-’90s.

She was hired by the city in 1993. She was named deputy city manager in 1998, the same year Paul Hughes was hired as city manager. DuBord’s first stint as interim city manager came in 2006, after Hughes and a previous City Council parted ways. She served in an interim capacity for seven months in 2006 before Alan Lanning was hired.

Lanning’s tenure was short-lived, and he reached a severance agreement with the city in July 2008. DuBord again stepped into the interim city manager role, leading City Hall until Roberts was hired in January 2009. But even Roberts’ hiring hasn’t kept DuBord from assuming the city’s top job. She served in an interim capacity after Roberts was injured in a skydiving accident in May 2009, and she has again taken on that responsibility in the wake of Roberts’ skiing accident.

The city never seems to skip a beat when DuBord is forced into the acting city manager role. That’s a credit to her professionalism and dedication to her community. So although we’re looking forward to Roberts’ return to the helm, we’ll continue to rest easy knowing that his job is in DuBord’s capable hands.