A promotion to town manager and remaining in that role for more than 14 years was not what he expected.

Nor, obviously, is the reality that on Friday he will retire as one of Cary’s most highly regarded public figures.

When he arrived, Cary had fewer than 40,000 people and was developing a reputation of a well managed place to live. As he steps down, Cary has nearly 133,000 residents and is regarded as one of the best places to live in America.

“It’s kind of hard to believe I’ve been here 20 years,” Coleman said.

Though Coleman is leaving government service, he will continue working to help governments. Later this month he will start at Cary-based software giant SAS Institute. Coleman will work with local governments using custom software “to do more sophisticated analysis of data they already collect to make better decisions.”

When Coleman came to Cary, he wanted experience in a larger town before returning to the smaller North Carolina towns he had lived and worked in.

In August 1994 he was already interviewing for the manager’s job in Sanford when his predecessor in Cary’s top spot, Jim Westbrook, announced he was taking the same position in Asheville.

Coleman was named interim manager before being permanently picked for the job in October 1994. Coleman said that the mayor at the time, Koka Booth, asked him to stay until a new manager was chosen.

“So I stuck around,” Coleman said.

‘Incredible background’

Town Council members and staff are glad he did.

Jack Smith, who has served on the council since 1989, called Coleman “the ultimate professional” and an “incredible listener.”

“What Bill does is bring us back to reality,” Smith said.

Smith also pointed to Coleman’s “incredible background” in municipal government.

Before Cary, Coleman served as Chatham County manager and manager of the towns of Pittsboro and Southern Pines.

Smith said Coleman comes to the table so well prepared he will know everything there is to know about an issue and the town’s options regarding that issue.

Smith cited annexation, redistricting and aquatics as just a handful of the issues Coleman has helped the council navigate.

“I think in the end Bill makes us do the due process so we make the fair decision,” Smith said. “Bill is determined to keep it on a process so it doesn’t become emotional.”

Harold Weinbrecht has worked with Coleman in two roles, first as an at-large council member from 1999 to 2003 and as mayor since December.

“To me he’s extremely professional and very good at what he does which makes the job of making policy that much easier,” Weinbrecht said. “He told me in 1999 his job is to manage the town and make our jobs easier. He does just that.”

Coleman is also a key advisor, Weinbrecht said.

Coleman’s counsel ranges from feedback on how to facilitate meetings with council and residents to advising council on its options to knowing all the key players regardless of the issue, Weinbrecht said.

“He knows all the history … and he can explain it to me,” Weinbrecht said.

Weinbrecht’s predecessor as mayor, Ernie McAlister, lauded him for working so hard to teach what he needed to know. “You don’t go to school to learn to be mayor but once you’re elected you kind of attend Coleman University,” McAlister said.

“You can learn so much in such a short amount of time.”

McAlister said Coleman manages without micromanaging.

“He recruited a top-notch team of great professionals to the town and then he let them do what they were supposed to do,” McAlister said.

Clear expectations

Staff members also praised Coleman’s management style.

“Bill is very clear about his expectations and he works hard to not only hire the best people he can but to be strong enough to let them do their jobs with the resources he gives them,” said Susan Moran, the town’s public information officer.

Moran, hired 11 years ago as the town’s first public information officer, said Coleman let her develop the position.

“He does that with everyone he hires,” Moran said. “He hires the expert he thinks is the best fit for Cary and then he gets out of the way to let you do what he hired you to do.”

Tim Bailey, the town’s director of engineering, agreed.

“He puts you in a position to learn a lot, to grow as a person and employee,” Bailey said.

Ben Shivar, the town’s current assistant manager and soon to be interim manager, has observed these qualities in Coleman for more than 30 years.

Shivar first met Coleman when they were graduate students in public administration at N.C. State in the 1970s. The two have been friends since.

Like Coleman, Shivar worked for much smaller local governments before coming to Cary to replace Coleman as assistant manager in 1995.

“He sets clear expectations about my particular job,” Shivar said. “He also does that throughout the organization. That gives you a great environment and framework to work in.”

New models needed

Cary’s ability to manage the mind-boggling growth it has experienced over the last generation does not seem to be a surprise to Coleman.

For nearly 40 years, Coleman said, the town’s leaders have “had a real clear vision” of what they wanted the town to be “and the community as a whole worked toward that vision.”

Over that time, leaders have emphasized planning. He pointed to Cary’s early adoption of the planned-unit development, which provides the town in one tool both control and flexibility in residential and commercial development.

In the 1980s Cary was one of the first communities in the state to seek authority from the General Assembly to charge transportation development fees. Transportation development fees — better known as impact fees for roads — allow the town to recoup part of the cost of roads from developers.

Though such approaches were novel and put the town on the cutting edge and served as the foundation for the Cary’s high quality of life, the town is going to have to find new models, Coleman said.

He cited pressures on natural resources, water and sewer infrastructure, roads, open space and land availability as issues that must be addressed comprehensively.

“What’s really critical now in the face of all these trends is what does Cary do,” Coleman said.

“It will not be continuing suburban development. The town needs to come together to develop a new vision … to maintain the quality of life and maintain Cary as a quality community.”

Coleman said that because of the community’s wealth of talent, inclduing political leadership, such challenges will probably be easier for Cary to tackle than other communities with the same issues.

‘The same person’

For all his success in helping Cary become the community it has, what Coleman treasures most about his time as manager is the staff.

He is proud not only of their professional commitment but their commitment to each other.

“We can all make each other successful or we can all make each other fail,” Coleman said. “This is a group of people that is committed to making each other successful.”

Staff members are equally as committed to him for his commitment to them.

“He’s pretty much the same person to everybody,” Shivar said.

Though Coleman is serious about his work he also wants it to be enjoyable.

“That’s very important to an organization,” Shivar said.

Along with letting employees do their jobs, Coleman also passes along the credit for the town’s successes, Shivar said.

“He never wants to take credit for things,” Shivar said. “He wants to give that to his staff. That generates a huge amount of loyalty and trust from the staff.”

Moran, who works in the office next to Coleman’s, appreciates what he offers her as a person as well as a supervisor.

“I have the pleasure of Bill popping in regularly to see what’s going on but also to say, ‘How can I make you happy today?’” Moran said. “There aren’t many people who have bosses like that.”