La Plata County Manager Chuck Stevens announced Friday he will resign his position effective June 10.

Stevens informed county commissioners of his decision earlier in the week, he said in an interview with The Durango Herald, and emailed department heads Friday morning to announce his departure and express his thanks.

He did not give a specific reason for his resignation, saying only: “It’s time. New leadership will bring a fresh perspective.”

“Chuck has been an exemplary leader and he has taken our organization through not only a pandemic, but a setting up of a health department and now managing some challenging financial times,” Commissioner Marsha Porter-Norton said. “I appreciate his leadership and I appreciate his ability to work with our staff. I think that our community partners and staff and commissioners will very much miss his very, very quiet and careful leadership.”

Commissioners said Stevens’ resignation was not requested and that his work has been highly valued.

“He’s been instrumental in getting a lot of things accomplished here at the county,” Commissioner Matt Salka said. “I hate to see him go.”

Stevens has accepted a job as the manager of an 11,000-person town in southern Maryland, coincidentally named La Plata. The listed salary range for the position, $120,000 to $195,000, is less than his current salary. Stevens earned $238,000 in 2024.

Stevens joined the county’s information technology department in 2015 after a 25-year career in the U.S. Marine Corps, where he held various leadership positions. He was promoted to deputy county manager in 2017 and was named county manager from a field of three finalists in 2019.

Throughout his tenure, Stevens developed a reputation as a disciplined and dependable manager who is well-regarded by staff.

The county manager is one of two staff members who report directly to the Board of County Commissioners and is responsible for carrying out the board’s priorities.

Stevens, whose role often required him to work behind the scenes and out of the public eye, said the county’s accomplishments during his tenure really belong to its employees.

“They’re unbelievable public servants,” he said. “They come every single day, and they go above and beyond for our residents. They are selfless, they care, they work unbelievably hard, they get very little thanks, and then they come back the next day and do it again.”

Among the county’s accomplishments in recent years, Stevens said he’s especially proud of the organization’s role in developing the Wildfire and Watershed Protection Fund after the 416 Fire, responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, using emergency federal relief funds and constructing a weather radar system.

As civil servants face increasing criticism at the federal level, Stevens said he is concerned those effects could trickle down to local governments – though they haven’t yet in La Plata County.

Stevens thanked, in his emphatic tone, the employees he works with and the elected officials he serves.

“They’re heroes, every single one of them,” Stevens said.

The BOCC will determine how to proceed with hiring a replacement in the coming weeks.

rschafir@durangoherald.com