After a brief stint in the private sector, David Wilkinson decided to return to municipal government. He was hired as the new Syracuse town manager this past summer and has had the position for about five months.

By Lauren Zeugner
Staff Writer

Syracuse — Syracuse Town Manager David Wilkinson is happy to be back working in municipal government after a brief stint in the private sector. Wilkinson was hired this past summer and started his new job in Syracuse Aug. 2.

Coming back to working in municipal government Wilkinson said, “It was a lot of remembering … This is a lot more broad spectrum managing a community.” One thing Wilkinson was surprised by is the number of projects underway in Syracuse.

He said he spent a good amount of time “just getting an overall feel for each project,” how it was funded, how much had been completed so far.

Growing up, Wilkinson always wanted to be a police officer. So after graduating from high school and college, he got his first hire on the South Whitley Police Department at age 22. He said he was always attracted to police work because he wanted to help people. “It can be an exciting job, a scary job,” he said.

In 2009 he decided to go back to school to finish his degree in business. When he was promoted to police chief, he found he liked the management side. When he completed his masters in business he approached the South Whitley Town Council about a town manager’s position. “We were all entering new territory. It was a learning curve for everybody,” he said. He served as both police chief and town manager for about three years.

Looking for a change, he went into the private sector for about five years, but left due to a lack of opportunity to move upward in the company where he was working.

As town manager, Wilkinson said he enjoys the problem solving aspect of the job. “My job is to facilitate making the other employees jobs easier,” he explained. “There’s a very good crew working for the town. They’re good at what they do. I was very impressed.”

When he isn’t running the day to day operations for the town of Syracuse, Wilkinson enjoys spending time with his wife, Dawn. The couple are very involved in their church.

The Wilkinsons have three grown children, Trevor, Alec and Emilie, and four grandsons with their first granddaughter expected in March. The couple also spend a lot of time with Bruno, their 5-year-old grandson, who lives close by.