{"id":246832,"date":"2025-09-22T17:34:13","date_gmt":"2025-09-22T17:34:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/246832\/"},"modified":"2025-09-22T17:34:13","modified_gmt":"2025-09-22T17:34:13","slug":"ed-zuercher-returns-as-phoenix-city-manager-effective-this-november","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/246832\/","title":{"rendered":"Ed Zuercher returns as Phoenix City Manager effective this November"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=\" http:=\"\" alt=\"Photo of Phoenix\" class=\"wp-image-49901\" data-lazy- data-lazy- data-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/DFP-Phoenix-City-Hall-Building-27-1024x683.webp.webp\"\/>Ed Zuercher will assume the role on Monday, Nov. 17. (Photo: Arianna Grainey\/<strong>Digital Free Press<\/strong>)<\/p>\n<p>Staff Reports | <a href=\"https:\/\/arizonadigitalfreepress.com\/category\/news\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Community Updates<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"has-drop-cap\">Ed Zuercher has been rehired as Phoenix city manager.<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Zuercher, who retired from the role in 2021 after a 28-year career at the city of Phoenix, is serving as executive director of the <a href=\"https:\/\/azmag.gov\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Maricopa Association of Governments<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere is no better person to serve as our next city manager than Ed Zuercher, whose steady leadership will help provide the stability we need as an organization and can help us navigate the road ahead,\u201d Mayor Kate Gallego said in a prepared statement. \u201cI\u2019m looking forward to working with him, the City Council and every City employee to make our community even stronger.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Zuercher began his <a href=\"https:\/\/arizonadigitalfreepress.com\/phoenix-theatre-company-presents-let-the-good-times-roll-a-new-orleans-gumbo\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Phoenix journey<\/a> in 1993 as a management intern. Over the next three decades, he rose through the ranks, serving as public transit director, deputy city manager, and assistant city manager before his appointment as city manager in 2013.<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Zuercher rooted his leadership in a simple but powerful mantra: work smart, spend wisely, be kind.<\/p>\n<p>These principles guided his actions as he led a workforce of 14,500 employees serving more than 1.7 million residents. He took the helm in 2013, in the middle of the Great Recession with the municipality in a $37 million budget deficit. Under his leadership, the city had a $30 million budget surplus in 2021. During his tenure, Phoenix earned national recognition, including being named the \u201cHighest-Performing City in America\u201d by\u202fGoverning Magazine\u202fin 2017 and receiving Gold Certification from\u202fWhat Works Cities\u202fin 2021 for excellence in data-driven governance.<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Zuercher\u2019s leadership was especially critical during the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/COVID-19\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">COVID-19<\/a> pandemic, when Phoenix avoided layoffs and maintained essential services for residents without cutting programs.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s rare to have your dream job once in a lifetime, let alone twice and I am incredibly lucky to get that chance. I want to thank the mayor and city councilmembers for this opportunity, and I\u2019m honored to return to the city I love, the best city in America, and to work alongside the dedicated employees who make Phoenix such an extraordinary place. I\u2019m excited to get back to work,\u201d Mr. Zuercher said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Zuercher will assume the role on Monday, Nov. 17.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"340\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=\" http:=\"\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-74308\" data-lazy- data-lazy- data-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Logo.webp.webp\"\/><\/p>\n<p>                    <a href=\"#\" rel=\"nofollow\" onclick=\"window.print(); return false;\" title=\"Printer Friendly, PDF &amp; Email\"><br \/>\n                    <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=\" http:=\"\" alt=\"Print Friendly, PDF &amp; Email\" class=\"pf-button-img\" style=\"width: 16px;height: 16px;\" data-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/printfriendly-icon-md.png\"\/><br \/>\n                    <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ed Zuercher will assume the role on Monday, Nov. 17. (Photo: Arianna Grainey\/Digital Free Press) Staff Reports |&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":246833,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5131],"tags":[5229,5643,1587,1589,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-246832","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-phoenix","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-arizona","10":"tag-az","11":"tag-phoenix","12":"tag-united-states","13":"tag-united-states-of-america","14":"tag-unitedstates","15":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","16":"tag-us","17":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115249156216035573","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246832","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=246832"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246832\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/246833"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=246832"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=246832"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=246832"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}