New Holbrook City Manager Looks Forward To Challenges And Opportunities Of The Job

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By Tammy Gray-Searles
    “I sense there is a high level of frustration in this community,” Holbrook City Manager Carlo Pilgrim remarked after his first week on the job. “My first objective is to do what I said I was going to do: listen carefully and learn. From that, I will see what needs to be done and do it.”
    Pilgrim is still getting acquainted with Holbrook, and the citizens, city staff and council with him.
    “I encourage people to come talk to me. I’ve instructed the staff that when people come and want to see me, they are sent right in,” Pilgrim said. “I’m going to be getting out and letting people have the opportunity to get to know me and I them. You can’t trust someone you don’t know.”    
    He describes his management style as straightforward, fair and just.
    “I’m hard-working, I put a lot of hours in. I’m honest, straightforward, have no hidden agenda, and I’m fair and just. Those are the qualities I’d want to see in my city manager,” Pilgrim said.
    Although he has not yet had time to study all the issues facing Holbrook and create a plan to address them, Pilgrim explained that his overall goal is to grow and develop the city in a way that will benefit its citizens.
    “I am a people person. I always put people first,” he said. “I firmly believe that the way I respond to people will have a persuasive effect in this community.”
    Pilgrim noted that another one of his objectives is to do what the people want.
    “I need to know what the people, and by people I mean the citizens, the council and the (city) staff, think,” he said. “I love brainstorming. I love sitting down with people to figure out what they need, what they want. It’s a process of evaluating ideas, and then we have a dialogue.”
    According to Pilgrim, he is prepared for what may be an uphill battle in easing frustrations and resolving ongoing conflicts.
    “People forget that I have 20 years of military experience,” he commented. “I was a division officer, a department head and a commanding officer over a lot of people, and people have conflict.”
    He also remarked, “Conflict resolution takes place every day of our lives. Wherever there are people, there is conflict, and the more experience you have as a manager and dealing with conflict, the better you are at it.”
    With 20 years of U.S. Navy experience, 17 years as a town manager, and having owned and managed several private businesses, Pilgrim noted that he is not only ready for the challenge, but is looking forward to handling it successfully.
    “I have always loved a challenge. This is a challenge I can really sink my teeth into,” he said.
    As for moving from coastal Maine to the high desert, Pilgrim said that he looks forward to experiencing another region.
    “It’s totally different, but that makes it appealing,” he said. “I think the opportunity’s here and I want to learn and grow and develop with it.”
    Pilgrim is used to moving and experiencing different parts of the country, and explained that he enjoys new places. Due to his father’s Army career, he had the opportunity to travel coast to coast, with his early childhood years spent in Alaska and much of his teen years in Virginia.
    “Wherever Dad went, we went,” he remarked.
    His own military career also sent him around the country, from Montana to Hawaii, and many states in between. One place Pilgrim never lived was on a Navy ship.
    “I never served a tour on a ship,” he explained, noting that he attended Aviation Officer Candidate (AOC) training and was assigned various land-based supervisory positions, including commanding a military entrance processing center.
    While on an assignment at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, Pilgrim met his wife of 23 years, Cathy. His wife has not yet moved to Holbrook because of her own career commitments. Pilgrim explained that Cathy is a certified teacher, who works with autistic children.
    “She’s an extremely dedicated person,” Pilgrim said, noting that Cathy did not feel it was right to leave the two children she has been teaching until her obligation is complete. “That’s why she couldn’t leave to come on the interview.”
    His wife also stayed behind to spend the rest of the summer college break with their son, who will be a sophomore this fall at Bennington College in Vermont.
    As for his own education, Pilgrim holds a Master’s in Business Administration (MBA) from Chaminade University of Honolulu. He obtained his bachelor’s degree from East Tennessee State University, an accomplishment which was strongly encouraged by his father.
    “My dad pushed me into college. At the time I regretted it, but I see the wisdom in it today,” Pilgrim said. “Ten years later I got my MBA.”
    Having spent the last 18 years near the coast of Maine as town manager of three different communities and owner of several businesses that he developed and sold, Pilgrim noted that he is ready for a change and new experiences in the high desert.
    “This is gorgeous,” he said of Northeastern Arizona. “It’s beautiful. I’m in awe. I love going to different places, and when this opportunity came up, I thought I would love living here, and everything fell into place.”