HENDERSON, KY, December 22, 2022– Heath Cox, a veteran of the Henderson Police Department before his retirement earlier this year, will return to the City of Henderson to fill the re-established position of assistant city manager.
The decision to hire Cox was finalized on Thursday, Dec. 22, during a special meeting of the Board of Commissioners.
Since March he has been working in human resources for Deaconess Health System.
“Heath Cox brings an overall understanding of the community needs that will benefit the continuity of the operation of city government,” said City Manager William L. “Buzzy” Newman. “As police chief he dedicated his time to building a command staff, implementing new policies for the department and upgrading equipment and vehicles. Community involvement has been key to his success.”
The position of assistant city manager has not been filled since Newman himself held it for nine years from 2008 to 2017.
“We have so much going on right now, far too much to expect one person to be able to handle,” said Mayor-elect Brad Staton. “We’ve broken ground on a new interstate route, new businesses and expansions, a new multi-million-dollar sports complex, and so much more.
“We have a number of projects on the cusp of kicking off in the areas of expanding our housing inventory, attracting significant new tourism-related projects, a very structured Inner City Improvement Plan, among many others,” Staton added. “Once you add all this together and couple it with day-to-day administrative duties and the need for succession planning, it just makes sense for us to add back the assistant city manager position at this time.”
He said Cox is a good fit for filling the position.
“Heath Cox has a strong track record of serving the city and advancing up through the ranks. He’s bright, capable, well-spoken, and I believe he will make a wonderful new addition to our City of Henderson team,” Staton said. “His experience with effectively managing both hazardous and non-hazardous employees is a major plus as he heads into this new management role.”
Born in Madisonville, Cox has lived in Henderson since about age 8 and graduated in 1998 from Henderson County High School.
In his 20 years with HPD, Cox worked on patrol, investigations and as a school resource officer before rising up the ranks with his broad range of experience to become police chief for the department.
Cox’s community involvement has included the Henderson Leadership Initiative program, the Police Foundation, NAACP, Henderson-Henderson County Human Rights Commission and organizing relief efforts following the December 2021 tornadoes in Western Kentucky. All of those things, Cox said, underscore the importance of building relationships and maintaining them.
“I’m grateful for the opportunity to return to the city of Henderson and to serve the citizens of Henderson again,” Cox said about his new position. “This is a different role than my previous one with the city, but I’ll carry the same mindset to work each day.
“We will continue to look for ways to improve the delivery of services and examine new ways to meet the future needs of our citizens,” he added. “Our current city leadership has done so much to ensure our city has a bright future for many years to come and I’m looking forward to the opportunity to get to work with them again.”
Cox said that he has always been the beneficiary of a strong team.
“I don’t think anyone really achieves anything alone without others to invest in them,” he said. “I have had multiple supervisors and officers take me under their wing and teach me how to do the job well. Those relationships continue through this day.”
City Manager Newman said the appointment of Cox is a great choice made from a strong field of candidates.
“The City was very fortunate to have received several local applicants who were interested in the assistant city manager position,” he said. “Narrowing down the candidates to one individual was very difficult because each person had specific strengths they would have brought to this position.”
Cox will join the administration team at the City of Henderson on Jan. 9.
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