Outgoing council general manager David Evans is proud of his legacy

The outgoing general manager will work his last day on Friday, June 30, and looks forward to taking a step back for a little while and spending extra time with his wife, Jane.

He is not ready to retire just yet though, and while nothing is set in stone he plans on working in advisory, coaching and mentoring roles at a local government level.

Mr Evans first made it clear he would not be seeking re-appointment as general manager at the end of his contract at a council meeting on February 28.

As general manager he has taken Maitland through a period of enormous growth.

The city had a population of 50,000 people when he took on the role in 1998, and the council's budget was $38.2 million.

Now, Maitland's population has almost doubled to 94,000 and council's budget has grown to $172 million.

Mr Evans said he has loved his time as general manager and could do it forever, although that would be a bit unrealistic.

"I feel very satisfied that I will leave a good legacy in terms of my time in the job," he said.

"One of the reasons I've stayed for the last few years is to complete this [new council administration building] project, this fantastic community facility.

"It's not just about offices for the council staff, it's about the refurbishment of the Town Hall and making this truly a community asset, for use by the community."

Mr Evans said leaving is bittersweet.

"I have mixed feelings. I feel that I can walk out proud of what I've achieved with the team," he said.

"I'm sad to walk away from the people, that goes without saying. You can't be in a job for this length of time and not form strong connections through work.

"Realistically Jane, my wife, and I have a lot of living to do. COVID, like for everybody, has stolen a couple of years of travel from us so moving forward the focus will be catching up on some of that and doing things we love to do."

In his free time, which he expects to have a lot more of now, Mr Evans is looking forward to travelling in Australia and overseas, soaking up more live entertainment, dining out more often and getting to the beach for some paddle-boarding.

He also looks forward to spending more time with his children Tom and Tori, without having work in the back of his mind.

In other news:

Mr Evans first started working at council as a town planning trainee in 1973.

After seeing a job advertisement in The Mercury, he headed to Town Hall and asked to speak to the city planner about the role, put in an application and got the job.

During his first 25 years at council Mr Evans worked as a town planner, was city planner for 10 years, spent 22 months designing a new organisational structure for council and had a stint as acting general manager.

When Mr Evans landed the top job it was his third time applying for the role.

It's been rewarding, he said, seeing work from his town planning days come to fruition as general manager while the city undergoes massive growth.

"From a career point of view that is a bit unique, having done a lot of the foundation strategic planning in my role as city planner and then becoming general manager," he said.

"I'm still at heart an old town planner," he said

Mr Evans said he is thankful to the community and the council it elects, which has allowed him to do his job in a way he feels has been in the best interest of the city.

"I'm optimistic and I wish the council, my successor and the community all the very best in terms of what their future will look like," he said.

Council's new general manager Jeff Smith will start on Monday, July 3.