MOHAVE COUNTY – Former Lake Havasu City Manager Charlie Cassens intends to run for Mohave County Supervisor in the 2020 elections cycle. After retiring at the end of 2017 Cassens says he wants to offer the citizens what he learned in four decades of public service, a career that included work as an engineer, public information officer, Intergovernmental Affairs coordinator and city manager.
“Running for a seat at the county level seems like a good way to give back to the community and use what I know about local government, how it works and how to make it better,” Cassens said. He noted that he helped guide Lake Havasu City through its massive water and wastewater system upgrade and the challenge of the recession.
“There were a lot of really tough decisions that had to be made at that time. Reducing the size of government means people and families and there are some adverse impacts,” Cassens said. He said he and his management team essentially redesigned city government and used technology to maximize potential service delivery while eliminating 110 positions.
Cassens has not begun circulating nominating petitions but he has been building a campaign team in an attempt to transition from management to elected service.
“I have worked for and with countless elected officials. And it was always a requirement and made good sense to stay out of politics. So, yes, it’s a little strange at this point because when thinking about an election, my brain always said ‘stay out of it, stay out of it, stay out of it,'” he said. “Now I’m committing to it and I’m going to be in it to win it, so to speak.”
Cassens emphasized he is running for himself and offering voters a choice and that his campaign is not motivated to end the run of District 3 incumbent Buster Johnson.
“If Buster gets re-elected, more power to him. That’s fine. I’ll go back to being retired and I’ll go fishing,” Cassens said. “I am not foaming at the mouth over this (election).”
