Partridge

City of Meridian Community Development Director Bunky Partridge will retire in December, Mayor Percy Bland said on Wednesday.

“The way it’s going right now, he’s retiring, and during this time we’re transitioning the retirement process,” Bland said.

While no permanent replacement has been named, Wiley Quinn has been acting as interim director during the transition, said Bland, who added that Partridge will remain “an employee of the city” until his retirement is official.

Partridge could not be reached for comment, but the mayor said he will be missed.

“He’s been employed from day one with me since I started in July of 2013,” the mayor said. “He has been a great part of our team and the success the city has had over the last four years.”

Partridge, a former fire chief, is a 29-year veteran of the Meridian Fire Department. He also served as the city’s public safety director and interim community development director before being named community development director in July 2015.

“We have a great staff at Community Development and I look forward to working with the business owners in Meridian and the citizens of Meridian,” Partridge said after his appointment in 2015. “I’ve done that my whole career. I’ve been in public safety for 40 years, so I am stepping out of that professional realm, but I’ll be good in this.”