Retiring Golden city manager leaves record of achievement

Mike Bestor knew from the beginning Golden was a place where things were going to happen –; a place with potential.

So he worked hard to get his job as city manager. He studied the city’s financial reports. He read old newspaper articles. He traveled from Rifle to attend city council meetings –; where he sat in the back so the council would assume he was a resident. He did not introduce himself, so he could simply observe and listen.

When the council chose him as city manager, Bestor was thrilled. But he never thought the job would last for more than two decades.

“In the past 20 years, we’ve built the community I want to retire in,” Bestor said. “And stay.”

Bestor, 70, is doing just that.

His last day of work is July 28. Steve Glueck, the city’s community and economic development director, will step in as interim city manager until new city manager Jason Slowinski completes his contract as village manager of Lake Zurich, Ill.

“In my opinion,” said Marv Kay, mayor of Golden when Bestor was hired in December 1993, “we’ve had the best city manager in the state of Colorado for the past 20 years.”

City officials and community members point to Bestor’s integrity, vision, professionalism and ability to work with others as the foundation of Golden’s growth and success in financial and resource stability, and economic and community development.

He hired the right people, trained, managed and led them, Kay said. “All these things that make a great community were accomplished by his staff.”

“The care he has taken of the city has been outstanding,” said Bob Short, a Golden resident for 27 years who has known Bestor since 1993. “He has a willingness to help people and help the community.”

Amenities such as Fossil Trace Golf Course, the community center and biking and hiking trails –; all of which Bestor had a hand in developing –; are here to stay, Short said. “The city has flourished.”

Bestor “created an atmosphere where people feel the ability to do their job,” Golden Police Chief Bill Kilpatrick said. “It’s an atmosphere that says, ‘We can do this.’ He fostered that.”

For Bestor, one of the most rewarding parts of his Golden career was guiding the city through the 2008-2010 recession.

“Lots of jurisdictions in the U.S. were hurting,” Bestor said, but Golden remained stable.

Golden suffered some service impacts, such as not having the grass cut as often or vehicles serviced as frequently, but necessary city services were maintained. No one lost his or her job because of the recession, and city employee salaries and benefits were not reduced.

“We didn’t get raises,” Bestor said, “but we didn’t make cuts.”

Born and raised in Rochester, N.Y., Bestor graduated with a bachelor’s in management in Detroit in 1967. After witnessing an urban riot while employed with the railroad in Detroit, he became a Volunteers in Service to America member and helped people in poverty negotiate with the housing authority. He later earned a master’s in management from the University of Utah.

Bestor met his late wife, Ann, while running the county jail in Jackson County, Mo.

The two eventually moved to Rifle with the intention of going into the restaurant business. However, Bestor landed a job as Rifle’s finance manager, then assistant manager and later city manager.

The Bestors raised two children –; Nick, 26, lives in Loveland and is a physical education teacher and soccer coach. Andrea, 30, who lives in Golden, works at the Colorado Railroad Museum. Andrea has a daughter, Lilly, who is 9.

After 38 years of marriage, Ann died of cancer in 2012. Golden city councilmembers, city staff and the whole community were very supportive, Bestor said. “It was a time when you feel the value of living in a community like this.”

Now, he is in a serious relationship with a Golden resident who is also a widow. They plan to travel through the fall throughout the U.S. and Africa. Bestor also loves to read. And in his 50s, he learned taekwondo, earning a second-degree black belt.

Bestor, who plans to stay in Golden, has greatly enjoyed working with the city’s residents. Even with controversial topics, people always remained polite, he said. “They might challenge the decisions we make, but they don’t challenge our integrity.”

And it’s that appreciation for residents, and the pride he has for the community, for which he may be most remembered.

The hallmark of his career, Golden Mayor Majorie Sloan said, is “bringing people with good ideas together and creating environments in which both the ideas and people flourished.”

Residents always knew their opinions would be valued, she said. “Mike can look around with pride at the improvements that we all appreciate and visitors admire. Our downtown vitality, the Clear Creek experience, pedestrian and cyclist accessibility and transportation advances, all came to life while he was city manager.”

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