Tony Caudle

Wilmington City Manager Tony Caudle plans to retire next year, according to an announcement.

Caudle let city employees know Monday that he intends to retire on May 30, 2025.

During his 44-year career in government, Caudle came to Wilmington in 2008 as deputy city manager and was named city manager in 2021, according to a news release. 

Mayor Bill Saffo commended Caudle for his service, stating in the release, “Tony Caudle has been instrumental in Wilmington’s downtown redevelopment, emergency preparedness and recovery, and achieving the ambitious goals of our city council. He has consistently demonstrated that by working together we can achieve great things for our community. We thank him for his tremendous career not only for Wilmington but as a manager in the state of North Carolina for many different communities that are better off today because of his service.”

In his message to employees, Caudle wrote, "Looking back over the past four years, we have faithfully delivered core services to this community, improving quality of life and public safety, and making Wilmington one of the most enviable places to call home on the eastern seaboard. We implemented a new Five-Year Strategic Plan, Five-Year Capital Improvement Plan, multi-year departmental business plans, and broke ground and cut ribbons on numerous public facilities and amenities."

Prior to Wilmington, Caudle was the manager for the communities of Black Mountain, Wrightsville Beach and Topsail Beach and for Woodruff, South Carolina. He began his career in Asheville as a city planner.

"In the coming weeks, City Council will determine a process to select a new city manager," the release stated.