Saladoans had a chance to meet Don Ferguson, the new city administrator at the end of his first day on the job May 1 and to reacquaint themselves with Rick Ashe, the new Chief of Police in Salado, during a reception at the Salado Civic Center attended by more than 50 people.

Ferguson comes to Salado from Wimberley, where he served as the City Administrator for the past 10 years, leaving there in a February agreement with the Wimberley city council.

As the city administrator in Wimberley, Ferguson coordinated the design and development of the $3 million Blue Hole Regional Park project that was awarded the 2012 Municipal Excellence Award for Public Works for cities under 25,000 population by the Texas Municipal League (TML).

According to his resume, he did the following while serving as city administrator in Wimberley:

• Facilitated the five-year capital improvement program for the street improvements in Wimberley.

• Secured $2.5 million in State and local grand funds for the development of the 126-acre Blue Hole Regional Park in Wimberley.

• Developed budget strategies that resulted in a 60 percent growth in the City of Wimberley’s fund balance.

Ferguson served as city administrator in Rollingwood and was assistant city manager in New Braunfels.

He told the audience that he is moving to Salado. He thanked Mayor Skip Blancett for the welcome and told the audience “you are my boss. I am here to serve you.”

Ashe was sworn into office as the new Chief of Police by interim chief Josh Tulloch. Ashe is no stranger to Salado, having lived here for two decades.

He and wife Shannon and baby daughter Addie (now a freshman at college) walked the streets of Salado in support of incorporation in 2000. He then ran successfully to be elected to the first Board of Aldermen for the newly-formed Village of Salado.

He worked to establish the Police Department in Salado. He was then elected the second Mayor of Salado, facing no opposition in either of his terms.

Ashe has 36 years experience as a police officer, first in the U.S. Army, where he served in Germany 1981-1984.

He was a police officer with the City of Woodway 1987-1990 serving as a patrol officer.

Since 1990, he has been employed by the Temple Police Department. Ashe retired from the Temple PD in April. He began his new duties as the Chief of Police in Salado on May 1.

He was an evening shift patrol officer working with the Citizens on Patrol unit and later an investigator with the Special Investigations Unit until 1998 where he was promoted to police sergeant.

In 1998-2004, he was supervisor for both day and night patrol teams, supervisor for support services and supervisor for the training unit at the Temple police department.

Ashe was promoted to lieutenant in 2004. He has served as watch commander for both day and night shift and watch commander for specialized units such as the COPS program and the Investigations Unit.

Ashe was named the Outstanding Peace Officer in Bell County in 1996. He was also named the Oustanding Police Officer in Temple in 1996. He was named a Master Peace Officer in 2005 and has numerous awards and commendations from the Temple Police Department.

Ashe was elected the President of the Texas Municipal Police Association in 1998.

A graduate of Moon Valley High School in Arizona, he earned advanced training in Military Police from the U.S. Army in 1981. He graduated with an Associates of Arts degree in broadcast communications from ITT Tech in 1985.

He graduated from basic Police Academy in 1987 and Leadership Command College from the state of Texas in 2001. He has 1,200 hours of continuing training.