Education: graduate, William Henry Harrison High School and Wabash College; graduate, the International Cemetery, Cremation, and Funeral Association University, 2013
Resume: Superintendent of Evansville City Cemeteries (2008-24); town manager, Newburgh, Indiana (2024-present)
Family: Wife Liesl Disch; rescue dogs Walter, Honey, and Lucie Mae; and rescue cat Hilly Kitty
Chris Cooke says his appointment this year as Newburgh, Indiana’s town manager was a welcome opportunity and a natural career progression.
Involved in public affairs for several years in Evansville – both as a neighborhood leader and superintendent of the city’s cemetery system – Cooke says he got crash courses in communications and how local government works.
Along the way, he’s learned the importance of treating people well. His background also taught him that little things matter.
“Make sure you do the little things consistently and effectively to where it becomes second nature in both yourself and your team,” he says. “It makes it a lot easier to do the big-picture projects.”
How would you describe your role as Newburgh’s town manager?
I’m hired by the town council and report to the five members. Everybody wants to call you a mayor, but you’re a manager. I can’t sign contracts; I take all of those to the council. I answer the day-to-day concerns of the residents, and I’m also in charge of the sewer utility. Our sewer footprint goes well outside the town limits. So, I was thankful to have a background in the stormwater projects on the Southeast Side of Evansville as a neighborhood president. That really shortened the learning curve. But I answer all the phone calls and emails that people send. It could be anything from a parking issue to a trash pickup issue. Right now, we’re working with a parks master plan, trying to get the playground (at Lou Dennis Park) redone. … At the end of the day, this job’s about listening and being a good communicator. That’s one of the things I feel like I do well, in addition to treating everybody with consistency and fairness, regardless of what side of town they live on.
What are some of your strategies to continue to develop and grow Newburgh?
We’re doing a parking study, trying to figure out how many spaces there are in town. As you talk about planning for the future, you’ve got to have data like that available. We’ve got a wonderful trail system here that we need to expand upon … and small businesses are the backbone of what we do here. We need to do things that help promote a system of growth for both the town folk and the business owners. Downtowns are challenged everywhere right now. And when you have all the growth that you see out in Ohio Township, and you have a few empty storefronts in the Downtown area here in Newburgh, it can give you a moment of pause. So, what we’re trying to do is come up with some master plan-type initiatives that help promote the business community here and also provide quality of life improvements for the residents.
How might the regional Ohio River Vision project impact Newburgh?
We are a river town, and if there’s a regional focus to maximize that river opportunity, we need to be a part of the discussion. In my role, what I’m going to ensure is we have a seat at that table, and we communicate with the residents and our elected officials to ensure that the vision for Newburgh that moves forward is a vision from Newburgh. We’re definitely going to have a discussion (about the riverfront). We’ve got tremendous opportunities with our existing trails. The Old Lock and Dam Park definitely needs a refresh. … The key to starting these discussions is the parking study that we’re doing that’ll have data in early 2025. That kind of unlocks the door to see what these opportunities potentially could look like as we continue to move forward.
