Lee Elliott, now in his sixth week as Linden city administrator, traces his youthful days to New Boston and Texarkana.
From there, he went to the University of Central Arkansas in Conway, Arkansas, to major in history. But it was a course in city planning that changed his future.
"My undergrad degree was in political science, but when I took my internship in city planning, I fell in love with city government. I was going to be a football coach, but that last semester I changed to city planning."
Upon graduation, he undertook a unique way of earning a living as well as gaining experience. He would fill in as the interim administrator for cities that were making leadership changes such as that of city managers.
Lee did this for seven years in Missouri, the Pacific Northwest, Arizona and the border towns of Texas and New Mexico.
"This was fun, but I was getting tired of the years. So when I decided to settle down, it was with my financee Rebecca Harris and her hometown is Texarkana. Fortunately, the Linden position has now come open."
These two events and, perhaps, others have helped give Elliott his first reputation in Linden.
"He smiles a lot," says almost everyone who meets the new administrator.