Bridgeport Council to Hold Special Meeting Thursday to Discuss Removal of New City Manager Patrick Ford
By Jeff Toquinto on March 31, 2025
An agenda for a special meeting of Bridgeport City Council Thursday has one item listed on it - "Discuss and, if appropriate, act on the removal of the City Manager."
Mayor Andy Lang and City Clerk Hank Murray could not be reached for comment. Ford did release a statement to the press. It can be read HERE. Ford, on Tuesday April 1, released a second statement. That can found HERE.
The meeting to discuss his future comes just months after he was sworn into the office. Ford took the oath of office from Judge Daniel McCarthy on Oct. 17 inside of a packed Bridgeport City Council chambers.
When Ford took the postition, it filled the city's top administrative post that had been officially vacant since the resignation of former City Manager Brian Newton on July 31, 2023. From August 2 of 2023 until Ford took over, Police Chief Mark Rogers filled the position in an interim capacity.
Prior to his arrival in Bridgeport, Ford held the position of director of external affairs and business development at Frontier Group of Companies in the Buffalo area. The business specializes in developing industrial sites, including many old sites, for new business opportunities.
His work background was wide ranging. Ford actually worked in the city in the late 1990s as the planning director and as an associate running the Bridgeport branch of the massive Baltimore-based engineering firm Whitney, Bailey, Cox & Magnani (WBCM).
Fordhad experience as a city manager prior to Bridgeport. Although it was listed as “town manager,” Ford served in that capacity in Wardensville in West Virginia. During his time with WBCM, he also authored the original City of Bridgeport and Harrison County comprehensive plans, did revitalization plans for communities in Charleston along with work in towns and counties through West Virginia and, particularly, in North Central West Virginia. He also worked at prominent levels for the City of Pittsburgh.
