Robert Pickels was in the midst of enjoying retirement in Oregon as he caught up on some reading, met with a few clients now and then and hit the links several times a week with his wife, Lisa.

Then he received a call from a familiar voice.

On the other end was Karen Osburn, who at the time was about to take over as Sedona’s new city manager, replacing Justin Clifton.

With her promotion it left a vacancy at deputy city manager as well as Community Development director. That was on top of the city looking for a new Parks and Recreation manager. She was seeking some assistance — albeit it for a short time — from the former Sedona city attorney.

“I feel very fortunate that Robert is willing to step into this interim assignment,” Osburn said. “Not only does he know the organization and the community and is well respected by our executive team and city staff, but he’s also one of the most talented administrators most of us have ever worked with. I’m very much looking forward to working with him again.”

Osburn’s request was that Pickels serve as a temporary deputy city attorney as the search continues to fill the posi­tion permanently. The opening garnered 112 applicants with the top four scheduled for in-person interviews on Thursday, April 8.

“With Justin leaving and Karen assuming the duties as city manager, there was a large gap created in the organization with Karen having so much responsibility in her dual role,” Pickels said. “Karen called and asked if I would consider helping out for a little bit. Had it been anyone else, I don’t know that I would have agreed readily but I have a very high opinion of Karen and her ability to lead the organization. So, it seemed like a unique opportunity to come down and help her during her transition and help the organization as a whole.”

A native of Orange County, Calif., Pickels spent 23 years in Yuma. He started in a private law practice there and even­tually became the Yuma County attorney. Then, for eight years prior to coming to Sedona, he served as Yuma County administrator, which is county equivalent to a city manager. He said he had originally planned to spend just five years in that position, with the goal of returning to practicing law. In a way, he’s again come full circle, at least for the next two months.

“One of the main priorities for me is to help with the recruitment of deputy city manager and in the meantime I’ve been asked to take on some of the responsibilities that person would fulfill within the organization,” said Pickels, who served as Sedona city attorney for five years until retiring last summer.

“All department heads have to have some reporting struc­ture in place and it’s impossible for a city manager to absorb all of those direct reports within the organization. I have such a high level of confidence in the department heads we do have that many of them function quite independently. So I don’t think that’s going to be a very labor intensive process for me.”

When interviewed for this article, Pickels had been back for less than two days. But it didn’t take long for that famil­iarity to come back.

“It’s been amazing to see the people,” he said. “To see familiar, friendly faces that, by circumstance, I have lost touch with has been great. It’s been really nice and I imagine as time progresses over the next couple of months I will have a lot of those contacts within the community. It’s nice to rekindle old friendships in that regard.”