As soon as Jerry McCarthy, a longtime Austin Utilities employee and current general manager, officially submitted his retirement letter Tuesday, the ball got rolling to find his replacement.

McCarthy has worked with the utility company for 32 years, the last 10 plus years in his current role. He will retire at the end of 2010.

“I’m old,” the soon-to-be-62-year-old joked in a phone interview. “It’s time for me to look at other opportunities.”

The Austin Utilities board is now tasked with getting a replacement in place within the next 11 months. The first step will be a meeting of the personnel committee, which consists of commissioners Tom Baudler and Jeanne Sheehan, in coming weeks. That committee will consider whether they want to hire an outside firm to assist in the hiring process.

The full board is then scheduled to meet again Feb. 9.

Baudler for one said finding a new general manager will take some time, so making progress between now and then is important.

“We should get on it right away,” he added.

Commissioners said they’d ideally want to have the new hire ready to go about two to three months before McCarthy leaves so there is plenty of time for job shadowing. The board has budgeted for up to six months of training, though commissioner Paul Johnson said with all the logistics of setting up interviews and possibly asking someone to relocate for the job, that time may not all get used.

Funds not used for training could possibly go toward hiring an outside hiring firm if the board so chooses, several commissioners said.

Ron Felten, who took over as board president Tuesday, said he’d personally prefer an internal hire to replace McCarthy, who was also hired as GM from within Austin Utilities.

But Felten said he ultimately just wants to find someone highly capable of filling McCarthy’s shoes.

“We want to just have the best candidate possible,” he said.

Felten said board members knew of McCarthy’s intention to retire for some time, but Tuesday’s official announcement was still bittersweet.

“He’s done such a good job,” Felten said.

McCarthy said he intends to use his time off to see more of his family — he has eight grandchildren he’d like to spend a lot of time with. He is also an avid golfer and plans to hit the links often in his retirement.

McCarthy said he plans on living in Austin, where he was born and raised, once he retires, though he said he could sneak away for a few winter months.

The longtime employee, who was instrumental in getting power back to Austin after last June’s tornado, said he made his way through the ranks at Austin Utilities.

“When I started 32 years ago, I was the lowest paid employee,” McCarthy said over the phone. “I’ve had a lot of different positions. It’s been an enjoyable job in a good community.”