Greg Beaner, Mayor, City of Garretson
It has been a while since I’ve written an editorial. As I am sure everyone has noticed the Main Avenue portion of the street project has been completed. I have appreciated all of the hard work from the city staff, engineers and construction crews to get this project done. Even with finishing this part of the project there is still more to go, but it is requiring less and less of our attention. With the street project being completed we have been able to turn our focus to the city staffing needs.
The city council had budgeted to hire additional staff members at the start of the 2020 budget year. When COVID started we decided that it would be best to step back and wait to see what happened. One of our city employees, Craig Nussbaum, will be retiring in about a year. He has done a great job for the city and has seen a lot of changes in his position. Craig’s job has grown into being a manager of everything in the city. It is amazing that he can keep up with everything sometimes. There are some concerns with having someone in charge of everything, it’s like having all of your eggs in one basket and COVID really brought this to light. If Craig were to ever get sick or hurt we would be in serious trouble and there wouldn’t be anyone to replace him as his job is so unique. After discussion with the council it was decided to split Craig’s position into 2 spots: one person for water, sewer and streets and one to be in charge of natural gas, parks and buildings. Both of these positions are managerial positions so each person can focus on their specialty.
The first 2 new people that I would like to talk about are the new managers that have been hired. Jordan Doane is a Garretson resident and has accepted the position of natural gas, parks and buildings supervisor. Jordan had worked for the state and possesses several skills that we were looking for. He has heavy equipment operation and GIS experience. GIS is the computerized mapping that is standard for all municipality infrastructure. Ryan Nussbaum is the second person that we hired. He has the same last name as Craig because he is Craig’s son. To put a stop to any concerns, Craig was not involved in the interviewing or hiring of Ryan. It was Anna Uhl and myself that made the decision. Ryan is the new water, sewer and streets supervisor. He has all of his certifications and worked for the City of Valley Springs. Both of these gentlemen have done a great job so far, and we are looking forward to the future.
The next new person that I would like to talk about is Jess Fueston. Jess has accepted a part-time position and will be in charge of the utility billing. She will be helping Anna with the general office duties and updating our human resources processes. When Anna is out of the office Jess will also be filling in to help us maintain regular business hours. It’s hard to do that with only one person. If you aren’t familiar with the city hall building, it was a bank at one point in the building’s life. All of the city records are kept in that safe. Every important document including council meeting minutes have been stored in that safe since city hall has been there. Anna and Jess are in the process of scanning and downloading every document in the safe so it can be saved properly and be available online. US Legal is a company that has also been tasked by the city for a big job too. They are in the process of organizing and uploading all of the city ordinances and resolutions. When this is complete everything will be available online to staff and citizens. COVID has also brought to light the inadequacy of city hall’s computer system. It is currently comparable to a household system. The problem comes when staff needs to work from home or we are trying to have online meetings. Anna has hired a computer specialist to upgrade everything to a commercial system.
The last 2 people that I would like to introduce are JR Hofer and Bill Pearson. JR has been gracious enough to accept the position of building inspector. The building inspector position is an appointed position and was confirmed by the city council, with JR’s wife and council member Richelle Hofer abstaining from that vote. JR will be the lead building inspector. Bill was appointed to the position of assistant building inspector. Bill is working in several communities as a building inspector, but he would like to retire. Anna and I met with Bill to review his process, and we both felt he would be a good fit. Bill is working in a consulting status and helping us with record keeping, permit issuing and follow-up on construction completion. I appreciate JR’s attention to detail and he has done a great job. It has been a serious undertaking for him to develop a new building inspector program. To be clear about what a building inspector does: they protect the city and citizens from problems, confirm that all construction is up to code, and follow up on variances and city zoning to make sure all rules are followed. It’s an important job. Speaking for myself as mayor, I’m tired of being in a reactionary position. For example, something is built and there is a problem. Then the city staff, city council, and I need to figure out how to solve that problem. It has been much easier to have a building inspector who watches out for the interests of our community and prevents problems before they even start.
Thank you so much for your patience with the projects that have been going on. I feel that it was worth the wait to have it done right. Please feel free to contact me at or your local council members if you have any questions. Thank you and have a great Thanksgiving.
