A post over at The Decatur Minute reporting on the retiring of two COD firefighters who have been with the city for 21 and 36 years, respectively, reminded me of another way that we can measure Decatur’s success: employee tenure.

If you’ve participated in Decatur 101 or just like to hang around city hall on weekdays for the “free A/C”, you don’t need me to tell you that there is a seemingly endless line of people working for the city that have been around 10+ years, many up and beyond the 30 year mark.

Many residents know the most public Decatur “lifers”, like Peggy Merriss, Lyn Menne, Linda Harris, Hugh Saxon, Cheryl Burnette, and David Junger, but I swear to you that they are just the tip of the iceberg!  There are hundreds, maybe even thousands of city employees, from police to fire to public works to city staff, who came to work for the city and never left.

Assuming that Peggy isn’t making everyone sign some kind of secret, unbreakable blood-pact, this is a truly extraordinary symptom of a well-functioning city government. So cheers to retiring firefighters Roosevelt Strong and Larry Pettit, and all of our other city employees old and new.  We truly appreciate all your hard work and dedication to our fair city!