Tina Thomas resigns as city administrator

Riverside City Administrator Tina Thomas will resign her position at the end of June. Thomas made the announcement at the conclusion of Monday?s city council meeting. Thomas will take a position in the engineering firm Hart-Frederick Consultants in Tiffin.

Thomas was born in England to Jerry and Mandy Diedrich. Jerry was in the United States Air Force and as a consequence the family moved often. The family lived in England for two or three years before moving to New York, Louisiana, North Dakota and finally to Great Falls, Mont. ? what Thomas considers her hometown. She lived there from the time she entered first grade until she graduated from high school.

Thomas attended the University of Montana, where she met her husband Lyle. The two of them moved to Lyle?s hometown of Washington. Thomas transferred to the University of Iowa where she studied social work and criminology. She was a little nervous about moving to Iowa because of what her friends in Montana told her about the Hawkeye state.

?When people heard I was going to Washington, Iowa, they all said, ?You are not going to like it. They have bugs and it?s ugly,?? said Thomas. ?We got here when the crops were coming up. When I pulled into Washington, I thought, ?What are those people talking about?? It?s beautiful. I?ve always loved the planting season. I think it?s gorgeous, and I love the rolling hills here.?

Iowa?s one major drawback is its humidity, said Thomas.

?I had no idea what humidity was,? said Thomas. ?I kept asking people, ?Is it here yet?? I remember walking outside one day and it felt like there was slime all over me. Then I thought, ?Oh, this is humidity.??

As a student at the University of Iowa, Thomas suffered through a grueling schedule of 18 credit hours on top of a full-time job. When she graduated from college, she took the Law School Admissions Test (LSAT), with the hope of attending law school at Gonzaga University in Spokane, Wash.

?I took the test, and I realized it was not the route I wanted to go,? said Thomas.

Thomas said she saw herself working in criminal justice and maybe even with the Federal Bureau of Investigation. At that time, she had no plans to become a city administrator.

In September 2004, Thomas learned of the administrator opening in Riverside. She applied for the job and was accepted. It was her first job in city government, but not her first that required accounting and supervisory skills. She had 19 years of experience at Sitler Electric Supplies where she managed the company?s books and oversaw the office employees.

What struck Thomas about the city administrator position was that she had to become an expert on every topic imaginable.

?You have to know everything about everything, and if you don?t, you better learn it,? said Thomas. ?It?s a tremendous responsibility. There is no such thing as an average day. I?ve been here seven years, and someone could still walk through the door and ask me a question I?ve never heard.?

Thomas said the council and her co-workers are a fantastic resource and help her accomplish her goals.

?This current mayor, Brian McDole, is a very good, knowledgeable person,? said Thomas. ?This town has phenomenal city employees. They put up with a lot. They can hardly go to dinner without someone approaching them.?

Thomas has accepted a job at Hart-Frederick Consultants in Tiffin. She will perform administrative and financial services to the company. She will continue living in Washington and commute to Tiffin.

The council has an employee committee which will look for another city administrator. After June 30, Thomas will continue to work for the city on an hourly basis in order to complete the state audit. The council agreed to pay her $30 an hour for her time, which will be spent working on Saturdays through July and into August.

Thomas said that it was time for her to move on. City councilor Betty Kaalberg?s death in May had a profound impact on Thomas. Thomas held Kaalberg in high esteem because of the example she set for others.

?At 73, she truly lived her life,? said Thomas. ?And for the past seven years, I?ve been living my job. I felt it was time to live my life.?