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ELGIN — After 23 years in public service, first as a county commissioner and currently as Elgin city recorder and administrator, Joe Garlitz has his eyes on retirement and a chance to pursue personal and family interests.
Garlitz will retire as city recorder-administrator Jan. 13. A retirement celebration is planned for 5 to 7 p.m. Jan. 9 at St. Mary's Catholic Church, corner of 12th and Division streets in Elgin. Refreshments will be served.
Garlitz served as Union County commissioner from 1978 to 1982 and began his career as city recorder/administrator in 1989, after a short-term appointment to the mayor's office following Mayor Janice Durban's resignation. He was, in fact, the fifth recorder/administrator to serve Elgin in a turbulent 13-month period.
“There was a lot of instability amidst all this stuff. Things were really a mess,” recalled Garlitz. “Once the election was settled and I started working, there was a newly elected city council, and things became relatively stable again. Lloyd Spikes was the mayor.”
The two most pressing issues facing the city when Garlitz stepped into his new job included updating the sewer system to comply with DEQ standards and improving the city streets.
“The sewer system became a $1.2 million project. We had to hire design engineers and contractors, and ultimately paid for it with bonds,” said Garlitz.
As for the city streets, “Eighty percent of the streets were gravel, dust and mud,” said Garlitz.
“Chip-sealing was the best solution. It cost $3.50 a foot, but it lasted a long time. The city paid 20 percent of the costs and the residents paid 80 percent. We made serious progress on improving the streets by chip-sealing.”
Garlitz worked behind the scenes on the development of many of the city’s visions, including the Clarence Witty park and the HunNaha RV Park.
After the city received ownership of the downtown park property from the county, city members were eager to adorn it with a water fountain.
"We took the 1920s-'30s vintage water fountain from its former location on old Highway 82 and moved it to the park,” said Garlitz. “The city also tried to purchase the adjacent properties to enlarge the park but was unsuccessful. There’s a (more successful) effort being made now by the Chamber to buy the adjoining land.”
The Clarence Whitty park along with the completion of Highway 204 and the truck route in November 2006 represented great strides toward beautifying and developing the downtown streets of the Elgin business district.
The HunNaha Park development has always been a special interest to Garlitz. In 1950, it fell into disuse, he said. The cottonwood trees had been cut down and the old bandstand was razed.
“It was just a pasture then, so the Lions and chamber members worked to clean it into a useable park,” said Garlitz. “Boise Cascade brought in fill, but no top soil. So from 1970 to ’90, it just set out there with nothing happening.”
Garlitz said the city was considering a raft launch and access roads when the idea of making it into an overnight RV park came to mind.
“The U.S. Forestry Department designed the park and laid out 12 sites,” said Garlitz. “We realized this dream at its grand opening in 2005.”
Other city projects that came to fruition included the relocation and expansion of the city library and the celebration of the Elgin Launch! excursion train, both in 2006. The sale of the last parcel of the industrial park for sustainable businesses in 2007 closed another project file for Garlitz. Also, the building of the new Emergency Services Building in 2007 was made possible with the donation of the city’s $70,000 reserve fund.
“There’s no way I can say thank you enough to the EMTs here. They don’t get called unless something nasty has happened,” said Garlitz. “No one does more than they do for this city.”
Garlitz said that many of these success stories began as visions of a local think-tank group called Elgin 2010, the mother organization of the modern-day Elgin EDGE. Elgin 2010 began in the 1990s and Garlitz was among its citizen members.
The most recent of Elgin’s success stories involved the preservation of the Elgin Clinic and the formation of the health district.
“All the credit for this goes to (Mayor) Carmen Gentry,” says Garlitz. “She did a terrific job.”
Garlitz admits he’s really an introverted person whose job is all about “technical and legal stuff.” He prefers to stand unnoticed in a crowd at ribbon cuttings and shies away from the camera.
“This job wasn’t anything I intended to do (this long). But I thought if I’m going to assume this responsibility, then I’m going to perform it for the good of the general public,” he said.
To his successor he has some well-earned advice.
“Don’t take on any more than you can carry. Say no, because this job will take on all the time you’re willing to give it and beg for more.”
Though he’d still like to see some future projects become realities like completing the street improvements, building a commercial depot for the train passengers and building public restrooms at the park downtown, Garlitz realizes it’s time to let someone else develop these dreams.
“I’m 65 years old. It’s past time to look for someone else to pick it up,” he said. “It’s just time.”
Garlitz said he will officially end his 23-year career in public service “when I hand in my last minute notes to the city council on Jan. 13.’’
For Garlitz and his wife, Irene, who teaches second grade at Stella Mayfield, his retirement will mean more time to spend with their grandchildren. He looks forward to living the life of “an average Joe” now — eager to spend more time at his hobbies of photography and astronomy. He wants to rebuild his telescope and enjoy the pleasure of peering into a world that needs no improvement.
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