Longest-Tenured Employee In Hugo's History Set To Retire
Creager Has Served As City Clerk For 31 Years
HUGO - After 31 years working for the city of Hugo, City Clerk Mary Ann Creager, the longest tenured employee in the city's history, is set to retire at the end of this month.
"I've done a lot of laughing here, and I've had a lot of fun, but it's the right time," Creager said. "I never thought I'd last this long."
Submitted Photo
Creager, who said she is the First Hugo City Hall employee to work for the city all the way until retirement, has watched the city undergo a lot of changes during her three-plus decades at City Hall, but said that from her perspective the city's growth has been so gradual it was almost imperceptible.
"It's gotten huge compared to what it was, but these things just evolve. They're so gradual.it's not like it happens overnight."
Former city deputy clerk Carole LaBelle, who worked with Creager for fifteen years, said that she has innumerable fond memories from her years working kneeto-knee with the city clerk inside the cramped quarters of the old City Hall, now demolished.
"During the years when there were only two of us, I could always count on Mary Ann to disappear into the bathroom whenever a challenging resident would pay us a visit," she joked.
"So many good memories to refl ect on . like when we had buckets all over the floor because the roof was leaking."
Frequent visitors to city hall in those days may recall that the smell of popcorn was the city clerk's signature scent.
"She can eat popcorn like nobody I've ever seen before!" LaBelle insisted.
Joking aside, she added that "after fifteen years together, lots of good times and some not so good days, I wouldn't have traded them for anything."
Eileen Ottney, who now works with Creager, said that "my biggest memory of Mary Ann would have to be her breaking out in song to everything . She's a fun but very sweet and honest lady."
Creager's job hasn't been all fun and excitement though - "I've fallen asleep at city council meetings, and I'm now the proud owner of a sleep apnea machine," she said with a laugh.
Indeed, in 31 years, Creager has attended an estimated 744 regularly-scheduled council meetings, not including workshops and other special meetings, which would likely double that number.
Creager, who lives in Hugo with her husband Tom, has two sons and three grandchildren. She said her retirement plans include travel, volunteering, and even an occasional trip back to City Hall to help out.
Starting at the end of the month, Community Development Assistant Michele Lindau, another longtime city employee, will take over as City Clerk, filling the role Mary Ann Creager has served since the beginning of the Carter Administration.
The public is invited to an open house in Mary Ann's honor from noon to 2 p.m. on her last day of work, Friday, Dec. 28, at Hugo City Hall.