GLENDON – After eight years as the CAO for the Village of Glendon, Melody Kwiatkowski has made the decision to retire.
Kwiatkowski described the decision as ‘extremely difficult because I really enjoyed my time here.’
“It was totally based on my personal life at this time,” she told Lakeland This Week. “We had a life-changing tragedy last year and then it really makes you think what’s important in life. It’s just time for me to do some things, spend quality time with my family, and do things that I truly love.”
Spending time on her farm with her husband, who she’s been married to for 42 years, and being with her family are some of the aspects Kwiatkowski is looking forward to doing once she’s officially retired next year.
Before stepping into the role of the village CAO, Kwiatkowski worked for Community Futures Lakeland as a business analyst for 14 years. Kwiatkowski made the decision to apply for the position with Glendon because she wanted a change in pace for her job and the new challenges she would face as head administrator for the local municipality, which was one of the aspects of her job that Kwiatkowski liked the most.
“Being CAO, you wear many different hats and you’re very heavily involved with the day-to-date operations,” she noted. “Your duties are ever-changing and I would have to say the best part of being CAO for Glendon is the relationships that have been developed with council, the employees, and the residents of the village.”
Glendon Mayor Laura Papirny said in a statement that Kwiatkowski has worn all of the hats required of her with ease.
“Larger municipalities have departments staffed with multiple people to deal with every aspect of running a municipality, Melody has had to do all these jobs with a team of three, that includes public works, and has done it so efficiently and effectively,” Papirny exclaimed. “Due to her guidance and skillset, the village has been able to flourish and run effectively and efficiently within a budget. Melody has done an absolutely amazing job over the past eight years and her knowledge, humour, and wit will be greatly missed. Her retirement is a great loss for the village.”
The project that stood out to Kwiatkowski in her eight years with the village was the drainage parkway, which is slated to be completed sometime this summer. The total cost for the project rang in at $1.27 million.
“For a number of years, the village has been plagued with drainage and flooding issues. Historically, three drainage studies have been done in the past but, unfortunately, the projects were never carried out because cost prohibited it at the time,” Kwiatkowski recalled. “When council made the decision, I remember cautioning them and saying that if they were going to have another study completed that they needed to commit to completing the project. It’s taken three years but the drainage project is now going ahead and I’m thrilled to see that it’s going to come to completion during my time here.”
Kwiatkowski’s last day with the municipality isn’t until the end of the year. The hope is to hire her replacement within the next couple of months so they can work alongside one another before they take over as CAO in 2022.
