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City bids adieu to city manager

Published 8:07 am Wednesday, April 13, 2016

By PAULA ANN SOLIS

Five former Juneau mayors, along with the city's current mayor, gather around City Manager Kim Kiefer during Monday night's Assembly meeting. Kiefer has worked in some capacity for the City and Borough of Juneau for 32 years and last night marked her last General Assembly meeting before retirement. The former mayors attended to surprise Kiefer with a few kind words and stories before her departure. From left to right: Ken Koelsch, Mary Becker, Sally Smith, Sen. Dennis Egan, Bruce Botelho and Merrill Sanford.
Five former Juneau mayors, along with the city's current mayor, gather around City Manager Kim Kiefer during Monday night's Assembly meeting. Kiefer has worked in some capacity for the City and Borough of Juneau for 32 years and last night marked her last General Assembly meeting before retirement. The former mayors attended to surprise Kiefer with a few kind words and stories before her departure. From left to right: Ken Koelsch, Mary Becker, Sally Smith, Sen. Dennis Egan, Bruce Botelho and Merrill Sanford.

She knew something was planned for her last regular Assembly meeting — it was in the meeting agenda after all — but Kim Kiefer had no idea six mayors would come together to give her a proper send off into retirement.

“I was pleasantly surprised and very humbled by the outpouring from my friends and family,” Kiefer said Tuesday over the phone. Kiefer will officially leave her post as the city’s manager April 30, at which point Rorie Watt will take over.

Mayor Ken Koelsch said at the meeting that Kiefer has volunteered or worked for the city since 1976. During that time she has worked alongside five full-time mayors and 23 different Assembly members.

Not all the mayors she has worked with could see her off on Monday, but four — Sally Smith, Sen. Dennis Egan, Bruce Botelho and Merrill Sanford — made the trip to talk to a room of more than 60 friends and family members about the impact she had on their lives and the city.

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