I am told Amy moved to City of Arden Hills as of June 1. We all should wish her well. Personally I regret not knowing of it in advance to have had the chance to thank her for all the help she provided when I was requesting document copies and other city information or services. Amy was always helpful and courteous. I liked and respected her as a person and her promptly helping me was always appreciated. Luckily I was able to phone the engineering people who recently left, Bryan Olson and Tim Himmer, and to personally wish each of them well.
__________UPDATE__________
I was curious how the staff attrition/shrinkage affects future expenditure, assuming that others do not have upward adjusted pay rates complicating things when duties are reassigned w/o lost staff being replaced. From inquiry of Diana Lund, Ramsey's CFO, it appears the numbers can be accounted for fairly accurately, and that the major uncertainty would, if healthcare were done year to year, be that. However, presently the city is on a multi-year coverage arrangement so that staff downsizing, and expenditure lessening can be closely pinned down.
This says nothing about running a city with skeletal staff, and having a town run by interns, as some now characterize Ramsey; those being policy issues where sensible minds can differ.
My belief, nickle/dime staff games comes with a high staff morale cost, and that is reflected by the number of people voluntarily leaving, who if wholly happy would not have circulating resumes. Also, "Penny wise and pound foolish" can apply to where something is shrunk to satisfy Grover Norquist and his minions in Minnesota, to where essential things we need and expect from government - like road improvements, are left uncertain and indeterminate - beyond knowing ATVs and Northfork golf carts have new privileges.
