City manager, Arie Hoogenboom celebrated his last city council meeting on April 18 with cake and good wishes from his peers.

With retirement looming near, on May 6, Hoogenboom has been with the city of Dryden for over nine years. Working with three mayors and four councils, the outgoing manager says it has been his pleasure working with great staff and council.

“When I think about retirement, there’s happy thoughts and there’s sad thoughts. Certainly there will be days that I really miss the staff here, because they have been fantastic to work with,” said Hoogenboom. “There will be other days when I’m out fishing or on the golf course, when you folks are debating another tax increase or cat licensing or something like that, and I won’t miss it one bit.”

Mayor, council and fellow staff took turns congratulating Hoogenboom on his retirement, acknowledging his accomplishments with the city, and expressing regret of his departure.

“I think he’s done a really good job, everything that’s been in the city, Arie’s had his hand in to it. We’re sad to see him go, but should be proud of what he’s done for the city,” said Mayor Craig Nuttall. “He’s certainly been a big help to me as the new mayor.”

In regards to recruitment for a new city manager, Nuttall stated, “We have a consulting firm that’s doing a wide search, and it looks like we have quite a few candidates, but we’re not going to jump at it. We want to make sure we have the proper candidate b­ecause we have two major things this year, with the Police Chief and also the city manager.”

Nuttall says the city will be appointing an internal interim city manager until a replacement is found.

By Ally Dunham