ROCHELLE — Rochelle Finance Director Chris Cardott will retire at the end of this month after 20 years of service. A special open house was held Thursday afternoon at Rochelle City Hall to honor her work for the city.
Cardott noted that in her role, knowing how to work with all facets of city government was the secret to her success.
“You just have to know the different department heads and how they best operate in order to help them succeed at what they’re trying to do,” she said.
“Some of them like email, some in person, some do things a little bit different. So you just have to learn the personalities that you’re working with. Everyone is top-notch here including the city manager and city council. So it’s just learning what they need to succeed and then you can run with that.”
Rochelle City Manager Jeff Fiegenschuh said her replacement will start on November 3rd and will be announced soon.
“Not only is he qualified financially but just he would make a good member of the team and he would bring a lot of different new input in but also he was a good fit with a lot of the staff,” he said Thursday.
During Cardott’s tenure, the city received the GFOA Distinguished Budget Presentation Award six years in a row, the Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting for ten years, and a bond rating upgrade from A+ to AA- by Standard & Poor’s.
She mentioned her future plans will involve less numbers.
“So I have two grandchildren, a three-year-old granddaughter and a one-year-old grandson. So we’ll be doing some babysitting,” she said. “My son is at the University of Wisconsin in Whitewater on the traveling bowling team and so we will be watching him in Minnesota and Wisconsin and Illinois and then just doing some travel and some home improvement projects.”
