{"id":17521,"date":"2022-03-09T01:35:27","date_gmt":"2022-03-09T01:35:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/?p=17521"},"modified":"2022-03-08T21:27:50","modified_gmt":"2022-03-08T21:27:50","slug":"all-hail-haileys-heather","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/2022\/03\/09\/all-hail-haileys-heather\/","title":{"rendered":"All Hail Hailey\u2019s Heather"},"content":{"rendered":"

Retiring City Admin goes from \u2018a leap\u2019 of faith appointee to City Hall figurehead over 32 years<\/i><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

By Eric Valentine<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

How does a city manage its affairs when it knows by June it will no longer have its longtime leader at the helm? With a calm and steady hand, apparently, if the city is anything like Hailey and its leader anything like Heather Dawson. Last week, the 14-year city administrator, along with Mayor Martha Burke, announced to staff and then the public that May 31 will be Dawson\u2019s last day as a city employee, something she has been here for 32 years.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s time to prioritize my family,\u201d Dawson said. \u201cCircumstances in my personal life have led me to this difficult decision.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

The Tao of City Hall<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

What won\u2019t be difficult about Dawson\u2019s decision is the transition to new leadership, she says. A three-month period has been planned for an orderly transition within city government. And with a sort of Zen-like mindset and grace, the martial arts black belt offered this: \u201cThe team we have in place at the City of Hailey is highly capable, creative and vibrant. Each transition affords an organization the opportunity to improve itself. This will be one of those opportunities.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Dawson\u2019s comment can evoke thoughts of \u201cThe Art of War\u201d and its most famous line, \u201cEvery battle is won before it\u2019s ever fought,\u201d attributed to Sun Tzu, a Chinese military strategist and Taoist philosopher whose 6th-century B.C. teachings are widely used in business by managers today. It at least partly describes how Mayor Burke is approaching the change.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt will be a challenge to replace Heather, who has been a gift and a strength to the city,\u201d Mayor Burke said. \u201cIn the mandated operations of city government, with so many required nuts, bolts, and processes, she brings a deep knowledge of people, along with so much institutional knowledge. She is highly analytical and deeply intuitional both at the same time. We will miss her, but know as well as\u00a0 <\/span>anyone that life becomes shorter each year. We wish Heather and her family our very best.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The How of Heather<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

In the late 1980s, Dawson was a Blaine County jury clerk at the time current school board president Keith Roark had been elected prosecutor. Roark said he was always impressed with her skillset and when he was elected mayor of Hailey in 1990, it was Dawson he recruited for city clerk to help him steer the ship. In a media interview, Dawson had once called Roark\u2019s appointment of her \u201ca leap\u201d of faith. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe city clerk job was a leap for Heather,\u201d Roark said Monday. \u201cIt requires a broader range of responsibilities and a greater depth of knowledge than the deputy clerk positions did at the time. Heather jumped in, learned everything she needed to know without any training and proved herself to be the city\u2019s most valued employee in no time. Most people don\u2019t really know or care who the city clerk is, but without a top-notch individual in that office, there is no way a part-time mayor and city council will be able to stay on top of the business of governing.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Roark added, \u201cNice job, Heather. You\u2019ve made a huge contribution to the betterment of Hailey and saved more than one mayor from disaster with your knowledge and work ethic.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

For the last 14 years, Dawson\u2019s role has been city administrator, the highest non-elected position in city government. But if the position ever were an elected one, it\u2019d be hard to imagine Dawson not winning in a landslide. She has the respect of longtime residents, city staff, and the business community, too. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHeather is an unsung hero for Hailey. She mostly stayed behind the scenes serving as a driving force for our community for decades. While the mayor and city council have varied over the years, Heather has been the steady and compassionate leader at the helm for Hailey,\u201d said Mike McKenna, the local chamber of commerce director. \u201cShe has helped guide The Chamber to create top-notch local events and an environment where local businesses and nonprofits can thrive. She has helped Hailey grow into one of the best places to live, work and play in Idaho. We\u2019ve been lucky to have her.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In her 32-year career with the City of Hailey, Dawson served under the leadership of eight mayors. That\u2019s a chronic amount of change requiring someone who can roll with the punches. And Dawson did.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cEach mayor brought differing perspectives and style to city government, and with each transition it was like getting a new job, each time with a bit more experience behind me,\u201d Dawson said. \u201cThis\u00a0 <\/span>work\u2019s mission has been critically fundamental, the effort fruitful and deeply rewarding. I will truly miss it.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Retiring City Admin goes from \u2018a leap\u2019 of faith appointee to City Hall figurehead over 32 years By Eric Valentine How does a city manage its affairs when it knows by June it will no longer have its longtime leader at the helm? With a calm and steady hand, apparently, if the city is anything […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":17523,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","_pvb_checkbox_block_on_post":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[72,78,18],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-17521","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-community","8":"category-hailey","9":"category-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17521","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17521"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17521\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17526,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17521\/revisions\/17526"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17523"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17521"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17521"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17521"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}