In the next six months, the City of Beatrice will lose 76 years of combined experience when two long-time City employees retire. These two employees have been the model of public servants who have dedicated their lives to serving the citizens of Beatrice.
Linda Koch has worked for the City for 47 years. During that time she has served in a number of positions. Linda has been an excellent steward of the City’s finances. She has worked tirelessly to ensure that the City was in a strong financial position and that tax dollars were not being wasted. Often this lead to Linda having to say no to various projects or ideas because the money was not available. The easy path would have been to say yes, but Linda knew that delaying some projects was best for the City‘s long-term financial success. Thanks to Linda’s guidance the City has received a clean audit year after year and sits in a very strong financial position.
Chief Bruce Lang joined the City in 1992. After 29 years as our Chief of Police, he has announced his retirement. During his tenure, the relationship between police and citizens has eroded on the national level, but thanks to Chief’s guidance the Beatrice Police Department has a very strong relationship with our citizens. Programs such as Citizen Academy, Community Connections, Lunch with a Cop, and Stuff the Cruiser have helped our police department develop that strong bond. Thanks to Chief’s calm and steady hand he has steered our Police Department through some difficult times.
Besides just being great stewards for their respective departments, Linda and Bruce have been employees that I have leaned on regardless of the topic. Both of them have a great head on their shoulders and I will miss the ability to discuss a wide variety of City issues with them. They were excellent at helping me examine anything from a personnel issue to a general question of which direction the City should pursue. I will deeply miss working with both of them.
Anyone who enters government work quickly learns that much of it is a thankless job. Linda and Bruce have dedicated much of their lives to the City of Beatrice and much of the great work that they have done has gone unnoticed by the citizens of Beatrice. However, like true public servants, they did not complain about it, rather they worked diligently to do what was best for the citizens they were serving.
Thank you, Linda Koch and Chief Bruce Lang, for your many wonderful years of service. I wish you all of the happiness and joy in retirement.
Tobias J. Tempelmeyer
City Administrator and General Manager