Jim Teel retires after 37 years with City of Chinook
Share
Tweet
In an era when over half the employees in the U.S. stay in one job for only 4.3 years Jim Teel's 37 years with the City of Chinook is a serious statistical abnormality. Jim started with the city as a maintenance worker on June 30, 1986 and retired on June 30, 2023. When I was asked to write a story about his completed career with the city I was curious to learn about this quiet guy that I really only knew in passing.
As we started talking about his long tenure as Superintendent of Streets his first comment was, "I'm really surprised by how much I miss working my old job." He went on to say he's still working but now it's, "for me. It's not the same as my job all those years with the city." The more he described the varied aspects of his career I began to realize Jim Teel is a guy who likes challenges and had to constantly be learning new things to accomplish his job. Here's some more of what Jim shared about his 37 years as a city employee.
The beginning
Jim Teel was born and grew up in Havre. He moved to Chinook in 1984 when he married a local girl and started working on a ranch. In 1986 he was offered a job as a maintenance worker with the City of Chinook. His job at that point involved "mowing city properties, repairing and cleaning streets and repairing water and sewer lines." George Vandehaven was the mayor then, one of six mayors Jim would work with during his long career as a municipal employee.
At some time in the early nineties a supervisory vacancy occurred and Jim said, "I was appointed Acting Public Works Director." That broader position was soon abolished and Jim became the Superintendent of Streets, the job title he held until he retired. During that same period another employee was added to the street department and another again in early 2000s. "But," Jim added, "sometimes I was a one-man crew when we had a vacancy."
Getting the job done
While he job title remained the same for nearly four decades, his job was varied. I planned to ask him about major projects he recalled. Before I could ask he smiled and handed me a list of five significant projects during his tenure. In each of those Jim's familiarity with the city's infrastructure and connections with what he called "outside entities" was important for getting the project completed.
Three of the projects involved water and wastewater treatment upgrades. Later when I asked him what he would warn his replacement to be aware of, he said, "Water and wastewater treatment and the distribution systems for both are major services that always seem to be needing attention." Whether it's plant renovation or taking care of problem sewer or water mains Jim's position is involved in making certain those two major utilities are not overlooked or compromised.
Both the other major projects Jim listed involved new construction. Sidewalk improvements are typically contracted out but Jim noted, "The old structures have to be removed and that work had to be done or coordinated by the person in my position." Same for the addition of Meadowlark Lane, Jim said, "I had to help assure the new connections and new layout would work with our existing city services and infrastructure."
About those major water and wastewater projects Jim wrote to me in a text, "I learned a wealth of knowledge of the water and wastewater system from Hobe Richmond who was fire chief for 30 years (and held Jim's job at one time). Hobe had an extensive knowledge of the systems as did John Pike of John Pike Construction." I asked John Pike, later, about working with Jim Teel as the representative of the city. John said, "Jim is a quick learner. He understood what needed to be done on a project and his mechanical abilities were always helpful. He saved the city a lot of repair costs and could often fix something so it didn't have to be replaced."
Another important internal entity for Jim's position was the City Clerk, the person who tracks all the paperwork helps keep department head apprised of how they are doing. Lois Butcher, who was Clerk when Jim started, said of him, "Jim was one of the best Street Superintendents the city ever had. He wasn't one to just send workers out to a job, he went with them and worked with them." Lorraine Mulonet, who followed Lois as Clerk agreed with Lois noting, "He was always good to keep his projects within a the budget and was very cooperative." Lorraine ticked off a list of things
Jim's department was in charge of and it coverage the gamut from opening and closing the swim pool for the season to patching breaks in the sewer or water lines." She commented about the certifications necessary for that person to oversee certain kinds of projects. Even Jim had commented about the necessity to "be a jack of all trades."
Looking to the future
Asked what he would miss about his old job, Jim said, "I'll miss working with various entities within the city as well as outside, like John Pike, locally, and some other outside contractors on our big jobs." As to advice for his future replacement Jim thought a bit and said, "Well, you have to be a jack of all trades because all sorts of skills are needed to keep things going. And it's really important that a person in this job not only shows or tells his people how to do things, he needs to work alongside them doing it. You have to be a teacher and you have to be patient."
Finally we talked about what he wants to do in retirement: "Take care of myself, my family and my property, go fishing, attend some NASCAR races (especially Las Vegas where his son lives) and enjoy life." I also wanted to know if he'd like to say something to locals. He said, "I'd tell them I was glad for the opportunity to care for their town to make it clean, safe and happy and I'd thank them for their cooperation." What more needs to be said?
