By Mark Hansel
NKyTribune managing editor
Things just won’t be the same when City of Florence employees return to work next week.
City Coordinator Richar, “Rick” Lunnemann is retiring, effective January 1, after 29 years in municipal government.
Florence City Coordinator Richard “Rick” Lunnemann will retire Jan. 1 after 29 years in municipal government.
“My career in local government and, in particular the City of Florence, has been a blessing, Lunnemann said. “I feel fortunate to have been a small part of this organization.”
Alex Mattingly, who has served as Elsmere’s City Administrator since July of 2012, takes over as Florence City Coordinator January 16.
Lunnemann, who grew up in Florence, interned with the City in 1985, while pursuing a degree in public administration at Northern Kentucky University.
“When I went back to the next semester at college, I realized that being able to come back home and work in city government, in the town where you grew up would be pretty cool,” Lunnemann said.
He graduated from NKU in 1986 and was hired as Fort Thomas Assistant City Administrator by Jeff Earlywine, who is now the Boone County Administrator.
Lunnemann said he learned a great deal about city government from Earlywine and considers him a mentor.
Earlywine
Earlywine, who was the Fort Thomas City Administrator at the time, said he could see early on that Lunnemann was competent and had good attention for detail.
“He also gave every indication that he was committed to a career in public service; which obviously came to fruition,” Earlywine said.
Earlywine credits Lunnemann with researching and drafting the city’s comprehensive city tree ordinance.
“I believe Fort Thomas had the first, or one of the very first, comprehensive tree ordinances in Northern Kentucky,” Earlywine said. “Rick demonstrated very good patience for a young person in dealing with the public and constituents.”
Lunnemann left Fort Thomas when he was hired as code administrator by the City of Florence late in 1991. In that role, his responsibilities included ordinance enforcement, the complaint and request program, the urban forestry program, grant writing and similar duties.
He was promoted to operations superintendent in the public services department where he oversaw the maintenance crews.
He served as assistant city coordinator and community development director for another five years, then briefly left Florence to work for the City of Crestview Hills.
“The call that I made to leave the (City of Florence) in 2008 was really hard,” Lunnemann said. “This is the town where I grew up and to come back and make a difference where you grew up – I felt a calling to do that and it was something I really enjoyed doing.”
Florence City Coordinator Rick Lunnemann (r) addresses the City’s code enforcement board at a hearing to decide the fate of the Florence Inn in October, 2015. After a long legal battle, the Florence Inn was ultimately demolished earlier this year. Enhanced code enforcement was one of many accomplishments achieved by the City administration during Lunnemann’s tenure.
Lunnemann, however, believed Florence City Coordinator Pat Wingo was entrenched in her position and his goal was also to serve in that capacity, so he began to look elsewhere.
An opportunity arose in Crestview Hills to be the city administrator, so he applied, and was chosen for that position.
“I was only down there for about nine months when one morning I got a call from Mayor (Diane) Whalen here at the City of Florence asking if I wanted to get together for breakfast,” Lunnemann said. “We met and she told me Pat Wingo was going to retire and asked if I was interested in coming back to serve in that role.”
Lunnemann accepted the job he had sought since his college days and has served as City Coordinator for the last seven-plus years.
He has seen a lot of changes in his time with the City of Florence since 1991. When he started with the City, the city government building was located on the site at US 42 that now houses the Florence Senior Center.
The current City Government Center on Ewing Boulevard opened in 1998.
“I’ve seen the move from the old building to this building, the reconstruction of Tanner’s Lane into what is now Ewing Boulevard and the acquisition of property to build the campus we have today,” Lunnemann said. “Growing up, it seemed Hopeful Church Road was out in the country, but now Hopeful and Mall Road are pretty much the center of the city.”
Lunnemann credits Whalen and the city councils that have served during her tenure with setting a path to make Florence prosper.
“They truly looked at Florence and had discussions about what was going to set the city apart,” Lunnemann said. “They identified what was going to make us thrive, be successful and sustain ourselves. They identified a comprehensive, long-term strategy that involved development of parks and recreation facilities, housing expansion, proactive code enforcement and having an active economic development program.”
He believes all of those things have been accomplished and he feels privileged to have been a part of it.
Lunnemann is responsible for the day-to-day City operations, but he envisions his larger role as the person who has coordinated the vision identified by the mayor and the city council.
“Each of our departments have played a critical role in one or more components of the City’s overall vision,” he said. “Their support, combined with their dedication to providing top quality services every day, has made Florence an excellent place to live and work.”
Whalen said Lunnemann should be proud of what the City has accomplished during his tenure and has earned a happy retirement.
Whalen
“Rick has dedicated his professional life to making Florence the wonderful place that it is,” Whalen said. “He has been involved in all facets of city government and truly knows what makes this community tick. The community we have become is a direct reflection of the hard work Rick and all of our employees and elected officials do every day.”
Retail has always thrived in Florence and Lunnemann calls it the “biggest and best in the region,” but the diversity of the economic base is one of the things he is the most proud of.
“All of our commercial sectors are thriving,” Lunnemann said. “We have a portion of the largest industrial park in the region, the Northern Kentucky Industrial Park. Our vacancy rates for industrial property are exceptionally low and our vacancy rates for office are lower than Northern Kentucky, which are lower than Cincinnati.”
Lunnemann, 52, is not sure what he will do next. He plans to take some time off, but says he is not ready to retire permanently.
One of his most satisfying accomplishments, he says, is that the City administration, and the city itself, are considered a model in the region and the state.
“It’s very important for the City Coordinator to understand all that’s going on and have their finger on the pulse of all the issues and all the service delivery that we have to provide,” Lunnemann said. “I believe that I have been able to do that, and just as importantly, I feel that we have a system in place that will allow the person who follows me to do it as well.”
Contact Mark Hansel at mark.hansel@nkytrib.com
