Over the last year, Fort Dodge has lost at least a century’s worth of experience, knowledge and dedication.

That loss is a result of a long line of municipal employees recently retiring. That list includes, but is not limited to, these individuals:

• Vickie Reeck, community and economic development manager

• Laurie Hotz, youth services librarian

• Steve Hergenreter, fire chief

• Dave Odor, geographic information systems manager

• Rhonda Chambers, director of aviation at Fort Dodge Regional Airport

We know there are others who have recently retired as well.

You can grumble about faceless bureaucrats sitting around in an office somewhere, doing not much of anything and getting paid. There might be some people like that elsewhere, but we don’t believe that is true of any of the recent retirees or current staff members, for that matter.

The work done by all of the recent retirees impacted the daily lives of Fort Dodge residents in very real ways. Among other things, their work brought new jobs and housing to town, inspired a love of reading in children and created maps and diagrams that will be used for years to maintain the city’s infrastructure.

There are others still on the job making sure the water keeps flowing, the trash gets picked up, and the kids stay safe at the aquatics center. And don’t forget those who protect the majority of the city from the worst elements of its population or take care of the rest of us on the worst days of our lives.

We salute those who have spent their working lives in service to the public.

And we remind everyone that municipal workers deserve our respect for everything they do for the rest of us.