Wasco County honored three key employees at the final commissioners meeting of the year yesterday. All three are retiring at the end of the year. Melanie Brown, Wasco County Chief Appraiser, is stepping down after 40 years and three months working for the county. Commissioner Scott Hege sang her praises:
“Melanie has been an absolute stellar employee for Wasco County. I don’t think we could ask for any more. I’m so happy for her that s he’s finished this stage of her life and she gets to move on to retirement. So that’s awesome and I want to congratulate her on that and let her know how much we appreciate her.
And there were a pair of elected county officials who chose not to run again this year and will step down once their elected replacements are sworn in, in January.
Clerk Lisa Gambee was one of those, and Hege had nice things to say to her as well:
“What you brought to our county, we never could have gotten that any other way. The culture and all of the other stuff you’ve done for us is amazing.”
And finally, Scott and others honored Commission Chair Steve Kramer, who is retiring after 12 years as commissioner.
“You have made your mark at state level, at local level, at all levels, doing the work that you do. It’s incredible, the passion that you put into your work, and you will be significantly missed.”