Administrator For City Of Wenatchee Announces Resignation

The City of Wenatchee will soon be without one of its key staff members.

Earlier this month, City Administrator and Executive Services Director Laura Gloria (née Merrill when she began the position) announced she would be leaving her roles with the City at the end of August.

"I've been in public sector work, specifically in positions higher up near the mayor's office, for the past ten years," says Gloria, who came to Wenatchee as the City's Executive Services Director in February, 2020, after spending five years as Deputy Manager for the City of Fresno, Calif.

Gloria, who was installed as Wenatchee's City Administrator by former mayor Frank Kuntz in October, 2023, delivered the news of her impending resignation to current mayor Mike Poirier on June 2.

"It just seemed like it was time for me to move on to a different industry or a different career path, so I've been working closely with the team at the City to figure out a good transition point, especially since we have so many major projects happening in the city right now and we wanted to make sure those were well-transitioned and could continue to progress as easily as possible. It was a personal decision and I don't quite know what I'm going to do next just yet, so I'll be taking a little break and go from there."

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Although Gloria says she will be taking at least a few months to determine what's next for her once she exits her posts at the City of Wenatchee, there are a few paths she's already considering.

"I have considered doing some consulting work for organizational development, as well as some interim roles where I could go in and do some problem solving or providing some operational strategies for other municipalities or even businesses. I do also want to slow things down a bit in my career life. My job with the City (of Wenatchee) is one that keeps me going twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week - it never stops. It's also a job where I've represented the City in the public eye quite a bit, even when I'm just out and about on my own time, that's a role that never leaves this position. So I do want to step back from that side of things and be a little bit more invisible in my personal life on that side of things."

After spending over five years with the City of Wenatchee, Gloria says she's gained a lot of valuable experience and seen much personal and professional growth, and is also very proud of the accomplishments that have been achieved by the City's employees as a team.

"Working with our team and helping to develop our internal leadership and our overall workplace culture has been extremely important to me. All of the employees at the City of Wenatchee do a lot of hard work. They're the ones who actually implement the construction projects and actually make all of these great things into a reality, so my job has really been to support them in their efforts to do all of that. I've definitely seen a big culture shift since I came to the City, working to improve communication and collaboration between our departments. We have a great team and I'm really proud of having been a part of that."

As to whether Gloria will one day make a run for mayor, either for the City of Wenatchee or somewhere else, that's something which she says is definitely on her to-do list.

"I would love to run for office sometime in the future. I've always said that local government is where you can really make an impact. Not to say that you can't at the state and federal levels, but it's so much more broad and so much more difficult. At a local level, you're small enough to actually be able to move things forward pretty quickly and can make a huge impact on your community. So I would love to run for office in the future. I don't know where that would land but I encourage everyone to think about running for office or trying to join public commissions or boards and committees. Just really getting involved with your local government because having worked in city government for over ten years now, I know how important it is to the work that we do."

Along with not being entirely certain about what's next for her career, Gloria has also yet to decide if she'll be staying in the Wenatchee Valley.

"I don't know just yet. All of my family is on the west side of Washington and I'm considering spending some time with them over there before making my decision. I do love Wenatchee but I am considering other options as well. It really just depends on what's in the cards and where they land. If I get to stay, that'd be great. But if I don't, I'm looking forward to where life is going to take me next just as much."

And now that Gloria has spent five years entrenched within the governments of both the Cities of Wenatchee and Fresno, she's also not too apprehensive about who wins the contest for which place she prefers.

"Don't tell Fresno," jests Gloria. "I love both places. Fresno has a special place in my heart and there's a lot of people who I really love there, but Wenatchee is just so amazing. With the beautiful scenery, outdoor recreation, and the four seasons, it's really tough to beat. Being an outdoor enthusiast myself, it's been an absolute dream to live here. It's such a well-loved, well-taken-care-of community and the people here are just incredible and I've really enjoyed being a part of it."

It's unclear if the administrator and executive services director positions will be retained by the City or in some way restructured, but Gloria says Mayor Poirier is currently working with the City's department heads to determine what steps will be taken after her last official day on the job, which is August 29.