Most people who work at City Hall can tell when Assistant Finance Director Linda Hill is hard at work — and they don’t even have to go inside her office. Six days each week, Hill’s 2002 yellow Volkswagen Beetle can be found in the building’s parking lot. It’s a bright splash of color among a sea of city vehicles.
But Hill’s yellow bug won’t be seen in the parking lot much longer. On Oct. 2, just a few days after the end of the city’s fiscal year, Hill will retire. She has worked as the assistant finance director for 25 years and has a routine schedule of working 10 hours every day but Sunday.
Hill’s announcement comes shortly after the recent retirement of former Finance Director Martin Wisgerhof. Hill worked with Wisgerhof until his retirement in late August. In addition to having a knack for numbers, the two have other surprising details in common. Both have accounting degrees with minors in math and have children that are one week apart in age.
“We were a great team,” Hill said. “Martin has been a wonderful boss. We worked very well together.”
Hill, who is originally from St. Petersburg, attended Florida Southern College in Lakeland. Prior to her job as the assistant finance director, Hill worked in public accounting for seven years before taking time off to raise her children. She considers her job with the city to be an answer to her prayers. When her children were young, Hill became a single mother who needed to return to work.
“It’s been great,” Hill said. “And now it’s time to move on. I’m just going to enjoy retirement.”
Among her responsibilities, Hill was in charge of reports and bond payments, and helped with external auditors. She also dealt with utility billing and the city’s wire transfers.
This past week, Hill created a five-page document of her responsibilities for new Chief Financial Officer Diane Reichard to assist in filling Hill’s position.
City Manager Mike Herr said that Hill has especially been an asset because of her loyalty to the city and commitment to cover every financial detail.
Hill is an extremely structured individual. For the last 10 years, she has worked 60 hours per week, only taking one weekend off per month to go camping with her husband, Roy. She doesn’t leave the office for lunch, choosing instead to eat a bag lunch at her desk while she works.
When the time came to retire, Hill needed an extra push.
Hill had told Wisgerhof she was thinking about retiring but hadn’t made any official plans. After Wisgerhof announced his plans to retire on July 6, Hill decided it was her time to leave as well.
“By him doing it, it made me do it,” Hill said.
After her retirement, Hill will make a trip with her husband to a state park in the Florida Keys. She doesn’t have extensive travel plans because her husband still works for BayCare, but both enjoy trips to the mountains, especially to Georgia and North Carolina in the summer.
Camping is her stress-reliever, but she also enjoys putting together journals and photo albums, and collecting Raggedy Ann dolls. She began collecting the dolls before she had children and has one room in her house dedicated to her collection.
Still, she will miss her co-workers and the friends she made while working for the city. Hill has often attended mystery dinners with her coworkers and has helped plan “Girls’ Night Out” events. Once she retires, Hill also plans to visit former co-workers who have retired.
“Everybody’s important,” Hill said. “I have awesome co-workers. To me, they are my friends.”
Contact Emily Topper at etopper@plantcityobserver.com.