After 18 years serving the city of Warrenton, City Administrator Terri Thorn is retired. Her last day as a city staff member was March 31.

Thorn was hired in 2003 as Warrenton’s finance officer. Within a few years, the board of aldermen asked Thorn to take on a supervisory role over the city’s staff and department heads as director of personnel (later changing titles to director of operations). In 2018, Thorn was promoted again to be Warrenton's first official city administrator.

When she first took on the leadership position, Thorn said one of her earliest goals was to create cohesion among the city government's separate departments.

“The departments were like their own islands. There was little team cohesiveness, little sharing of supplies, materials and equipment, and most certainly little sharing of attempts to accomplish goals the city needed,” Thorn recalled. “It was incredibly important to develop a group of department heads who were professional, who were independent thinkers, and yet were team-focused so we were all working toward the best interest of the city, not just what was good for one department.”

It was a challenging, years-long process to find the right leaders for the city staff, but Thorn said Warrenton’s current department heads are experts in their jobs who don’t hesitate to help each other and make decision for the benefit of the city as a whole.

Other prominent goals that Thorn brought to the city government were the desire for strong financial management and multi-year planning that would allow the city to prepare for future infrastructure projects and unexpected challenges. One of the major tests of those goals came during the 2008 financial collapse.

“We were able to go through the financial downturn and never had to reduce any services, and never had to layoff any employees. That’s a product of having a strong financial position, as well as always planning for the future,” Thorn explained.

As a prominent person in the city government, Thorn weathered her share of complaints and criticisms. She said the advice she tried to model for her staff was to always do the right thing, conduct themselves in a way that is above reproach, and accept that there will always be some complaints about their work.

“If you always have in mind what’s best for the city overall, and that’s how you make decisions, then you don’t have to worry about the rest,” Thorn commented.

During her time with the city, Thorn presided over the completion of the athletic complex north of town, multiple expansions of city offices and meeting facilities, the new aquatic center and surrounding park, development of the western I-70 interchange, expansions of the city water and sewer systems, and recent agreements that helped bring Rural King and Schnucks to town. She said being able to work for the benefit of local residents has been the most rewarding part of her career.

“I’m really proud of where we are right now,” Thorn said. “I think we’re right on the verge of this explosion of growth in the city, and it’s very exciting.”

Warrenton Mayor Eric Schleuter commended Thorn for consistently strong service in a job that he said is tougher than most people know. During her time in leadership, Thorn sometimes had to make the difficult decision to recommend removing a staff member or team leader who wasn’t meeting expectations, Schleuter said. He commented that this gave Thorn an “overly business-like” reputation that he acknowledged with her when he was elected to office.

“But everything she did, she did for the benefit of the city,” Schleuter said, agreeing that the city currently has a strong staff that has seen many successes. When other cities were struggling during financial downturns, Thorn’s guidance and financial stewardship helped keep Warrenton in a position to continue with important infrastructure projects and developments, Schleuter said.

Former Mayor and Alderman Greg Costello, who worked with Thorn for eight of the past 18 years, said that she excelled in the responsibilities that were given to her.

“Terri, in my opinion, has been a real game changer for the city. She has been involved in planning and completing many projects in her tenure with the city, both large and small,” Costello  said.

He commented that there were a few times Thorn sought advice from Costello’s previous experience as a public official. He recalled that his best advice for her was a quote saying “Reputation is what others think of you. What’s far more important is character, because that is what you think of yourself.”

Brandie Walters, the former director of operations who now takes over for Thorn as city administrator, said she learned a lot working with Thorn over the last 10 years.

“Terri is a great leader. She’s been a huge mentor for me. The way that she leads people, the relationships with her department heads, have been great,” Walters said. “She’s willing to listen to them, listen to their ideas on projects. ... She would sit down with each one of us, individually and together, and find out ways that we can accomplish (goals).”

Walters said she’s learned from Thorn to go to work with no regrets by treating others with respect and doing the right thing. Walters added that she feels confident stepping into the administrator role after being mentored by Thorn for the past several years.

Initial goals that Walters is bringing to the job include strengthening the city government’s relationships with other entities and updating technology used by the staff.

Although she is now retired, Thorn hasn’t completely stepped away from city government. The board of aldermen has retained her as a consultant to provide her expertise on major projects. Those include the ongoing expansion of the city’s sewer system and construction of a sidewalk on North Highway 47, both of which have required significant  planning, legal work, and navigation of state regulations.