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After over 20 years with the city of Tullahoma, Rosemary Golden officially retired from her position as city recorder, with a reception being held at City Hall on March 17.

Friends and coworkers, including previous and current city officials, were in attendance to give their congratulations and express their appreciation for the years of service Golden provided to the city.

Tullahoma Fire Chief and interim city administrator Kenneth Pearson presented Golden with a plaque from the city, commemorating her years of service as city recorder.

“Your leadership has been an integral part of the exemplary customer service provided to businesses and citizens which have a lasting impact in our community,” the plaque read.

City finance director Sue Wilson presented Golden with a certificate from the Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA), awarding the city an Excellence in Finance Reporting award for the 2022 fiscal year. Golden was selected to receive an award from the GFOA for being key to the city receiving accolades.

“Personally, I have worked with Rosemary for over 20 years, and I don’t know what I’m gonna do without her,” Wilson continued. “She takes all the money in that I spend, and I sure can’t do anything without that. She does it so well and without any audit findings, which is why we got this award. The quality of work and the quantity of work is amazing, and that’s not even talking about the person that she is.”

Alderman Jerry Mathis remarked on the quality of work over the years that he had known Golden, commenting that he was familiar with her family as well.

“The only thing that I could say about Rosemary that I’ve tried to do over these years is: I’ve called her and said, ‘Rosemary, whatever you do, please help me on these taxes.’ Never worked,” he commented, drawing laughter from the crowd. “You’ll be missed, and I hope you come and visit us.”

Former city administrator Jody Baltz attended the reception, and he remarked that Golden had worked with him up until he retired in 2018.

“Rosemary will always pitch in when something needs to be done,” he said, “if something exceptional is going on, if we’re shorthanded, even while she’s doing her job as city recorder. She’s always had a good public spirit, and she’s also had a great community spirit. She has continued the great tradition of city recorders that the city has had. Even though the Bible is hard on tax collectors, I think that we’ve been able to love our tax collectors and even break bread with them.”

Golden presented the new city recorder, Lori Ashley, at the reception. Ashley previously worked as the city recorder for Cowan. She was appointed to the position of city recorder for Tullahoma at the Feb. 27 meeting of the Board of Mayor and Aldermen.