St. Paul Public Works Director Rich Lallier will retire next month after 36 years working for the city, Mayor Chris Coleman announced Monday.
Top mayoral adviser Nancy Homans will become interim public works director in late November after Lallier leaves, Coleman said. The city has enlisted Springsted Consulting to conduct a search for a new director, with plans to appoint Lallier's successor in February.
Lallier, who has been public works director since 2010, brought new parking meters downtown, helped implement the citywide biking plan and identified the city's arterial streets most in need of repair, the so-called "Terrible 20."
He began working for St. Paul in 1978 as a recreation leader and lifeguard for the parks department. In 1998 he became a parks operations manager, overseeing the budget.
"Rich has been an asset to St. Paul, from his first years as a seasonal worker to his work at public works director," Coleman said, in a prepared statement.
