City of Groesbeck says goodbye to Stanton and Freel City Admin Assistants reach retirement

The City of Groesbeck is losing two hardworking assistants and welcoming a new one with the retirement of Martha Stanton and Emily Freel, effective April 30. City Administrator Chris Henson often praised the efforts of his assistants at council meetings for their hard work, dedication, and contributions to various projects and missions, such as acing the recent bond rating review and had nothing but positive things to say about them both.

“A lot of Emily’s work history was in private business, so many of things I needed her to do on an administrative level she was familiar with; there were very few tasks that I would ask her to deal with that she didn’t know how to handle,” Henson said. “And with Martha, whose knowledge of finance far exceeds my own, her historical knowledge has been key in helping me understand why the city would handle something the way they did, because before I change something I want to know how we got here and what’s the reason for it.”

Indeed, Stanton has a deep understanding of how Groesbeck has operated for decades, as she served as the City Secretary from 1974- 2002, when she shifted roles to serve as the City Administrator. Though she retired in 2012, Henson brought her back in 2016 as an assistant, and she has spent the past five years doing more of what she enjoys.

“My principal duty this time around was finance: bank reconciliation, bond payments, doing the bid service information for the budget, those kinds of things,” Stanton said. “That’s what I really enjoyed doing even originally was the financial portion of it more so than the management. We love the city and it’s been a real pleasure for me to work for the city of Groesbeck.”

Freel, who she worked with on a daily basis, may not have the same deep roots, but she had the same desire to work and help others, and an inability to accept retirement on the first try.

“To tell you the truth, I am going to miss it,” Freel said. “I did all the admin things and whatever I needed to do to keep the City Hall running as smoothly as I could. Chris being the Police Chief also, he wasn’t there a bunch so I would field a lot of his phone calls and take care of things and try to help him as much as I could there. I was retired when I moved here from Arizona in 2014, but I think I wasn’t ready then and I’m more ready now so I see it differently.”

A small lunch gathering was held to honor Stanton and Freel at City Hall on Wednesday, April 28, and the women were presented with plaques to recognize their service to the city.

Though these ladies left large shoes to fill, Henson has already found an assistant that earned both their approval: Shelby Contreras. Due to decreased foot traffic in City Hall, Henson combined Stanton’s financial duties and Freel’s administrative duties to form one position and found Contreras to be a perfect fit.

“I actually had Martha and Emily meet her because she wanted to come in and see what the job was about, instead of just applying on paper and hoping for the best she actually took the time to come in, walk through it and have them explain it to her and she did an excellent job,” Henson said. “They really felt confident that she would excel, so I brought her and she started on the 19th.”

The future for Stanton and Freel promises lots of free time to spend with family and grandkids, work outside or on home projects, and kick back and relax. The future for Contreras promises a lot of work but also a welcoming community in Groesbeck. Keep an eye on future editions of the Journal for a feature on the new City Administrator Assistant.