Thank You Cheryl!
Cheryl Vesseur
This is Cheryl Vesseur. She is retiring from the City of Edmonton after two decades of service. You may not have met her but she has touched the lives of so many Edmontonians. Truly, I don’t know how I would have been able to serve all of you without the dedication of Cheryl and I’d like to spend some time telling you more about her and the amazing work she has done over the years.
Cheryl and I have been working together for the last 8 and 1/2 years. The first time we met was likely the ‘worst’ interview of my life. Two days after being elected for the first time in 2013, I showed up to City Hall to start getting familiar with everything. Little did I realize that my five new colleagues already had their teams up and running. I hadn’t even started to think about who I would work with in the ward office in order to serve Edmontonians.
Fortunately, I received a text from the newly elected Mayor Don Iveson. He mentioned that because he was bringing in some new people to the mayor’s office, there was a person who didn’t have a spot and he asked if I wanted to meet them. I happily agreed and about 10 minutes later, I first met Cheryl. Earlier in this post, I mentioned that it was the ‘worst’ interview because I had 10 minutes' notice to prepare and Cheryl just found out she was without a position in the office she had spent the last 12 years in.
I honestly don’t remember the specifics of our conversation. What I do remember is that I could immediately tell that Cheryl really cared about the work she was doing and knew how much of an impact that had on everyone. I made the decision after our short discussion to work with Cheryl and it was easily one of the best decisions of my life.
She knew how to help every person who contacted the office and always treated them with such kindness and respect. I have lost track of how many times people have shared their positive experiences with Cheryl over the years. They knew that Cheryl truly cared about them and always did her best to try and help address their concerns. Even when we couldn’t resolve an issue, people would always speak so highly of Cheryl and were so thankful for her effort. They were always confident that Cheryl did everything possible to help them because she that’s exactly what she did.
I know many of you have called or emailed me over the years. Many of you might not realize just how much Cheryl has impacted your life for the better. Cheryl is the one who is connecting with different City departments to try and come up with a resolution. Cheryl is the one who is connecting with the other orders of government to ensure that someone from the provincial or federal government can assist you. Cheryl is the one who organized every meeting and event that we have had over the years so that we could connect with each other. Cheryl is the one who is keeping track of every critical detail so that we can serve you as best as possible.
This has been a hard post to write. I’ve had to stop many times to wipe away tears because the thought of not getting to work with Cheryl after so many years is really hard. There is no way I would be where I am today without Cheryl. I have her to thank for her dedication and passion to helping every person who contacted our office. She taught me to focus on what matters most and helped me further develop my ability to help others.
Cheryl: Thank you for everything. I know I am a much better person today because of you. I know our city is a much better place because of the work you have done. I know that many Edmontonians are better off because you have been able to help them. It won’t be the same without you and I will miss working with you every single day but I’m so thankful that I’ve had the opportunity to work with you. Thank you and I hope you have a wonderful retirement.
