St. Clair Shores finance director to retire

ST. CLAIR SHORES — St. Clair Shores Finance Director and Treasurer Renae Warnke is retiring at the end of January.

Warnke said she is retiring for personal reasons and that she felt like it was time.

“So that I could have a good retirement, have this time,” Warnke said. “If I waited, it might not turn out as well just because of the timing of some personal issues going on.”

Warnke has been with the city for around six years, and she said it was a great experience.

“(I’ve) learned a lot, met a lot of great people and just, I’ve been very pleased with everything,” Warnke said.

Before she moved up to the finance director position, Warnke was the city controller. She said the finance director job has been extremely busy especially with the added work of the controller before they found a new employee.

“I had to do the most important things,” Warnke said. “Some things kind of piled up behind the scenes and so I’ve been trying to dig out of that and get things caught up and in a good spot so that when I retire the person coming doesn’t have that issue to deal with.”

Warnke said City Manager Dustin Lent is great to work with, as are the other managers in the city.

“And it’s just a good group of people to work with,” Warnke said.

Lent said that it is sad to see a valuable employee retire, but he also said Warnke has earned her retirement and deserves it.

“She has, just recently, was moved up about two years ago to the finance director (position) and has done an admirable job and an extremely good job. She’s been a pleasure to work with and we are sad to see her go, but it’s a well-earned retirement and she’s going to enjoy it with family,” Lent said.

Warnke said her, her husband and her mother are going to become “snowbirds.” They will still keep a residence in Michigan and said she’ll still be around St. Clair Shores.

She thanked everyone for the opportunity to meet new people and do the job. She said her department is great.

“I just want to thank everybody for just pitching in and doing their part,” Warnke said. “It’s been a wonderful experience.”

Though no one had been hired at press time, the search continued to find a new finance director.