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"It's been an amazing career. I wouldn't change a thing. I've loved every minute of it."
Gordon Orth - Deputy Chief at CES (Central Emergency Services) – is retiring after 28 years of service to the Borough. Deputy Chief Orth began his work with the Borough in 1985 with the assessing department (underneath that emergency services exterior lurks a degree in civil drafting). Realizing that sitting behind a desk was not his nature, Gordon shifted to working with the maintenance department. Throughout his five years working with these two departments, Gordon volunteered as a firefighter in Sterling. When a firefighting position opened up at the K-Beach Station in 1990, Gordon jumped at the opportunity, and has dedicated himself to emergency services ever since.
“All of the people I’ve come in contact with, over here, they’re just really good-hearted people. I’ve found a lot of friends. I’ve been so blessed.”
Mick Reeve, beloved caretaker of the Kenai Peninsula Borough’s “White House,” retired this month, in his 37th year of service to the Borough.
Mick started his career in the Navy, where he served overseas, travelling to the Philippines, Singapore and the coast of Japan. A machinist’s mate in the noisy, steamy engine room of an old ship, Mick discovered a love of the ocean. His experience in other cultures taught him a deep appreciation of our opportunities and lifestyles in the U.S.
On his return – in 1975 – Mick started working with the Borough, at Kenai Pool, where he was the custodial and maintenance person. He took care of water chemistry and worked on the pumps. He jokes that “they brought me over here after about two and a half years. I was kind of upset, because I was in the best shape I’d ever been…swimming every day, and then I could go up on top of the roof there and get a nice sun tan…”
