NEWBERG, Ore. — On his second-to-last work day before retirement, Russ Thomas had largely cleaned out his office and felt ready to walk out for the final time.
But his phone didn’t get the memo.
A pothole here. A biohazard there. Deliveries arriving at the yard. A concerned citizen reported a large amount of broken glass in the middle of the road.
“Just another day in the life,” said Thomas after dispatching a crew member to clean the glass spill.
Thomas officially hung up his work vest Monday, March 2, after more than 46 years with the City of Newberg.
He moved to Newberg in the late 1970s, following a woman he would soon marry. With experience in the Navy and at a Portland shipyard, taking a job as a city laborer felt like a natural transition. He started work in 1979.
Thomas said Newberg looked very different in the 1980s. The town had just under 8,000 residents. Many of today’s housing developments were still filbert and fruit farms. George Fox University enrolled 786 students. Chehalem Parks and Recreation District had just purchased a 5-acre parcel that would become Jaquith Park.
Thomas was one of 12 city laborers who worked around town fixing what needed to be fixed.
“We got to a point because we were such a small group that we didn’t have to talk a lot,” Thomas said. “You might be working on a job, and you go to the truck and take out the tool he was going to need next, lay it on the top of the ditch, and they turn around and pick it up. Everybody knew what we needed, what was being done.”
Crews handled whatever needed attention — digging trenches for pipes, fixing lights, and installing street signs.
“We were generalists back then,” Thomas said. “There were no specialists. When there was something to be done, we all figured out how to do it. We were kind of the town’s handymen.”
While Thomas reminisces about the closeness of those early crews, he said advances in technology and improved processes have made operations far more efficient.
One major responsibility was reading water meters. Crews would lift meter covers, clean and manually read meters, jot numbers in notebooks — often shielding pages from the rain — then return to the public works office to enter the data on rate cards, review discrepancies, and issue bills.
“Jobs that would once take four or five guys now take two or fewer,” Thomas said. “In the time since I’ve been here, I feel like we’ve gone from the prehistoric age to the Jetsons.”
Today, meters are read remotely via radio signals, allowing discrepancies to be analyzed in real time so homeowners can be alerted to potential leaks within hours rather than weeks. Thomas said if the city still relied on manual processes used in the 1980s and 1990s, it would need roughly three times the staff to handle the workload.
Another significant shift during his tenure was management of Newberg’s water and wastewater treatment plants. At one point, the city considered hiring an outside contractor to oversee operations. Thomas proposed using Public Works staff instead.
“The first job they gave us was to clean the site, literally,” Thomas said. “The building was covered in blackberries and really didn’t look great.”
Crews — regardless of their regular roles — began clearing invasive plants and rehabilitating the site. Technicians, originally hesitant as they’re accustomed to monitoring equipment, pitched in and started appreciating the different kind of work.
Public Works ultimately proved it could manage the facilities, a responsibility it continues today. Thomas said the move likely resulted in significant savings and allows the city to operate more nimbly.
Thomas became Public Works director in 2020 during a period of leadership transitions across several local agencies. He said collaboration was essential.
In a time that could have resulted in turmoil, agency leaders committed to working together.
“When I stepped into the role of City Manager, Russ was the person I turned to as an ethical compass,” Newberg City Manager Will Worthey said at Thomas’ retirement party Thursday. “He was there anytime I had a question and supported me through my transition into city leadership. He is not only a great example of a leader, but also a good person and a friend. We will miss him, and we wish him all the best in his retirement.”
Thomas said he is proud of the department’s current condition, describing it as lean, effective, and well-positioned to respond to the challenges and opportunities of a growing community.
For now, however, he is focused on retirement — spending time with his grandchildren, returning to coaching baseball, and continuing his involvement with the St. Paul Rodeo. First, he and his wife are heading to Hawaii to celebrate.
“Newberg is a really special place,” Thomas said. “I’ve been to a lot of other communities that are bigger, smaller, and the same. Newberg is holding on to that small-town feel really well, while accepting and promoting growth. I see good things ahead for this community, and I’m happy to leave it in such great hands.”
New Public Works Director Announced
Following Thomas’ retirement, the City of Newberg announced Ahmad Qayoumi as the new public works director.
“Qayoumi brings a wealth of experience to the role, having served in positions ranging from engineer to public works director across both city and county governments in Washington state and in Oregon,” interim public information officer Emily Salsbury wrote in an email. “His background also includes international engineering work, having contributed to infrastructure projects in Afghanistan.”
Salsbury said Qayoumi was selected following a competitive nationwide search.
He will be introduced to the community during March’s First Friday Art Walk. City Hall will be open from 5 to 8 p.m.
