Roeder returns to City Hall

Lolita Harper

City Manager Allan Roeder returned to City Hall this week in a

part-time capacity after being out for the last six weeks with an

unknown arthritic condition, officials said.

Roeder, suffering from an arthritic illness doctors have yet to

diagnose, said he is feeling better but has not been cleared to go

back to work full time. He plans to work four hours a day for a week

or so to build his energy. Each week, he will work more hours, with

the ultimate goal of returning full time, he said.

“It feels good to be back at work, even if it is just part time

this week,” Roeder said. “People around here know that I have an

unbendable work ethic. And when you are ill, you have to bend and

that has to give.”

The city manager has been gone since Oct. 28, and other city

department heads have rotated as acting city manager, officials said.

Steve Hayman, the city’s director of administrative services, is now

acting as city manager.

Roeder’s mysterious arthritic condition struck unexpectedly about

six weeks ago, leaving the usually active Roeder unable to walk and

use his hands. An uncompromising workhorse, Roeder said he had a hard

time adjusting to not working for so long.

“When you can’t use your legs much and you can’t use your hands

and you’re not a big fan of daytime television, there is not much to

do,” Roeder said. “You just don’t go from the kind of schedule I had

to just sitting.”

Roeder has been using sick days during his absence, which he has

plenty of since he is rarely sick, he said. He will not need to file

for disability or workers compensation, he said.

Roeder made his first appearance at a council meeting Monday

night, not in his official capacity but among the audience.

Instead of sitting in his oversized chair on the dais, Roeder

joined the other residents and council watchers in blue chamber seats

to watch as Councilmen Allan Mansoor and Gary Monahan were sworn in

and former Mayor Linda Dixon bid farewell to her council position.

Dressed handsomely in a gray suit, Roeder stood to greet and

congratulate the City Council victors and gave a long embrace to the

departing Dixon.

“I had to be there Monday night, especially since it was Linda’s

last meeting,” Roeder said.

Dixon said she was pleased to see Roeder at the meeting, but was

concerned he was, once again, putting city business before his own

health.

“Allan hasn’t been feeling well and he has always made his

priorities everything other than himself,” Dixon said. “He was able

to be there, and it was good to see him, but I want him to remember

that if you don’t have your health, you have nothing.”

Roeder said people like Dixon and other concerned members of the

community and City Hall staff have been the backbone of his recovery.

He choked up while speaking about his wife, Christie McDaniel, who

is the deputy director of public relations at John Wayne Airport. He

called her “absolutely phenomenal.”

“She has been,” Roeder said, pausing to gain his composure,

“unbelievable. There may be words to express it, but I don’t know all

of them.”

McDaniel has done an extraordinary job taking care of him, as well

as overseeing the final remodeling of their home, moving all the

furniture into that home and the added stress of the holidays in

general, Roeder said.

Despite all the adversity, Roeder said the last six weeks have

been a wonderful time. He has been reminded of all the wonderful

people in his life -- at City Hall and in the community, he said. He

was confronted with compassion, understanding and a relentless effort

to “step up and get the job done” by all the people around him.

“Take the illness out of it, and this has been a great

experience,” he said. “It’s one of those things that really affirms

what we like to believe about people.”