Let's get the jokes out of the way.

Austin's parking enforcement officer has retired.

Hooray!

No longer will the woman wielding a chalking stick prey upon the innocent.

All right!

There will be no need to empty the overtime parking ticket envelopes with latex gloves for fear of touching fines paid in something other than U.S. currency.

Hallelujah!

Motorists can park their vehicles along any downtown Austin street as long as they want.

Wrong! Dead wrong!!

Patricia Waletzki has, indeed, retired from employment with the city of Austin. However, the parking enforcement duties she held for 33 years will be picked up by Austin Police Department officers.

Overtime parking is still against the law in Austin.

Waletzki is a living legend in Austin.

This is the person who once ticketed a Minnesota governor.

This is the person who once wrote up the police chief for overtime parking.

This is the person who helped foil a jewelry store robbery.

Waletzki may have made her share of enemies in over three decades of employment with the city of Austin, but she did her job longer and, perhaps, better than anyone else.

She went to work when parking meters still lined the streets in downtown Austin and she was called a "meter maid."

She leaves work when that title is politically incorrect and the $5 fine for overtime parking ($10 if you pay late) is as welcome as a toothache.

Waletzki began work with the city on Oct. 12, 1970. "I wasn't the first parking enforcement officer," she said. "At first, I worked part-time and then it became a full-time job."

Waletzki is the first city employee to take the city's offer of early retirement.

Also accepting the city's early retirement offer Friday were Leroy Doe, a waste water treatment plant employee, who started work for the city Aug. 1, 1968, making him the senior employee to leave work with the city. Doe put in 35 years with Austin.

Frank Dennison, a street department worker, also retired. His start date was May 1, 1975.

Larry Helgeson, a parks, recreation and forestry department worker, also retired. Helgeson began his career with the city April 1, 1976.

According to Trish Wiechmann of the city's human resources department, the deadline for accepting the city's early retirement offer was May 12. By accepting the offer, the department in which each employee worked understood that worker's position was being abolished. The early retirement offers were paid to help Austin deflect the anticipated loss of revenues, including local government aid, due to the state financial crisis.

At midday Friday, co-workers and friends gathered in the Austin-Mower County Law Enforcement Center to honor Waletzki for a potluck with the honoree.

Jim Hurm, city administrator, paid tribute to the retiree and the Police Chief Paul Philipp read a poem composed by Austin Mayor Bonnie Besse Rietz (away on city business) for the occasion.

Waletzki received gifts, including one created by Philipp, which used newspaper clippings and photos to chronicle her storied career.

There were also plenty of stories exchanged by Waletzki and her guests.

Did she really give a police chief a parking ticket? "Yes," she said. "It was Bob Nelson and I caught him after he went into the old Austin Drug Store one day."

Did she really ticket a Minnesota governor? "Yes," she said, "It was Governor Wendell Anderson when he made a campaign visit to town."

Did she really foil a jewelry store robbery? Waletzki had ticketed a car parked outside a downtown jewelry store, which led to the arrest of people involved in the heist, Philipp said.

"That's how important this person really is," he said. "They caught the Son of Sam killer years ago with a parking ticket he had gotten."

The mayor's original poem reflected on a public employee, who did her job well, but wasn't always appreciated: "Today to Pat we give our thanks for years of walking your beat. You always did your job so well in wind, rain, snow and sleet. We'll miss those little brown presents a lot. (The guilty ones may give some cheers.) But all of us do wish you well throughout the coming years."

According to the police chief, the Austin Downtown Retailers Association members were among Waletzki's biggest fans. Long have the downtown merchants battled those people who would park a vehicle along the central business district's streets and leave it, preventing shoppers from having the close parking spots.

And what did the honoree have to say about all of the attention received by, possibly, the city's last "meter maid."

"It's overwhelming," she said, "Thank you all so very much."

Lee Bonorden can be contacted at 434-2232 or by e-mail at :mailto:lee.bonorden@austindailyherald.com