When Craig Oscarson got the job with Mower County as its first and only county coordinator, he only intended to stay for two years.

Now after 33 years of service, he’s ready to retire on Friday.

“It was time to move on,” Oscarson said. “It’s time to let someone else take over. I will miss the customer contact, and will really miss the employees around here. That might be the biggest adjustment: to not see the people I’ve known for years.”

On July 31, Oscarson made his announcement to retire from his position. Although he will officially retire on Sept. 28, he has offered to continue working part-time until his successor is hired and work with the selected candidate during the transitional period, according to a previous story.

The search process has started. The last time an executive position was filled, the process took between four to six months.

“I’m blessed to work with quality people,” Oscarson said. “It’s been a blessing to work with employees around here. They work hard and are very dedicated to their customers. They do great jobs and the professionalism they showed for people in Mower County is probably one of the things I’ll miss most. It’s one of the reasons why I stayed here.”

Do the right thing

Oscarson has served for many years in county government. He remembered several moments he believed were some of his most challenging, as well as the most rewarding, points of his career.

One of those memories included the construction of the Justice Center and the Mower County Jail almost a decade ago. The project was considered to be “highly stressful and contentious,” according to Oscarson, but it was also his proudest achievement.

The project was one that could have easily ended his job in Mower County, he added. Back when Oscarson started in county government, the “survival rate” for someone in his position was about 10 years, he said. Yet, he served as coordinator for more than 30.

“It was one of those projects that if we moved forward with it, it could be the end of my career too,” Oscarson said. “But, I survived it. A lot of times when you build a jail, it’s an expensive project and sometimes voters don’t understand why that happens, and a lot of times they look to clean house of the people involved and try to get different commissioners to come on… we’ve seen that happen throughout the state. It was the right thing to do in my opinion, but it wasn’t well-received by everyone. You have got to do the right thing, no matter what it means for your career or your critics.”

Another noteworthy accomplishment Oscarson achieved as coordinator was the merging of several departments and agencies, done to increase efficiency. He saw the merger of Health and Human Services as well as the merger of the environmental health and feedlot offices.

“It was about merging commonalities and efficiencies,” he said. “I was part of that. When I first started, we had 19 departments. Now, we have eight. Looking at some office mergers and customer service, some of these departments had a common client base.”

From his position, Oscarson learned many lessons over the course of his multi-decade career. He reflected that to be successful in administration, the county coordinator needs to put aside personal views on an issue and ensure that whatever the county board decides results in success.

“You have to be a chameleon. …The county administrator is not the dictator of the county,” he said. “They are a servant to the county board and the public. County boards fluctuate over time. Some were conservative and some were liberal. However, people in my position could say ‘they’re right and they’re wrong.’ You gotta to put that aside and understand that the board governs the county. You can make recommendations and live with it, and accept what the board decided, and try to make it as successful as you can with that.”

With Oscarson retiring, the Mower County Board decided to change the county coordinator position into a county administrator position. With different managing structure and responsibilities, Oscarson shared that he was supportive of the new direction the county board took.

“I know the decision to change the position needed to be done for a while,” he said. “Whether it’d be me or someone else. It shows a lot of merit of the board that they’re taking the bull by the horn. I give them credit for making that move.”

‘Find what fulfills you’

Oscarson never really thought he’d spend the majority of his career and life in his own hometown, having thought that going to a metro-city area would be the pathway to success.

However, after working in Austin, he found that wasn’t necessarily true.

“I never looked back,” Oscarson said. “I never thought I’d live here, and thought I’d move someplace else. A lot of times growing up, you think about wanting to move someplace bigger and better … I moved back to Austin, and it’s a great town to grow up and live in. People think that ‘The grass is always greener on the other side’ and that’s not always true.”

Oscarson has a lake property in Alexandria, Minnesota, and eventually plans to settle there to live out his days fishing, hunting and spending time with his family and grandchildren. Retirement will give Oscarson the chance to venture out and explore the rest of the western part of the United States.

“I’m gonna wake up on a lake, and that’s just what I like,” he envisioned. “Austin’s been a great place to live, but there’s not that kind of stuff around here. I want the opportunity to wake up on the lake … I love the neighborhood, and going up there in the summer and watch the world.

“People have asked me, ‘You lived here all your life, why would you leave?’ Then again, I tell them that ‘I can always come down and visit you now that I have the time.’ They can come up and take a boat ride with me.”

Now that he’s nearing the end of his career, Oscarson said the most important thing was to enjoy what you do and find what fulfills a person’s life.

“You get up in the morning, and you love where you live and work, that fulfills your life,” he said. “Too many people go to bed thinking ‘Oh my god, I have to go back to work again, and I gotta do this.’ Life’s too short to be unhappy. Find what fulfills you. It’s not about making money, it’s about being happy. Always make it work with your family.”