New Easthampton mayoral assistant happy to be returning back to government.
EASTHAMPTON – She first worked here when Easthampton was still a town and former Mayor Michael Tautznik was first elected to the Board of Selectmen.
Now Susan Giza has returned to be the administrative assistant to new Mayor Karen Cadieux.
In between, she has worked at Cooley Dickinson Hospital in Northampton, the former Delaney House, the former Department of Mental Retardation and most recently as a school secretary in Windsor, Conn.
“I feel like I went around the circle and came back home.”
She had been the secretary to the Board of Selectmen in 1988 when the office was in the Old Town Hall and departments were in different buildings not all together like they are now in the Municipal Building.
Some of the people she worked with then are still in the city, like City Clerk Barbara LaBombard and Joseph Pipczynski, director of the Department of Public Works.
“I’ve always loved Easthampton,” she said, moving here in 1976 raising three children here including her daughter MaryAnn Giza, assistant city clerk.
“It was a fantastic opportunity,” she said of the job. She was chosen from a field of 52.
Her previous municipal experience was one of the reasons she was selected, Cadieux said.
After she left the job in the city she served on the Finance Committee and Historical Commission.
In some ways, it’s not all that different than it was more than 20 years ago.
“It’s a lot more ecologically minded,” she said of the city. She had no idea “there was so much solar energy.”
And the city “has grown a lot.”
The city though was and “is a very community-minded place.”
In the first two weeks since she started, she’s been learning the details of the fiscal budget, dealing with calls about potholes.
“It’s so multi-faceted,” she said of the work. Cadieux was always considered the go-to person in the building and Giza said she hopes to fulfill that role as well. “I’m very laid back,” she said. And she likes talking to all the people who pass through the building.
She said it’s important to listen to people “to validate their feelings. I think I’m a good listener. I have a lot of patience,” she said. “I really have a strong natural desire to help people. I find it very rewarding.”
And she said, “The taxpayers do pay my salary.”
While Cadieux did not know Giza well before she was hired, she said “I’m happy she’s here.”