Canal Winchester's Osborn to retire
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| OSBORN |
City of Canal Winchester Finance Director Nanisa Osborn will retire in December after three decades of public service, but do not expect to find her whiling away the hours in a rocking chair.
Osborn plans to continue volunteering with Destination: Canal Winchester, Labor Day, the Canal Winchester Area Historical Society and the Circleville Pumpkin Show (for the last seven years, she has handled public relations for the annual festival). In addition, Osborn intends to crisscross the nation visiting friends she made while working for a national newspaper in the 1980s.
"I plan to do some traveling," said Osborn. "I made friends all over the country when I worked for USA Today. I'm going to enjoy time to myself-no more evening meetings."
Born and raised near Williamsport, her entry into public service began in college when she worked for Pickaway County. She served as the county's clerk of courts before moving briefly to the west coast. When Osborn returned to Ohio, she was hired as Circleville's city auditor in 1978 and then served in finance and accounting for USA Today in Cleveland and New York.
In 1992, Osborn left the publishing industry to be closer to family in Ohio and was hired as finance director for the city of Groveport, followed by a tenure in the same position in New Albany. Eight years later, Osborn took on the administrator's duties in Madison Township and then went to Canal Winchester in 2004.
"I was drawn to finance and accounting because of my dad," said Osborn. "He loved math and instilled the same love of numbers in me. Starting in first grade, he would give me a math problem to solve every day. They were easy at first, but he made them more complex as I grew older. He said I couldn't use paper to figure them out. I had to do them in my head. Math has been my livelihood ever since."
During her time in Canal Winchester, Osborn assisted in the transition from village to city government and watched finances grow from $5.6 million in 2004 to nearly $11.6 million as of Oct. 3, 2012.
"We've done some pretty amazing projects that will continue to have a big impact over the years-such as nine major infrastructure projects; including the acquisition of park land and renovations to Columbus Street, which I think I've enjoyed the most," said Osborn. "I'm always very proud of a clean audit with no findings, which happened last year. It's a great accomplishment."
With 30 years nearly behind her in a profession that tapped into her love of numbers, Osborn said she will really miss the people she works with in the city.
According to Osborn, Canal Winchester is in the process of advertising for a new finance director and the city hopes to have someone hired before she retires on Dec. 31.