Clovis welcomes new personnel commissioner

Scott Fetterhoff (pictured) is taking over Kevin Dale’s seat on the Clovis Personnel Commission. (Valerie Shelton/Clovis Roundup)

In April, the city council bid farewell to long-term personnel commissioner Kevin Dale and officially appointed Scott Fetterhoff to fill Dale’s vacant seat.

Dale was first appointed to the Clovis Personnel Commission in 2007 and dutifully served the city in that capacity for the last 11 years, bringing to the group his expertise as a labor employment attorney. Though Dale has enjoyed his time on the commission immensely, he said it was time for him to pass on the baton and he thinks Fetterhoff will do an outstanding job as his replacement.

“Eleven years went by really fast,” Dale said. “By trade, I happen to be a labor employment attorney so I work different sides of the fence from time to time. So, serving on the personnel commission allowed me to gain more exposure to being more of the neutral role and overseeing the cases that came before us. My experience is that the City of Clovis, not surprisingly, is a very well rounded city. I personally witnessed in my role as commissioner how the city is run and one thing is there is not a lot of activity coming before the personnel commission because the city is well run and human resources does a great job. But, when cases did come before the commission, it was always very professional.

“With Scott Fetterhoff, I want to assure the city that its in even better hands than it was with me,” Dale continued. “He will do a great job for the city.”

The council expressed their appreciation for Dale and his service by presenting him with a plaque of recognition on behalf of the city.

As for Fetterhoff, though he is not a Clovis native, he said he is excited to serve the city he has come to love over his last few years as a new Clovis resident.

“I grew up in rural northern California in a community that was safe and gave me everything so this opportunity will allow me to contribute something back to the community that I live in now,” Fetterhoff said.

Fetterhoff has worked with the local housing authority as its Director of Human Resources and Organizational Development for the last three years. This capacity, he said, is the first in which he’s worked within the public sector in his career and he said he has come to love the position and how it’s helped him grow both on professional and personal levels. In addition to being a Clovis resident, Fetterhoff’s young son attends Clovis Unified schools and Fetterhoff said his parents also reside here.

“I’m familiar with Kevin Dale and what he is capable of. So, I’m acutely aware of the size of the shoes that I’m going to try to fill and I really look forward to working with you all,” Fetterhoff said to the council and city staff at a recent meeting.

Mayor Bob Whalen said he and General Services Director Shonna Halterman had the chance to interview Fetterhoff and both are pleased with the choice to appoint him to the personnel commission.

“He is very personal and approachable and fair minded, so we are looking forward to having him serve as a commissioner,” Whalen said.

In addition to the new appointment, personal commissioners Jerry Schuber, Kari Mercer and Darren Rose were re-appointed to the personnel commission.

Two incumbents were also re-appointed to the planning commission, Alma Antuna and Amy Hatcher.

Both planning commissioners were grateful for the opportunity to continue to serve.

“Thank you for allowing me to continue to serve this beautiful city,” Antuna said to the council. “It has been an amazing experience. The city has the best planning staff and they make our job easy. I love this city and it’s an absolute pleasure and an honor to serve and I’m excited to see our city continue to grow.”

“Our planning staff is amazing,” Hatcher added. “It is a great experience and I’m many terms in now and pretty much learn something new every month. I’m looking forward to seeing what the rest of this year holds.”