Batavia worker retires after 48-year career

A familiar face and voice won't be around Batavia city hall much after this week.

Administrative Assistant Bob Popeck, a 48-year employee, is retiring.

And what a near half-century career it's been.

He started Aug. 7, 1960, as a full-time firefighter (after a short stint as a paid-on-call firefighter). In 1963, he switched over to the police department, where he eventually became chief.

In the early 1980s, he became an administrative assistant to Mayor Jeff Schielke (who used to visit the fire station as a boy, then was an auxiliary police officer under Popeck's command.)

Schielke regaled the city council Monday night with tales of the old days, when Popeck was the only full-time firefighter in a much-smaller Batavia. As such, he answered the telephone calls for help, decided what should be done, sounded the alarm for paid-on-call firefighters to respond, drove the truck to the site and hoped somebody else would show up to help.

As a police officer, he was known for organizing the young auxiliary cops for "white phantom" raids in the middle of the night - cutting down bushes and high weeds that irked him because they interfered with visibility at intersections.

"Bob used to be pretty aggressive in his patrol. We had a lot of weeds and bushes ... We didn't send any letters, didn't call anybody," said Schielke of those less-bureaucratic ways of handling problems.

When Popeck moved to city administration, one of the first things he did was help organize the Tri-Com emergency dispatch service for Batavia, Geneva and St. Charles. It was the first multi-jurisdictional service in the state, Schielke said.

Popeck, who turns 72 in September, has a few projects left to finish up, including his stint as chairman of the city's celebration of its 175th anniversary. The party is set for Labor Day weekend. Then, he joked, "I'm not going to do anything for 28 days!'

Besides his city work, Popeck is known for finding and preserving windmills that were manufactured in Batavia. The city was well-known in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Many of the windmills he has found can be seen around town, such as those in front of the Batavia Government Center.

"I'd like to end my stay with the city by saying 'I'm from Batavia and I'm proud of it,'" said Popeck.