Monterey Communication Manager Laurie Huelga retires after 25 years working for the City.

If there is one lesson that Laurie Huelga learned through 25 years working for the City of Monterey’s communications and outreach team – ultimately retiring in July as the division manager and public information officer – it’s that communication is always the key.

“Whatever the topic, communication is key, but you have to do it respectfully,” Huelga says. “If we have respectful conversations, we can figure out any problem. It’s important to be respectful and kind and to communicate because a lot of times, what you think is true may not be.”

Huelga considers herself a late bloomer. She ran the Aquarius Dive Shop in Monterey with her late husband in the 1990s before getting “the itch” and changing career paths. It was while operating the dive shop that she found a love of the burgeoning art of web design, which landed Huelga her first job with the city.

“Around the mid-’90s, small businesses were just beginning to get websites and the web designer here was a guy with the only ISP in town called Red Shift, so we hired him,” says Huelga. “When I saw the website, he used Times New Roman font. I didn’t know much about fonts at the time, but I knew I didn’t want that. That’s when I had this ‘Oh my gosh’ moment that I needed to learn how to build websites.”

Huelga taught herself HTML and took online classes while raising her young children, and “it just clicked for me,” she says. One day, she noticed a wanted ad in the newspaper for a volunteer web design position with the City of Monterey’s Communication and Outreach office. It eventually turned into a part-time and then full-time gig, which included much more than just website design and development.

Weekly: Do you remember your first day working for the City of Monterey?

Huelga: I absolutely do remember because I was supposed to start on 9/11 [2001]. And my boss at the time, Krista [Lemos], called me and she said, “Hey Laurie, we’re going to have to postpone this by a week,” so I’ll never forget that I started on Sept. 18, 2001.

What are the more memorable moments over your time with the city?

The emergencies that we had to deal with and being part of the emergency team. Every single emergency was so different. In times of true emergencies, there were successes and areas where we could do better.

One of the biggest successes in my mind was how we handled Covid. [Assistant City Manager] Nat [Rojanasathira] and [then-City Manager] Hans [Uslar] were the best team. Their skill sets blended so well. Nat helped the IT team get everything set up virtually and Hans had the vision and perspective to reach people in the community, like seniors, who were really isolated. We did emails and press conferences every single day during Covid for at least the first 10 months. We didn’t always know what we were doing, but we figured it out.

What were some of the biggest challenges for you as PIO?

The challenge is always reaching everyone in the community. A lot of people don’t care about being reached. They want to go about their day and they’re fine with the programs and services the city provides. Sometimes I would think, “Short of knocking on every person’s door, how do I get this information out?” You have to do it in multiple ways and constantly be fluid and open to new ideas.

What did you learn through your career with the city that you didn’t expect to learn?

That I could work well under pressure, which is something I didn’t know about myself before I had this job. And the most important thing I learned in PIO training is to have empathy for your fellow community members. That’s how you help people and that’s how you build a community…

If someone asked me to do something and I didn’t know how to do it, I wouldn’t say no. I would figure it out on my own and it was always so rewarding. That’s how I’ve grown over the years. I gained confidence that I didn’t have when I first started.

What have been the most enjoyable aspects of retirement so far?

I’m already helping more with my two grandkids. I’m doing some home projects and I’m going to travel more and exercise. I’m going to be at the Sports Center in the morning instead of waiting until after work. My goal is to stay as fit as I can so I can keep traveling and having fun.

And I have to ask, where are the bodies buried?

Even if I knew, I couldn’t tell you.