After 45 years, Milford city clerk Hudson retires

MILFORD — Anyone who has stepped foot in City Hall knows Terri Hudson.

For a little over 45 years, she served as city clerk. Now, she has decided to retire and is reflecting on her tenure.

“It’s been an absolute wonderful ride,” Ms. Hudson said. “I am happy I’m done, and it was time I was done. People have told me that I’ll know when it’s time (to step down), and I knew when it was time a couple years ago.”

She added that she has loved solving issues for Milford’s citizens.

“My favorite part was working directly with our residents,” Ms. Hudson said, “especially when they would call in and have a problem. Being able to solve that problem was very rewarding.”

As she exits the office — with no particular plans for retirement just yet — she is continuing to advocate for growth in Milford.

“I hope they continue in the direction they are going right now,” she said. “I can’t think of a better example than Big Oyster (Brewery) coming to Milford. That has just been such a remarkable addition to the city,” referring to the opening of the Fins Hospitality Group restaurant adjacent to the Southern Delaware Golf Club in May.

Ms. Hudson is also remembering the development within her office during her decades on the job.

“Our workforce grew leaps and bounds. Since I’ve been there, I can’t even imagine all the new positions we have had added,” she noted.

For example, she recalled, when she started with Milford, all city staff worked at City Hall. Her office was there, as well as Customer Service, Planning & Zoning, the city manager and an information technology employee.

“That’s all changed because there is now multiple city buildings in Milford,” Ms. Hudson said. “We only have interaction through email. Even phone calls are not as regular as they used to be.”

She is proud of the changes she has endured.

“Many years ago, we were, I think, the second (local) municipality to go to paperless packets (for meetings),” Ms. Hudson said. “That was huge because, at that time, a lot of our council members were used to working with laptops and that sort of thing.”

Such changes will continue to roll out, she said, as “we are now looking into different programs to help with things in my office. Just before I left, we had an agenda-and-minutes program that was approved by council.”

It’s a mindset she hopes remains among city officials and employees.

“I hope that the people that are still working for the city have the same wanting to do good for the people of Milford, which I think they do,” she said, adding, “I’ll be here if they need me, always.”