COEUR d'ALENE - Twenty-eight years would seem a long time, but when you work in the Planning Department, it's not.

"You kind of live one month ahead of time, so your life kind of goes real quick," said Shana Stuhlmiller.

Friday was the administrative assistant's final day with the city of Coeur d'Alene. Since joining the city in 1995, she's worked with five mayors, an untold number of commission members and sat through hundreds of meetings and workshops.

Her roles have included taking minutes, handling mailings, posting agendas and listening patiently to the public.

To do her job well, she said, calls for a thick skin and being a people person.

Some folks, if planning decisions don't go their way, believe they are being picked on and aren't shy about sharing their opinions.

"You can’t let everything get to you because, at the planning commission level, there's a lot of emotion," Stuhlmiller said.

She initially started with the city on a temporary basis. She liked it, did well and was soon hired on permanently with the Building Department.

A few years ago, she moved to the Planning Department, where she stayed.

"People are really great, a big family," she said.

Stuhlmiller said that, over the years, she found there is sometimes the perspective that the Planning Commission has made up its mind about a proposed development before even hearing from people.

"And that is so wrong," she said.

She pointed to the Coeur Terre development approved earlier this year by the City Council and Planning Commission and said parts of the project were changed because of public input.

"Their minds aren't made up," Stuhlmiller said. "People made a difference."

She recalled another proposed development, Copper Ridge in the mid-2000s, near Canfield Mountain. Numerous hearings were held.

"I could really see that the public input really made a difference," Stuhlmiller said.

She said the Planning Department has played a key role in the city's development in the past two decades and believes it has done well maintaining neighborhood integrity.

"If you didn’t have any planning and zoning you’d have chicken coops next to your home," Stuhlmiller said, smiling.

While she said leaving her role with the city will be "bittersweet," Stuhlmiller will remain busy and isn't worried about adjusting to retirement. She and husband Mike live in Hayden.

She's already lined up a part-time job, is an avid pickleball player and considers this her next step in life.

"Going on to the second half, I'm trying to do something I want to do," she said.

You can bet she has it planned out at least a month in advance.