A young preacher moved to a small town and the pastors of the other two churches there welcomed him by taking him fishing. When their boat was a fair distance from the shore, one pastor remembered he had left his phone in his truck. “I’ll be right back,” he said as he stepped out of the boat, walked on the water to the shore, grabbed his phone and walked back.

The young preacher watched in stunned silence. A few minutes later, the other pastor said he had to go to the restroom and walked on the water to and from the restroom on shore.

The young preacher couldn’t conceal his amazement.

“How did you do that?” he asked.

“Faith,” he was told.

The young preacher fell quiet and, after a whispered prayer, he slipped out of the boat…and sank like a stone.

The other pastors pulled him in the boat without a word. A few minutes later, the young preacher tried again, with the same result. When he stepped out of the boat and sank for the third time, one pastor turned to the other and said, “I guess we had better show him where the stepping stones are before he drowns himself.”

During Monday’s work session, the Columbus City Council and Mayor discussed the retirement of two long-time employees. Pat Mitchell, HR director for 21 years, leaves in June after 40 years working for the city. Duane Hughes, fire chief since 2022, will retire in April after almost 31 years with Columbus Fire and Rescue.

The city will be able to hire replacements for these important positions. They are losing two key people who know where the stepping stones are, though.

Both Mitchell and Hughes worked their way through the ranks, filling a variety of positions and gaining experience along the way. Mitchell started working for the city in 1985 in the city inspection department and was named HR director in 2005; a few years later she took on additional duties as deputy city clerk.

Hughes began working as a city firefighter in 1995 and worked six years as the department’s training officer before becoming assistant chief in 2016. Hughes became fire chief when Martin Andrews retired in 2022.

Because of their paths through these departments, Mitchell and Hughes developed a working knowledge of every job duty. That, along with their long tenure, made them particularly valuable to the city.

In the working world the stepping stones are known as institutional knowledge.

Long-term employees know policies and procedures like the back of their hands. They know the history of the organization, what worked in the past, what didn’t and how problems were solved. They know the staff and their strengths/weaknesses. They’ve learned how to do their jobs efficiently. They’ve built trust within and outside their departments.

Mitchell has no heir apparent and neither does Hughes, who hasn’t had an assistant chief since he was promoted to chief. The next HR director and fire chief will almost certainly be outside hires.

They will not have the combined 71 years of institutional knowledge of Mitchell and Hughes to fall back on.

They’ll have to find the stepping stones on their own, before they drown.

The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.