TOWER — Tammy Mortaloni has been on the job at Tower City Hall for less than a week, but she has jumped into her new duties with confidence, a willingness to learn, and previous job experience that should insure a smooth transition.
“I like the variety,” she said as she was settling into her first week on the job. “It’s always busy, a little bit of everything.”
Though she did acknowledge there is a lot to learn.
The priority this week was finalizing the city budget, and “getting the city in a good position to start the new year.”
Mortaloni has a wealth of job experience, including paralegal, finance, judicial, supervisory, and governmental positions. She has worked for private, nonprofit, and governmental organizations. She just resigned as treasurer for Greenwood Township, but she is keeping her position as treasurer for the Vermilion Penguins Snowmobile Club.
The one part of the job she isn’t that familiar with is the city’s accounting software, but she will be doing online training through the League of Minnesota Cities, to learn the ins and outs.
Mortaloni, who grew up in Duluth, moved to the Iron Range in 2007, and then to Lake Vermilion in 2017. Her husband’s family has had a cabin on Echo Point since 1969, that along the way was turned into a year-round home, which the couple now owns.
“His lifelong dream was to live up here,” she said. Tom has worked as a millwright at MinnTac for over 30 years. The couple has four children between them, all living in Minnesota, and six grandchildren.
The couple enjoys snowmobiling, riding ATVs, and camping, though Mortaloni said as she has gotten older, she isn’t as excited to snowmobile when it’s very cold out.