POCATELLO — The standing-room-only chambers inside Pocatello City Hall transformed from near-unanimous laughter to wet eyes throughout the 90-minute farewell ceremony for departing Mayor Brian Blad and council members Linda Leeuwrik and Rick Cheatum Thursday afternoon.

The reception began with Blad’s 2-year-old granddaughter rushing — seemingly oblivious to the fact the room was packed full of current and former community leaders and local well-wishers — to say hello to Cheatum, asking him, “Are you Santa Claus?” Immediate room-wide laughter followed.

After each municipal official received a commemorative key-to-the-city plaque and custom Pocatello street sign before delivering their final words as elected officials, it was once again Blad’s family who took center stage as he called his wife, Laura, who’s been battling stage 4 cancer for nearly six years, to the front of the dais to thank her for standing beside him for every minute of the 16 years he served as the Gate City’s mayor (and about 20 years before he was elected in 2010).

As Blad prepared to open the ceremony by recognizing Cheatum, his granddaughter’s interruption quickly shifted the proverbial microphone to the outgoing council member and current state lawmaker, who shared the heartwarming story behind the Santa question.

During a previous Christmas Night Lights Parade in historic downtown Pocatello, Cheatum sat inside a Pocatello Regional Transit trolley wearing a red jacket, sporting his salt-and-pepper (but mostly salt) beard and a red stocking cap while shuffling candy back and forth to onlookers. Blad’s granddaughter, seated up front with Laura, kept pushing her mother aside, trying to make room for who she thought was the real Santa Claus.

“When I realized what she was doing, I went up and sat with her as we hit the end of the parade that year. She sat there the whole time looking up at me, but wouldn’t talk to me,” Cheatum recalled, again drawing warm laughter from the crowd.

In his farewell remarks, Cheatum thanked Pocatello voters for the opportunity to serve for the past eight years, describing himself as “a local government junkie” since his first broadcast reporter job in 1972. He reflected on the countless hours of work sessions, nearly 200 evening council meetings and the monthslong annual budget processes.

“I’ve also served as a District 5 representative of the Association of Idaho Cities board of directors the past eight years,” Cheatum said. “That enabled me to bring some of the things that they’re doing in other cities back to Pocatello to help solve some of the common solutions that cities have.”

While the first, but certainly not the last of the night to do it, Cheatum reserved his highest praise for city staff.

“This city staff works their tails off,” he said, his voice tailing slightly with emotion. “I want to thank every employee for the work in every department that they do to build a better city.”

Cheatum also expressed confidence in Pocatello’s future.

“The city’s changed a lot in the 48 years I’ve lived here, and I think much of our success is due to the resilience, acceptance and strength of Pocatello citizens,” he said. “I’ll miss serving as a city Council member, but I’m sure the mayor, council, staff and citizens — working together — will continue to build an even better city for our children.”

Council President Linda Leeuwrik, who began her tenure alongside Cheatum in January 2018, echoed many of his sentiments while adding her own perspective on their eight-year partnership.

“We come from very different backgrounds. We have different political views, but I think you’ve said it best — the only things we really disagree on are cats and nuclear,” Leeuwrik told Cheatum during her remarks. “Most of our decisions on the council are just what’s best for the community, and we were like 99 percent in agreement on that.”

Cheatum later reinforced her point, saying, “Politics doesn’t involve paving streets or making sure your toilet flushes, or you have fresh water every morning or sanitation trucks that show up in your yard. That’s not politics. That’s just good government. And we’ve done, frankly, better than I expected.”

In her own farewell speech, Leeuwrik thanked voters, fellow council members and, especially, city staff. “We have absolutely incredible staff at the city of Pocatello,” she said. “We make decisions up here and decide where the money is going, but they’re the ones who actually serve. They’re the ones who actually do the work and make things happen. They’re the experts.”

She joked about the unexpected education she received during her tenure.

“I’ve learned a lot in these eight years, of things I never thought I’d know, but I know everything there is to know about paving,” she said, drawing a big smile from Public Works Director Tom Kirkman.

When Leeuwrik rose to recognize Blad, the emotion in the room grew, with many in attendance looking around to gauge the sentiment of the room. She admitted to initial nervousness about working with the mayor, having heard many conflicting accounts from people who claimed to know him well.

“What I found out is that almost all of those people and everything they said was wrong,” Leeuwrik said. “A lot of people don’t know the real you. You’re one of the most caring, generous people that I’ve ever met. I know if I ever needed anything and I called this man, he would be there. That is the real Brian.”

She praised Blad’s evolution as mayor and his unwavering commitment to the community.

“I don’t know anyone that cares about Pocatello more than Brian does,” she said. “There’s no personal agendas, no ulterior motives. It’s just what is best for this city.”

Leeuwrik also spoke of Blad’s committed presence throughout the community.

“Most of you know that as mayor, Brian showed up to absolutely everything. There was not an event, anything, any kind of thing going on in the community (he didn’t attend). Brian was always there.”

In his own remarks, Blad admitted that many people who knew him in 2010 “knew there was no way in the world I was going to be the mayor.”

He credited a group of local residents, his “coffee group” whom he met with quarterly, for helping him grow into the role. He described them as wary of his capabilities.

“They were patient and they were kind, and they were scared when I took office,” he said, with one member of the group replying, “As were you.”

Laughing, Blad said, “As was I. But I remember our first meeting. I’ll never forget the first meeting. I had a notebook (with a long list of questions) and we stayed there and answered every question. We talked and it was awesome to have that kind of interest in our community from some citizens that just wanted to know who their mayor was and what he stood for and how they could help.”

Throughout the ceremony, numerous officials offered their congratulations and thanks. Bannock County commissioners Ernie Moser, Ken Bullock and Jeff Hough each presented the departing officials with special challenge coins, with Hough noting that both sides of the coin represented “being committed to excellence” and “going above and beyond.”

Bullock, who served as mayor of McCammon before joining the county commission, recalled working with Blad long before his county role.

“I felt like we had a great relationship. We had cooperation when it came to fire districts, when it came to streets,” he said. “Even other (local cities) besides Pocatello benefited from having Brian as a mayor in Bannock County.”

Public Works Director Tom Kirkman presented each official with personalized street signs — Blad Boulevard, Cheatum Drive and Leeuwrik Lane — each with predrilled holes “so I can put on the fence in the front yard,” Cheatum joked.

Blad’s office staff — city spokesperson Marlise Irby-Facer, City Clerk Konni Kendell, deputy city clerks Shawnie Satterfield Ferrin and Aubriana Resendes, and Chief of Staff Anne Nichols — presented the mayor with a gift bag containing every version of Uno they could find, including a Christmas ornament version. The gift referenced their office tradition of playing the card game during lunch gatherings, with special mention of Ferrin’s competitive prowess.

“If you know some of us, Shawnie, she’s incredibly vicious,” Nichols said.

Blad laughed, adding, “She’s the sweetest a person can be. You never hear anything negative from her. Always happy as can be. Play Uno with her, and look out.”

The ceremony’s most emotional moment came when Blad called Laura to join him.

“I’m grateful for a great wife. It’s not been easy for her. It’s been a lot easier for me,” he said, his voice breaking. “When you have to sit there and listen to things sometimes that you know are not true and you can’t say anything at all, that’s hard.”

Embracing her from the side, Blad added, “We’ve been through a lot together, and I’m grateful for this woman right here, best woman I’ve ever met in my life.”

Moser later addressed Laura directly.

“To be the spouse of an elected official, you get to hear and not be able to say. You go to the store, Brian’s over here talking to somebody, and you are waiting,” he said. “I just want to say thank you to Brian and thank you to his family. A life of service to people.”

Laura interjected, “Oh I don’t wait.”

Leeuwrik also took time to thank the families of all three departing officials.

“The families really serve with us too,” she said. “They go through the campaigns. They go through the hard times, the good times, all of it, and they make a big sacrifice for us to be in office.”

Blad introduced his family members in attendance, including his oldest son, Ben, and granddaughter Avery, his parents, sister Hailey, nieces Paisley and Elli, and brother Gus. He also acknowledged the many friends and supporters who filled the chambers.

In his closing remarks, Blad praised city employees as “hands down, without a doubt, the best that you can find.”

He told county commissioners to “plug your ears” before making the declaration, another grin-inducing moment. Bullock joked that the city kept stealing the county’s employees.

“I am nothing without the employees,” Blad said. “The city council was nothing without the employees being willing and able to do anything and everything that they did. They do a lot of things, and they really don’t get paid a lot of money, and it’s just been a privilege to be able to be an advocate, to be able to work with and serve with them. We’ve laughed, we’ve cried and we’ve cussed — well, some of them. And it’s just been incredible.”

Attendees enjoyed refreshments including two cakes and charcuterie cups filled with meats, cheeses, berries, crackers, mixed nuts and strawberry yogurt-covered pretzels. Among those in attendance were Idaho State University President Robert Wagner, Pocatello Fire Chief Ryan O’Hearn, Police Chief Roger Schei, Chamber of Commerce Director Matt Hunter and many other current and former city employees and local residents looking to “Bladhand” the mayor one last time.

As the ceremony concluded, the three departing officials mingled with the well-wishers, with lines forming to embrace not just the officials but their families, too.

Before the gathering dispersed, Blad surveyed the room one final time.

“I couldn’t be prouder of what the city’s been able to accomplish,” he said. “I Couldn’t be prouder of the employees and what they’ve done and how they’ve done it.”