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FAIRFIELD, IOWA -- He has been the city administrator of Fairfield for two years and now Jeff Clawson is saying goodbye at the end of the week.

Clawson has been in local government for 25 years in Kansas, Illinois, and Iowa. Originally from Illinois, he will be moving back to his home state.

The sudden move was all forced by the changes in the Iowa Pension Law.

“My pension of 23 years with the Illinois pension system and about immediately the same time I moved to Iowa, Iowa changed the rules on the pension rule -- changes the investing from four years to seven -- made it impossible for me to stay for the seven years so I started looking,” said Clawson.

Clawson found the right community and job position as city administrator in Princeton, Illinois which is about the same size as Fairfield.

While his time in Fairfield didn’t last as long as he had wished, he believes to have accomplished quite a bit in his two years. He said he owes his success as city administrator to his relationships with city staff.

“Working with the department heads with the city of Fairfield, there are approximately eight to ten of them in all the various areas that you would guess -- water, waste water, streets, that type of thing -- and I think it was a different structure with me and with the administrator hired from the outside and we established what I would consider to be an excellent working relationship.  And I think that helped them to do their job and it certainly helped me do mine,” said Clawson

His advice to the next city administrator is to be open and flexible.