Meter money counter the oldest council employee

Sijtze Mohlmann has been counting the parking meter money at the Gisborne District Council every Wednesday morning for 20 years. 

And he loves it. 

“It gets me up and gives me purpose for the day,” the 80-year-old said in a council release. 

He remembers the exact day he started, June 30, 2004, and is proudly the eldest employee at the council. 

Mohlmann uses the same old-school counting machine, bags up the money and gets it double-checked before it’s collected by Armour-guard. 

Some of the more interesting findings over the years have been the number of foreign coins that get through. 

“I’ve had Euros, Fijian, American and Canadian currency.” 

Dutch by birth, he has called Tairāwhiti home for 55 years. 

He trained in Holland as a pastry chef and moved to New Zealand in 1966 because it was “a good country with a good climate”. 

He worked at Oslers Bakery for a couple of years in Wairoa before moving to Gisborne and buying The Cake Kitchen, which he and his wife owned for 26 years. 

After that, he transitioned towards retirement as he didn’t want to work more than three days a week. 

He delivered eggs for a few years, worked at Elgin Liquorland, helped with the Lions, and loves to play snooker and golf. 

Mohlmann met wife Enaka, also from Holland, during his first year in Gisborne and they raised two daughters who have given them four grandchildren.