MONTAGUE — After nearly a decade of service as director of assessing, Karen Tonelli is ready to retire at the end of the month.

Tonelli, 64, said that after 32 years working in assessing across different municipalities in western Massachusetts, including working as Montague’s director of assessing since August 2016, she’s ready to move on to a new phase in her life starting Feb. 28.

“There’s so many other things to do with life, and I have been doing this for so long that it’s like, ‘What else might be out there that would interest me?’” Tonelli said about her goals in retirement. She hopes to spend time with family members and volunteer with an art museum near her home in New Hampshire.

Before she started work in assessing, Tonelli worked in Washington D.C. as a paralegal, then in the Berkshires and Springfield. After she became involved in town government in Cummington, she embarked on her assessing career.

Outside of her role in Montague, Tonelli is a part-time assistant assessor in Shelburne, president of the Franklin County Assessors Association and a board member of the Massachusetts Association of Assessing Officers — all positions she plans to maintain after retiring from her Montague job.

In reflecting on the last 32 years of her career, Tonelli said the advent of using computers for assessing work was the biggest change she’s seen, whereas the basics of the job, such as assessing fair cash value, haven’t changed.

Tonelli said she’s grateful for the Montague community and staff at Town Hall, complimenting the Board of Assessors she’s worked with over the years.

“They are so crucial to making my job easy and so successful, because they’re the ones who actually take the vote on certain matters,” Tonelli said of her peers.

As Tonelli leaves Town Hall, a hiring committee is being established to fill the director of assessing position. A Selectboard meeting on Monday discussed the process of creating a hiring committee, but no formal vote to appoint members was taken.

“I’m ready to go, but I will definitely miss that group,” Tonelli said of her colleagues. “They are just really interested in good governing and trying to do the best they can for the citizens, and I really like being part of that.”

Erin-Leigh Hoffman can be reached at ehoffman@recorder.com or 413-930-4231.