ALLEN COUNTY, Ind. (WANE) ---For more than 40 years, Nelson Peters has been involved in city and county government. Friday was his last day as an elected official and in honor of his extraordinary service, his fellow Allen County Commissioners Therese Brown and Richard Beck made Dec. 20 Nelson Peters Day and called his work, "a lasting legacy." “Nelson goes the extra mile to answer every letter, phone call and email from his constituents,” Brown said, “often going out of his way to assist with issues that are outside the scope of his job or responsibilities.” With that, however, Brown said he struck a balance between “being an active and engaged public official” while doing the same as a husband, father, grandfather and friend. At his last weekly legislative session ever for the commissioners, Peters said he started his career in 1981 as an intern for Fort Wayne Mayor Win Moses. During his long career, he was the human resources director for the city and then the county before becoming a county councilman and then a commissioner. Peters graduated from Snider High School. He received a B.S. in public affairs at Indiana University and an MPA (Masters of Public Administration) from IU, as well. Brown, who couldn’t remember how long she’d known Peters, said there was a lot of shared humor along with hard work. The highest compliment you could get from Peters was a “letter or a report returned unedited or unchanged,” which meant some satisfaction “watching Nelson put his favorite multicolored pen back in his pocket.” Brown reckoned Peters “made Allen County singlehandedly the number one consumer of Diet Mountain Dew and the lower 48 states.” She added that he’d earned “many hours of relaxation to enjoy his pets, beach and his beloved Dodgers.” In an interview after the Friday meeting, Peters said even though he retired to leave the job and would be happy “not to punch an alarm clock”, he wasn’t done yet. “There’s a lot left to contribute in helping to maintain the momentum Allen County has enjoyed over the last few years.” When he started, locally people had “an inferiority complex” comparing the city to other “forts” like Fort Lauderdale and Fort Myers. Now there’s a “real pride when they hear Fort Wayne and Allen County.” Achievements include General Motors $1.5 billion expansion and Parkview Health’s $.5 billion growth besides city and county collaboration in downtown growth. The county still needs more housing because of the county’s growth in people and jobs, Peters said. And as far as development, he predicted that the county-owned property at Lima and Carroll roads, formerly the Byron Health Center, will most likely become a mixed used development for commercial and residential. The existing downtown jail will probably be torn down, he said, but the newer part could be renovated to address mental health needs. “We’ve got a lot of mental health-related problems,” Peters said. Several times over the course of the discussion on jail-related problem, Peters has advocated for mental health treatment. In speaking with officials and others involved in incarceration, Peters has come to the realization that jail populations have anywhere from 60% to 95% of inmates suffering from serious mental problems including schizophrenia and bipolar disorders. It rankles Peters that the state of Indiana strips inmates of Medicaid coverage when “as soon as they’re out the door,” they’re once again eligible. Other states have taken steps to rectify the situation. “It’s absolutely ridiculous.” His hope is “to leave a legacy that people might remember me as a caring, concerned, responsive individual who never saw a problem that was too small to work on.” That said, he will leave the day to day work to other people with new ideas. “I’m not going away. I will follow what happens in this community because I think it’s important to do.”