After giving 10 years of service to The Citizen and Cayuga County, Publisher Rick Emanuel said it was time for him to take the next step in his career.

The Citizen's parent company, Lee Enterprises, announced Monday that Emanuel has accepted the publisher's position with a sister paper in Glens Falls.

As the new publisher at The Post-Star, which has a circulation of roughly 30,000, Emanuel will be responsible for organizing management teams and promoting the paper's relationship with the community. The Citizen has a circulation of nearly 11,000.

“It was the next logical step in my career,” Emanuel said from Glens Falls on Monday. “I always said I would make sure my children were out of school before I would move, and my last child just graduated. That made the decision a little easier.”

But Emanuel said the decision was still hard because he's leaving behind people whom he had come to view as family. That group included his co-workers at the paper and the people he met while volunteering with organizations such as United Way of Cayuga County, Matthew House, the Cayuga County Chamber of Commerce, Auburn Memorial Hospital and the Cayuga Community College Foundation.

Adding to the difficulty, Emanuel said, he had to be present at The Post-Star for the announcement of his new position, and was not able to tell everyone back in Cayuga County the news himself.

“This was a really hard decision and it was kind of sudden,” Emanuel said. “When I woke up this morning I was loyal to the people in Auburn, and I still am. I don't want people thinking that I deserted them.”

The move will have an effect on numerous local nonprofit boards on which Emanuel has worked.

Gail Homick, the executive director of the county's United Way, said she was shocked when she heard that Emanuel would be moving.

Homick said that when she first met Emanuel 10 years ago, she was most surprised by his enthusiasm and his ability to inspire his co-workers to accomplish their goals.

“I am truly going to miss (Emanuel) as a friend,” Homick said. “We developed a wonderful friendship over the years and shared many laughs and serious conversations. We have had our disagreements at times, but we always maintained our friendship.”

In addition to the impact he has left behind in the community, Emanuel has also left a lasting impression in the region's news industry. He oversaw The Citizen's shift from an afternoon to a morning publication and the creation of the Skaneateles Journal, a weekly newspaper.

Because that impact was not a one-way street, Emanuel said he would never forget the people he met in the county.

“The community here has had a tremendous impact on me,” he said. “I raised my children here and they went to school here, and I worked with a close team of 82 people, and they are like a family to me. It all makes this a hard thing to do.”

Lee Enterprises named Michael Rifanburg, The Citizen's advertising director, interim publisher pending the search for a permanent publisher.

Staff writer Nate Robson can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 248 or nathan.robson@lee.net