Jamie Thomas is the city of Auburn’s new financial director.

Thomas’ first day on the job was Monday, July 29. She succeeds Shelley Coleman, who retired in June after 23 years with the city.

Thomas, a 2000 graduate of Auburn Riverside High School, returns to the city after 7½ years as fiscal services director for the city of Renton. Before that, she was a finance manager for Valley Communication Center and previous to that, an auditor for the state auditor’s office.

Thomas, who grew up in the Lake Tapps area, earned her BA and MBA degrees from the University of Washington, Tacoma.

Thomas’ free time, she said, is taken up wrangling her boys, Parker and Cooper, 6 and 8, and by gardening and spending as much time as she can in the great outdoors.

“In the week that I’ve been here, I have found this city is dealing with the same issues we faced in Renton, just different faces and different people,” she said.