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Home My WebLink About2015-0831 Documents Submitted at the Meeting Chxn~~s ~ ~~x~c~ 6're~nljo~se Gc~S 16 rn issiovr s ~~r. CC, {d fk 3 ao w . s ` t '80 '8 S ID '~5 aoOO 'DS '10 'l5 u 1 V The Top Five Things to Know About the Municipal Clerk Position Editor's Note: This article was originally published in the ICMA Clerks work behind the scenes to ensure the smooth newsletter. It is reprinted with permission. operation of local government. In order to facilitate this role, the Clerk's office is becoming professional- On April 17, 2013, the small city of West, TX, expe- ized. Many states mandate professional certification to secure or maintain the position of clerk. The Inter- rienced amajor tragedy. A massive explosion at a fertil- national Institute of Municipal Clerks (IIMC) has izer plant killed 14 people, including 10 first responders. 5,828 members with active Certified Municipal Clerk More than 50 percent of the buildings were damaged, and for a short time, the city was in disarray. and Master Municipal Clerk designations. Certi- fication through the states and the international Joey Pustejovsky, who was the city secretary with organization requires a minimum of 120 hours the responsibility to manage the city and also served as of in-class training. Some states require a higher a volunteer firefighter, was one of those first respond- standard. Texas, for example, requires 200 hours of ers. Municipal clerks are sometimes also known as city independent study and attendance at eight, two-day clerks, town clerks, or city secretaries. As a credit to seminars. their profession, municipal clerks in Texas immediately 2. Secretariat to the governing body. The Clerk posi- offered assistance to step in and help fulfill the necessary tion is one of the oldest in local government. When duties for the city clerk's office in West. the early colonists came to America, they set up The role of a Municipal Clerk is often a misunder- forms of local government to which they had been stood position in local government. To the uninformed, accustomed, and the office of clerk was one of the clerks are often thought to fulfill a primarily clerical first to be established. Today, as in those first posi- role. The importance of the position's role, however, is tions, clerks are selected for their attention to detail, quite clear. The tasks are dictated by law or statute and as well as their ability to be forward thinking and to include some of the most basic services expected by anticipate problems. One task associated with this residents. role is to ensure that public meetings are properly In fact, municipal clerks are often the first and most posted. This might seem mundane, but consider the direct link between residents and government. The posi- following true story. A city secretary described what tion is also responsible for providing transparency in happened at a gathering of individuals to celebrate local government. the opening of a new store. A resident reported to the While clerks are tasked with some functions that city secretary that the assembly being held was ille- are clerical in nature, the professionalism associated gal. This group involved local residents and a quorum with this position is apparent to those familiar with local of councilmembers. While no business of the city government functions. Clerks are knowledgeable about was expected to be discussed, it inevitably was and day-to-day operations in their communities, and manag- thus, constituted a meeting of the council. The Open ers can be among the people who benefit from their Meetings Act dictates that meetings must be posted. knowledge and strengths. The secretary, who assures compliance with the act, was able to advise that the meeting had been posted. 1. Professionalism. A strong, positive professional relationship between the clerk and the manager is Continued on page 19 important for effective service delivery to residents. 18 September 2015 link Neivs Di('c,st The Top Five Things to Know About the Municipal Clerk Position.. . Continued from page ]S 3. Records management. A Clerk is the official keeper rights had not been conveyed. The Clerk told the of records. This responsibility includes the legal lawyer from the stand that the document was incom- liability associated with tasks that involve enormous plete and was not what she had originally submitted legal accountability for a local government. While as evidence from city records. The judge asked if she state and local laws and ordinances may vary with could produce the original document, which origi- respect to specific tasks and functions, in general nated from the early 1900s. The Clerk noted that clerks maintain official records, documents, vital this particular document was located in the clerk's statistics, and financial records. They also record office vault. When she produced the evidence, one and publish council meetings, ordinances, and juror stated it was the "magic" that decided the case, resolutions; retain custody of the official seal; issue and the city retained the mineral rights and money licenses and permits; retain historical records; and associated with it. This type of attention to detail record contracts and agreements, bids, deeds, maps, related to records can save a local government time and various licenses'. A Clerk was recently on the and money. witness stand at a hearing involving land that had 4. Public information. Clerks are now reporting that been donated to a city almost 100 years earlier. The fulfilling requests for access to public information land included mineral rights that were conveyed and is the greatest demand on their time. Thousands a family member was suing the city, claiming she of individuals and entities are requesting hundreds was the rightful beneficiary of the millions of dollars of thousands of pieces of public information for a the city had earned because of these rights. The variety of reasons, and state and federal laws dictate family member's lawyer produced a document that was incomplete and seemed to indicate that mineral Continued on page 23 I~ STRESS-FREE AGENDA MANAGEMENT ttyland's (In Base Arenda Management sututiun i,i i .,I r; "OnBaseeliminate%late nights forthe rr: nr nn:_ printers and volunteers"needed to i . , assemble and distribute agenda packets. The manager's staff now assemble, order areatnl:nr thr ersrr<r na:^rt:nr~ IIn'te4, tram tart to timsh and distribute electronic versions of the enda packets with mouse clicks instead .t`.c uualsr~4 h+etus itt ,tlC,crtt.l.t C+rc•li<~ta,iwt :+r?ef ce~rsl%i hsfiori aoff manual labor." 11Si1y I'LiNish dg,CIIJJS, ntir) utI! IN IId bL[izp•Jt11nL 111dIk2i its i t idc r1 '011 r,.:. 1s t) h,wt> .t da'., , d.t l 4 e,~'i; Inc+rr:vt; n..,,rhe i I:n - t-hu„nr .al t,3i .tt`.rm Hyland.com/Government September 2015 19 11W Netivs Drhest The Top Five Things to Know About the Municipal Clerk Position... Continued from page 79 that public information be made available to those accessibility; distributing election supplies and equip- who request such information. Managing this role . While some went; obtaining lists of registered voters; preparing is proving to be a weighty obligation ballots localities are able to provide staff to assist in this in the manner dictated by law; processing role, not all do even though the number of requests applications from potential candidates for elected may not be proportionately smaller in these places. A office; properly publicizing elections and results of , for example, may request information that tion elections; and properly recording necessary informa- businessdoes not get proportionately smaller with the popula- tion size. Or, an individual resident may repeatedly Clerks have had to become familiar with the Supreme ask for large amounts of information. This, too, is Court decision (June 25, 2013) that changed parts of the not dependent on the size of the town or the number Voting Rights Act of 1965. Fifteen states (nine states and of staff the community may have for fulfilling public parts of six other states) that had required preclearance information requests. In a recent publication by for any changes to election procedures or practices are a state's municipal league, the authors encourage now (tentatively) freed from this requirement, pending public officials to fully understand laws related to decisions from recent legal challenges to this decision. public information above all other laws'. In 2011, As the primary election officials, clerks are working a city manager commented in PM that she wished closely with officials to learn the practical implications she would have more fully understood the impact of this decision for their jurisdictions'. that requests for public information were having on References her city secretary's office and the resulting criticism because of such high demand'. (1) Dolan, Drew A. (2007) "The Clerk," Managing Local Government Services: A Practical Guide, ICMA Press. (2) Texas Municipal League 5. Elections. Clerks are often tasked with adminis- (2013) 1~xas Town and City, "50 Survival Tips for Elected Municipal tering local elections. This can include such duties Officials." (3) Yelverton, Shana (2011) "On Point" Public Management, as: ensuring that polling places meet standards of July 2011, page 4. (4) History of the Municipal Clerk, IIMC website (2013). Proven value Through Lest- in-Cass Coc itication Services ~3s 1 Rt Aid GENERAL • - Codification Division www.generalcode.com September 2015 23