GUY CARROZZO -- MAYOR’S COLUMN

I have asked Fountain Valley City Clerk Susan Lynn to identify the many

responsibilities assigned to the city clerk’s office and to explain a

little about her function. She has also provided a historical perspective

of the clerk’s role. If you have specific questions for Susan or her

staff, please call 593-4445.

Perhaps no other municipal role is as misunderstood as that of the city

clerk.

Far from being someone in the steno pool (as the name might suggest),

this professional role can be traced back many centuries. In ancient

Greece, for example, city secretaries read official documents publicly,

and at the opening of each public meeting they read a curse upon anyone

who sought to deceive the public.

The city clerk title comes to us from the Middle Ages. A clerk was any

member of a religious order (from whence we get the words cleric and

clergyman). Since scholarship was generally limited to the clergy, the

name clerk became synonymous with scholar.

When the colonists first came to North America, one of the first

governmental roles established was that of the town clerk. It took a

scholar (or someone who could read and write) to be the clerk.

Over the years, the municipal clerk’s office has become the hub of a wide

variety of local government processes.

City clerks are community historians, elections officers, overseers of

legislative procedures and custodians of the written public record. And

just as in ancient Greece, the city clerk also oversees processes so that

the public is not deceived.

Political scientist William Bennet Munro once wrote that a city clerk’s

work demands versatility, alertness, accuracy, and no end of patience.

The public does not realize how many loose ends of city administration

the city clerk’s office pulls together.

You may ask what kinds of loose ends a city clerk would pull together.

Besides being the official recorder of city business, the city clerk and

staff provide a full spectrum of public information to resident

inquiries, speak to groups about local government, provide filing

information to candidates, serve as liaison to the secretary of state’s

office and the registrar of voters, attest ordinances and resolutions,

prepare public relations materials, prepare grant proposals and

administer grants, manage bid openings, and process agreements and

contracts -- to name a few.

And as the local elections officer, Susan equips Fountain Valley

residents for voting by helping them register.

Citizens 18 and older in Fountain Valley may register to vote at any

time, Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., in the city clerk’s

office, which is in City Hall.

But take note: On Feb. 7, Susan and her staff will provide extended voter

registration hours -- from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. in the Fountain Valley

Library. Feb. 7 is the last day to register for the March 7 California

presidential primary.

With Fountain Valley’s renewed patriotic energy, I especially urge you to

empower yourself for the voting booth. If you have moved or changed your

name, stop by the city clerk’s office or the library on the evening of

Feb. 7 and register to vote. Our democracy depends on it.

* GUY CARROZZO is the mayor of Fountain Valley.