Councilwoman Applies for Bronson Clerk’s Position as Town Council Starts Job Search
By Terry Witt – Spotlight Senior Reporter
Bronson Town Councilwoman Katie Parks became the first applicant for the job of Town Clerk Monday, a position vacated by Pam Whitehead a week ago just as the town was beginning its annual budget process.
She is the only applicant thus far.
The town council has hired Melisa Thompson for the position of deputy clerk to replace Susie Robinson. She will take the job in two weeks. She gave her current employer in Williston two weeks’ notice.
Bronson currently has no clerk or deputy clerk.
Thompson will earn $13.50 an hour. Robinson will help Thompson get her feet on the ground by working with her in Town Hall while she adjusts to the new position.
The salary range for the future Bronson town clerk will be $32,000 to $42,000 depending on applicant’s level of experience. The town has posted the position on its website and with the Florida League of Cities as well as a local newspaper.
Deadline for applications is June 28.
Council members met in special session Tuesday and hired Express Employment Professionals, a temporary job company to search for a future clerk using the job description provided by the city. The council said its decision won’t be firm until they contact Express Employment to find out what the town’s obligations would be if one of their clients went to work on a temporary basis as the clerk.
The council discussed the possibility of hiring a Certified Public Accountant on a temporary basis to go over the town’s books and make sure everything is in order before the new clerk comes on board, but delayed a decision until they know whether they any applicants with an accounting background apply for the position.
Mayor Bruce Greenlee said he knows the town is in a tough spot with Whitehead leaving town as the budget process starts. She gave two weeks’ notice, but then departed several working days earlier than scheduled.
“To say I was disappointed would be an understatement, but it is what it is,” Greenlee said of Whitehead’s resignation.
But the mayor was philosophical. He said he has learned not to allow things he can’t control, to control him.
Parks, who has a military background and has worked in surgical centers, said she would take all the necessary clerk’s training courses through the Florida League of Cities to increase her knowledge of how to operate the town. She remembered former Clerk Kelli Brettel taking the same courses and using the knowledge to develop the necessary skills to run the town.
She said most of what she knows about Town Hall operations comes from having gone through the budget process as a councilwoman over the past four years, but also from watching Whitehead and the clerk before her, Brettel, do their jobs.
Photo by Terry Witt: Jason Carr of Express Employment Professionals speaks to the Bronson Town Council. Shown from the left are Public Works Director Erik Wise (partially visible) substituting for the clerk, and council members Robert Partin and Katie Parks, Mayor Bruce Greenlee and Councilwoman Beatrice Roberts.
Special Town of Bronson Meeting June 12, 2018
Posted June 12, 2018
