City secretaries unveil complexities behind running a city

City secretaries unveil complexities behind running a city

Thursday, 07 December 2006

LeAnn Quinn, City Secretary, Cedar Park

A California native, LeAnn Quinn came to Cedar Park without ever having seen the city because she wanted to live closer to her family who had moved to the area. Once she arrived in 1997, she decided it was the perfect place to call home. She immediately began to work as the City Secretary and has continued ever since.

“I love Texas,” she said. “I love Central Texas and I enjoy the people I work with. They’re extended family. They’re so supportive and always there for me.”

Q. What are your responsibilities?

A. I probably have the most public unknown position in the city. I have to make sure all legal requirements are met. All my duties are mandated by state law. For instance, the agenda has to be posted 72 hours before the City Council meeting. I am the official record keeper and all of my mistakes are very public because they violate the law. The people see the results of my work, but they never see me. I am also responsible for all open record requests for the city and I coordinate the elections. I asked the city attorney once what my job was, and he told me that it was to not have an opinion, but to record everyone else’s opinions.

Q. How does your job impact the people of Cedar Park?

A. There are so many different levels of how my job impacts people. The city government gives people the right to get accurate notification and information not only from the council, but also from the board and commissions. They depend on me to get that information. I am somewhat of a gatekeeper. The council relies on me to make sure everything is done legally.

Q. What do you wish you had known before becoming City Secretary?

A. I had worked with a government entity before I came to Cedar Park so I had an idea of how everything operated overall. However, I wish I had more knowledge about the specifics. The city has their own language. We talk in acronyms. I really didn’t know that.

Q. What have you learned about the city that you think most people do not realize?

A. I don’t think many people understand how many people it takes to run a city. When they turn the water on it comes on. When they call the firefighters, they respond. But people don’t see the planning department that gives us our roads. We’re a city of roughly 300 employees and there are a lot of people who work behind the scenes.

Q. What is your favorite holiday tradition?

A. My family waits until the first cold spell, and we roll down our windows in the car and drive around to watch all the Christmas lights. We really want it to be cold.

Education: Bachelor of Business Administration, California State University;

Completed the Texas Municipal Clerks Certification program.

Family: Husband, James; two children, Drew, 11, Nicole, 9.

Contact information: quinn_l@ci.cedar-park.tx.us; 401-5002

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Debbie Haile,City Secretary, Leander

After working for the city for six years, Debbie Haile was promoted to City Secretary in April. Despite the challenges of her job that require constant multitasking, Haile appreciates both the diversity of her responsibilities, as well as the chance to watch Leander develop.

“I like the fact that [Leander] is a young city and has a lot of potential for growth,” Haile said. “It’s a lot of fun to watch it grow and see how it will change. I will be really excited to look at it 20 years from now and be like ‘Wow, this used to be such a small city.’ I am getting to see that from the beginning.”

Q. What are your responsibilities?

A. I put together the agenda, the minutes and work closely with the City Council. I am responsible for keeping the ordinances and record retention. I am the administrator for city elections and work closely with the mayor, helping him with his schedule. I issue the liquor licenses and open record requests. I also do anything the City Manager asks me to do.

Q. How does your job impact the people of Leander?

A. I am the information hub for the city. Everything is kept in my office from ordinances to agendas. If people want to obtain information about the city then they come to me. I get a lot of open record requests. Sometimes the police handle their requests because of legal issues, but for the most part they come through me.

Q. What do you wish you had known before becoming City Secretary?

A. I wish I had understood more of the complexity of the job. Everything in my job is time sensitive. It all must be accurate and on time for the deadlines. I don’t think I realized before I came to this position how complex it would be. Since I had worked in the city I had some idea, but I did not realize how much work it was to be City Secretary.

Q. What have you learned about the city that you think most people do not realize?

A. The city is growing very rapidly and I don’t think most people realize we are operating under the same staff we were a few years ago. I attribute being able to do that to a professional staff. I don’t think people understand what this growth really means. We just got the H-E-B and that’s just the start of the commercial projects. It’s going to be a really great city with the rail station and the transit-oriented development.

Q. What is your favorite holiday tradition?

A. My kids and I open one little gift on Christmas Eve. Then we get up really early like little kids and run and open the rest of them. My daughter is 22, but we still do it.

Education: Attended Texas Tech University; Completing the Texas Municipal Clerks Certification program.

Family: Two daughters, Jessica, 22 and Tera, 17.

Contact information: debbie@ci.leander.tx.us; 528-2743