• President's Letter
• New Officers for 2018-2019
• New District Directors
• Call to District 1 & 8
• Clerklist Review & Update
• UW-GB Clerks Institute
• WCEF Scholarships
• IIMC Region VI News
  
  
  

DISTRICT MEETINGS

About Us

THE WMCA MISSION:
To be the premier source for the personal empowerment of municipal clerks in Wisconsin through education, professional development, and the promotion of excellence.

Wisconsin Municipal Clerks Assoc.

Website:  wisclerks.org

Happy Summer!

As I write this, the day is sweltering in much of the State, and while I know we were all anxious for summer to hit, I hope everyone is staying hydrated and cooling off by the pool or lake or in an air conditioned environment!  Since we are in Wisconsin, we can just give it time and I’m sure the temperatures will fluctuate somewhere between 55 and 95 during the next 10 days!

With this article, I wanted to provide you information that I have learned while being a member of the US EAC Standards Board/USPS Committee, regarding Election mail and related issues. 

As your local Clerk representative for Wisconsin on the US EAC Standards Board, I was assigned to the USPS Committee.  If you’re not familiar with US EAC and the Standards Board, the Board is made up of 2 representatives from all US states and territories.  One is the State representative, in our case Megan Wolfe the Interim WEC Administrator, and the other, the Local Clerk representative, myself.  I was appointed to this position in 2016.

For those that may not have heard of no-mail Tuesday, it relates to how, for the most part, Tuesday’s mail usually only contains 3^rd class items, or ‘junk’ mail.  All your newspaper fliers, catalogs and ads.  This is because the Post Office no long sorts any mail on Sundays.  So, on Monday, the mail you get is what was sorted on Saturday.  Since nothing is sorted on Sunday, there is no mail of significance usually on Tuesday’s.  You may not have heard the term previously, but probably have had the experience of no-mail Tuesday.

While attending the US EAC Standards Board meeting, the Postmaster General for the United States was one of our speakers.  It was at this meeting that I learned other States have the same issue we do with no-mail Tuesday.  In fact, in the prior Presidential Election, Chicago had 20,000 absentee ballots that were delivered the day after the Election and of course could not be counted because they did not count anything that came in after 8pm on Election Day, like we now do again.  This would have been a significant number of votes.

Barbara K. D. Goeckner MMC/WCPC

President, Wisconsin Municipal Clerks Association

My name is Wendy Helgeson and I have been Town Clerk for the Town of Greenville for three years.  I am thankful to have a fun, supportive staff and co-workers who help make working in Greenville great!

Prior to becoming the Town Clerk in Greenville, I worked for the City of Appleton for eight years.  I started in the Clerk’s office as an Administrative Assistant for five years and was then promoted to Deputy City Clerk for two years before accepting the role in the Town of Greenville. 

I am a big believer in education and the power of networking. I support WMCA and the Clerks and Treasurers Institute and have become increasingly involved in these organizations.  I began my involvement by serving on the Advisory Board for the UWGB Clerks and Treasurers Institute.  I was then on the WMCA 2016 Conference Committee, the Ad-Hoc Legislative Committee, elected to serve as the Secretary for WMCA and District 7 in 2016 and reappointed in 2017.  I have had the opportunity to co-instruct at the UWGB Clerk’s and Treasurer’s Institute, at the Northern Conference and at a District meeting. 

These opportunities have been exciting and have encouraged me to become increasingly involved in what I have grown to love most about this organization:  the opportunities for education, the network of fellow Clerk’s that you meet and learn from outside of the classroom and the friendships created.  I’m looking forward to the journey towards Presidency and encouraging our membership to become involved.

I am a proud mother of two; my daughter Madison and my son Hunter. For fun, I enjoy playing outside any chance I get!  I also love to cook, travel and new adventures; but most of all, I love spending time and laughing with those I love.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

My name is Angie Cain and I have been the Deputy Clerk for the Town of Grand Chute for almost nine years.  Prior to working for Grand Chute, I was the Deputy Clerk for the City of Neenah for two years.   With almost 11 years of Clerk experience, I have learned that you should always continue on with your education.

I want to continue to grow with WMCA, from previously being a District 7 Co-Director for one term to currently running for Secretary.  I believe in networking with other clerks to share ideas and experiences.  I also believe in all of the educational opportunities that WMCA brings its members.  I have served on several committees such as the Promotions Committee, Conference Committee, Certification Committee, and the Professional Education Committee.  I would like to encourage those who haven’t participated to get involved with this great organization.

In my spare time, I enjoy traveling.  Within the last year, I have traveled to Riviera Maya, Punta Cana, Cancun, and I have a trip planned to Las Vegas this summer.  I got married in Jamaica to my husband Josh and became a stepmom to 3 children:  twin 17 year-old boys, Jorden and Joe, and a 12 year-old girl, Aaliyah.  We also have a spoiled black lab, Irie, that makes our family complete.  As a family, we love to go camping at our permanent site in Farmer Gene’s Campground in Marion, WI.

My name is Brenda Ayers and I seeking the office of WMCA Treasurer for a second term. Prior to becoming Treasurer I served as a Director-at-Large in 2015-2016.   I am currently the Administrator/Clerk/Treasurer for the Town of Burke.  I have been a municipal Clerk/Treasurer for seventeen years. In August I will celebrate my ten year anniversary at Burke.  Prior to my current position I was a Clerk/Treasurer in the Village of Dane and Town of Lodi. My Associate’s Degree in Accounting and six years of experience on the WMCA Finance Committee give me a solid foundation to serve as Treasurer.  In addition to my experience with the WMCA, I have served on the Board of Directors of the DeForest-Windsor Area Chamber and was a member of its Finance Committee.  During my first term as Treasurer, I worked with Faith and the Finance Committee to establish the WMCA Accounting Policies and Procedure Manual.  Over the years the WMCA has made a lot of progress in the handling of the finances of the organization and I would like to continue to play a role in that effort.

My name is Sara Bruckman and I am the Village Clerk for the Village of Shorewood in Milwaukee County.  I have been blessed with an amazing and supportive group of staff and co-workers.  My motto is, “Not all who wander are lost.” 

I started in Municipal Government in 2011 as a Clerk/Typist for the Village of Greendale and within a short time was promoted to Utility Clerk. I enjoyed answering phones, handling taxes, and assisting with election related items. After a retirement in 2014, I was promoted to Deputy Clerk.  In 2016 I took the leap to become the Clerk for the City of Delafield, but my heart belonged in Milwaukee County and at the end of 2017 I accepted the Clerk position in the Village of Shorewood. 

Since I started in Municipal Government I have had the chance to learn and grow from some amazing mentors.  These people have provided the key to success and the support to continue with education and advancement.  It is a vital part of the WMCA to continually provide that support and education factor, in which I am a strong advocate for.  I graduated from the UWGB Clerk’s and Treasurers Institute in 2017 and was also a member of the Advisory Board.  I am currently the Vice President/Secretary for the Metro Municipal Clerk’s Association; which is an organization to improve local governmental administration in southeastern Wisconsin through local Municipal Clerks.

For fun, I enjoy volunteering, cooking and event planning.  While am not working, I am spending time with my husband Brandon and our three children; Hannah 16, Emma 12 and Calvin 5. 

MEET THE NEWLY ELECTED
CO-DISTRICT DIRECTORS
OF THE
WMCA BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Each Spring, according to the Constitution, the Districts hold an election for one Co-Director for the district to hold office for the next 2 years.  Here are the names of the Co-Directors that were just elected or re-elected to office:

District 2 – Frances Duncanson WCPC/MMC/CMTW, Clerk/Treasurer, City of Amery

District 3 – Michelle Loken, Clerk/Treasurer, Village of Strum

District 4 – Lois Frank WCPC/MMC/CMTW, Village of Cambria

District 5 – Shirley Roberts, Deputy Clerk, City of Franklin

District 6 – Cindi Gamb WCPC/MMC/CMTW, Deputy Clerk/Treasurer, Village of Kohler

District 7 – Melissa Hongisto, Deputy Clerk, Village of Suamico

 Calling all District 1 and District 8 Members!

There are two seats still open for the WMCA Board of Directors for the 2018-2019 year.  District 1 and District 8 were unable to have Spring meetings with enough attendance to discuss and vote on a new co-director for each District for the next two years.  Therefore, we are looking for candidates for the office of Co-District Director for District 1 and 8.

The seats that are open are:

District 1 – Connie Iacobello, Clerk, City of Mellen

District 8 – Kendra Moraczewski, Clerk/Treasurer, Town of Boulder Junction

Please email your nomination (even for yourself) for the office of Co-District Director to the Executive Director Faith Elford at execdirector@wisclerks.org by the end of June.  If there is more than one member nominated for a district, the Executive Director will send out an electronic ballot to the district and there will be an election. 

This is your chance to give back to the WMCA and get involved.  You will have a Co-Director to work with, as well as the Executive Director to help you set up district meetings for the next year.  You can also help mold the future of WMCA as a member of the Board of Directors.  If you have any questions, please contact a current Co-Director or the Executive Director.   Hope to hear from you!

It has been a while since we have talked about Clerklist and I know there have been many new clerks joining the email network in the last year.  I think it is important to go over a few items concerning the use of Clerklist.

The WMCA ‘Clerklist’ is an email listserv service from a company called PagePlanet, Inc. dba A-List Hosting.  We started using their services in June 2007.  PagePlanet is a well-established company that has been in the listserv business since 1996 and works with everyone from small associations to Fortune 500 companies. 

In addition to listing the instructions to set up your Clerklist account, the second page of the Clerklist Instruction Sheet does have the WMCA Information Technology Policy.  Please do read the second page before you begin using Clerklist. 

I am going to touch on a couple of the more important policies and procedures:

• Clerklist allows you to send out a question to about 1/2 of our active membership (680 are signed up right now) and get answers in minutes.  Clerklist shows everyone the original question but when you hit “Reply” to send a response, the responses only go back to the clerk that asked the question.  In fact, it is against our Clerklist policy to hit “Reply All” to send your answer.  Depending on the time of year and what is happening in the clerk’s world, there can be 10 to almost 50 Clerklist emails go out each day.  If the system also sent all the answers back to everyone, our mailboxes would be overloaded each day, and I think we can all agree, we already get too many emails each day.  What we rely on is the cooperation and comradery of our fellow clerks.  If you see a clerk put out a question that you would like the answer to, simply hit “Reply” to the question and ask the fellow member to please send you the answers he or she receives.  The WMCA Board thanks all our members for their cooperation.

• Another very important policy is that every user needs to have a signature block at the end of their emails.  When you ask a question, the answer can be different depending on whether you are a town, city or village.  Therefore, we ask that your signature block contain your full name, title, municipality, address, county, population, phone and fax number and email address.

• One last reminder:  when you change your email address, please email the Executive Director so that your main membership record can be updated for you.  You also need to tell the Executive Director if you are on Clerklist and she can update your email address in there also, but it is a separate program from our main records, so you do have to mention it separately.

**Special Clerklist Notice for those that ask the system to give you a Digest everyday**

As you may or may not be aware, in the last week there were some internet-wide changes that took effect for security reasons.  (I am not a professional IT person, so that is my simplified way of explaining it to you.)   We have been informed by GovOffice that our website is sound and secure and Cvent worked for months to make sure that they had the new standards in place by the deadline and they have, so you can be assured that your credit card payments are secure.

However, I think A-List Hosting may have missed a correction for the new standards and I have heard from two members that get a daily Digest from the Clerklist system that the digest in not working as it did.  A-List Hosting is working on a solution and I will let you know when they figure it out.

As of Monday, June 11th, IIMC Region VI Director, Dan Buchholz of Spring Lake Park MN, has resigned as the Minnesota representative for Region VI.  Because his term (2017-2020) is the term for the State of Minnesota to fulfill, I have deferred to the MCFOA State President, Marita Rhude, to present nominations/applicants to IIMC for his replacement as Region VI Director.  

Marie Moe from the City of Portage will remain the representative for the State of Wisconsin from 2018-2021. Iowa will have the next representative at the end of the 2020 term.

Should you have any questions regarding this change in Directors, please don't hesitate to contact me.

President Goeckner, MMC/WCPC