 After the unanticipated resignation of Melanie Riggs in February,
the nominating committee had to fill a blank spot on the ballot for
the April election. They first called on Susan Gelhbach, assistant
city clerk, who acted as interim clerk. But, Gehlbach respectfully
declined.Martinek said that after that, it was her husband, Vic,
who suggested that she should run for the clerk position. She
struggled with the decision because she liked the position she was
filling in the county clerk's office. She enjoyed her co-workers,
and she just wasn't sure she wanted to try to make a move.
But, she kept it in the back of her mind, talked it over with
co-workers at county and even with her boss, Sally Litterly, Logan
County clerk and recorder, all of whom encouraged her to throw her
name in the hat.
In the meantime, the committee offered up another name, and
Martinek said she thought, "Well, that is that."
But as fate would have it, that person also declined the
nomination, and Martinek decided it was time to take action. She
submitted her name, was nominated and subsequently elected to fill
the position of city clerk for Lincoln.
Prior to being elected, Martinek was with the county clerk's
office for approximately six years. She said that the transition
into the city position was not all that difficult. The tasks were
similar, but the procedures were quite different.
In spite of the abrupt circumstances, Gehlbach's experiences as
interim clerk were very helpful in getting Martinek acclimated to
her new role with the city. "Susan was put into a situation where
that she had to learn a lot very quickly, and now it is a learning
process between the two of us," Martinek explained. She said that
Susan, as well as the other two ladies in the clerk's office, Brenda
McCabe and Doris Anderson, have been very helpful to her.
"All three of them are really good, and I am blessed that I have
them. There have been times when I didn't know what I was supposed
to do about something, and one of them would say, ‘Well, this is
what we've done in the past.'"
The clerk and her staff handle the majority of the city's record
keeping, including payroll for all city employees, human resources,
accounts payable, accounts receivable, sewage bill collection and
parking ticket fine collection; and they are the city's official
birth and death registrar.
Martinek is the official recorder for the city council, which
includes setting agendas for meetings, sending out all the notices,
assuring that petitions are presented to the council, signing off on
official records of meetings and assuring that the mayor and
aldermen sign off on all passed resolutions and ordinances.
In addition to the "normal" duties of the office, Martinek has
taken on some pretty big challenges in getting the city clerk's
office reorganized and updated, and it has turned into a bigger
project than even she had imagined. "At first I thought it would
take six months to clean up some of the messes, and going into my
second month, I thought, ‘I'm not even close.'"
Some of the work that is being done involves upgrading the
accounting software and learning to use it to its full capacity.
Martinek said that she was surprised to find that some of the
accounting for the city was still being done with "T-graph
analysis," which is a method for organizing accounting entries using
pencil and paper.
The software updates are a work in progress, and Martinek
believes it may take as long as 24 months to get all the systems
completely updated.
She noted that one of the machines they use now for record
storage is a microfiche, which records documents on a plastic-like
material similar to that of an X-ray. The machine is wearing out,
and she will soon need to make a decision on what they will replace
it with.
In addition, a new filing system for the clerk records needs to
be established. She and her staff are working on a records retention
policy that will outline what records have to be kept for all time,
and what can be disposed of after a certain number of years.
One of the biggest tasks that Martinek has undertaken is
housecleaning in the records department. She explained that when she
came in, there was one room next to her office full to the brim with
old records, a vault upstairs, a vault in the public service area of
the clerk's office, and also documents stored at Midwest Storage.
Via the Internet, Martinek contacted the Illinois State Archives.
She e-mailed them simply saying, "I need help."
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She said she heard right away from Steve Whitlock of the state
archives, who actually has an office in Lincoln. At first he said
that helping with such a cleanup is not something his department
gets involved with. But after an in-depth conversation with Martinek,
he agreed to come and lend a hand.
Martinek said that he has come to the office on a few occasions,
including one entire day that he spent helping go through papers and
telling her what she could list as able to be disposed. Those items
were then hauled out of City Hall to await approval from the state.
She noted that there was so much that a pickup truck and attached
trailer were filled to capacity twice.
During the process, the clerk and her staff had to record
everything and submit the list to the state. The state then has 60
days to look at the list and determine if the documents are of any
historical significance. If they are, they will be placed in the
state archives; if they are not, they may then be destroyed.
Once the cleanup is finished, the clerk's office will have a list
of items that they must keep forever, such as all meeting agendas,
minutes of all city council meetings and certain items pertaining to
payroll. In addition they will have a list of other records and the
length of time they must be retained.
In the majority of cases, records can be destroyed after seven
years. Therefore, once the rule is established, Martinek and her
staff will be able to purge old records as soon as they exceed that
length of retention.
Martinek said that one thing she would like to accomplish would
be to get everything out of Midwest Storage. The city pays rent for
the storage space, and Martinek hopes that through this new record
retention program, the space required will be greatly reduced.
She also added that if and when the city is able to build a new
fire station, she would like to have a portion of the vacated space
for a larger records room.
Comparing the county courthouse to City Hall, Martinek noted one
difference was the security in City Hall. She said that at the
courthouse, every office had panic buttons that could be pushed to
call help if anyone felt they were being threatened or in imminent
danger.
A security system for City Hall is in the works. Joni Tibbs, who
chairs the building and grounds committee, is using a grant recently
received for that.
Martinek said that, so far, there haven't been any unpleasant
situations for her or her staff, but she has more than once heard
people getting irate with Les Last's office, and it can be somewhat
of a concern.
In another comparison between county and city, she said that her
position at county was not quite so time-demanding. Generally when
her day was finished, she left the job in the courthouse. However,
the position of city clerk is more demanding and more or less a 24/7
position, which isn't to say that she doesn't take the time out
during her day to brag a little on her boys.
Martinek and husband Vic have two sons; John, age 20, is a
student at Heartland College, and Tommy, 17, is a student at Hammond
Junior Senior High School in Bloomington, attending classes
specifically designed for children with autism. She says that Tommy
recently made school history by taking second place in a
teacher-student pool tournament. He was the only student ever to
place so highly in that contest.
And what else makes Martinek smile? During a quiet time in her
office, the sound of laughter coming from the office down the hall
drifts into the room, and Martinek says, "All three, Brenda, Susan
and Doris, have been through so much; it's nice to hear them laugh
now as they work." Referring to the time immediately after Riggs'
unanticipated departure from office, she adds, "They have had things
thrown at them that they shouldn't have."
When asked to pose for a picture, Martinek said, "Sure, but it
has to be all four of us, because we are a team!"
Susan Gehlbach echoed the sentiment, saying, "We're just happy to
have a leader again." She added that things are changing, and this
change is a good thing.
[By NILA SMITH]
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