A
city clerk is a
clerkClerk, the vocational title, commonly refers to a white-collar worker who conducts general office or, in some instances, sales tasks. The responsibilities of clerical workers commonly include record keeping, filing, staffing service counters and other administrative tasks...
for a
municipalityA municipality is an administrative entity composed of a clearly defined territory and its population and commonly denotes a city, town, or village, or a small grouping of them. A municipality is typically governed by a mayor and a city council or municipal council.The notion of municipality...
. It is among the oldest public servant positions..
In
ancient GreeceAncient Greece is the civilisation belonging to the period of Greek history lasting from the Greek Dark Ages ca. 1100 BC and the Dorian invasion, to 146 BC and the Roman conquest of Greece after the Battle of Corinth. It is generally considered to be the seminal culture which provided the...
city secretaries who read official documents publicly and at the opening of a meeting read public
curseA curse is any expressed wish that some form of adversity or unhappiness will befall another person or persons. In particular, a wish that harm or hurt will be inflicted by any supernatural power, such as a spell, a prayer, an imprecation, an execration, magic, witchcraft, a god, a natural force,...
s.
http://books.google.com/books?id=WeHPGhIfgrYC
The early keepers of the archives were often called remembrancers, and before writing came into use, their memory was public record.
When the early colonists came to Amerca, one of the first offices established was that of clerk.
A
city clerk is a
clerkClerk, the vocational title, commonly refers to a white-collar worker who conducts general office or, in some instances, sales tasks. The responsibilities of clerical workers commonly include record keeping, filing, staffing service counters and other administrative tasks...
for a
municipalityA municipality is an administrative entity composed of a clearly defined territory and its population and commonly denotes a city, town, or village, or a small grouping of them. A municipality is typically governed by a mayor and a city council or municipal council.The notion of municipality...
. It is among the oldest public servant positions..
In
ancient GreeceAncient Greece is the civilisation belonging to the period of Greek history lasting from the Greek Dark Ages ca. 1100 BC and the Dorian invasion, to 146 BC and the Roman conquest of Greece after the Battle of Corinth. It is generally considered to be the seminal culture which provided the...
city secretaries who read official documents publicly and at the opening of a meeting read public
curseA curse is any expressed wish that some form of adversity or unhappiness will befall another person or persons. In particular, a wish that harm or hurt will be inflicted by any supernatural power, such as a spell, a prayer, an imprecation, an execration, magic, witchcraft, a god, a natural force,...
s.
http://books.google.com/books?id=WeHPGhIfgrYC
The early keepers of the archives were often called remembrancers, and before writing came into use, their memory was public record.
When the early colonists came to Amerca, one of the first offices established was that of clerk. The colony at Plymouth appointed a person to act as a recorder.
In the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, a
City Clerk is an
electedAn election is a formal decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy since the 17th century. Elections may fill offices in the legislature, sometimes in the executive and...
or appointed official who is responsible as the official keeper of the municipal records. In some places, the Clerk may be known as the "Village Clerk" or "Town Clerk". In Boroughs, Parishes, and Counties they are often known as the "County Clerk." If the Clerk's Office is limited to just performing the agenda and minutes for the legislative and committee meetings, the office may be called "Clerk of the Legislature." A City Clerk Office usually publishes agendas for legislative bodies, such as the City Assembly,
City CouncilA city council is the legislative body that governs a city, municipality or local government area.-Australia:Because of the differences in legislation between the States, the exact definition of a City Council may vary slightly...
, or
AldermanAn alderman is a member of a municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions. Historically the term could also refer to local municipal judges in small legal proceedings...
meetings, and is responsible for recording all council- and city mayor-related actions.
The staff of the Office of the City Clerk usually edits, compiles and publishes the minutes of City Council meetings. Vital attributes for all staff associated with this Office include being extremely diplomatic, unflappable, and maintaining an apolitical demeanor.
The Clerk's Office is essentially the hub of all the records for the municipality. Archiving and record retention has historically been done by storing documents in vaults. In recent years, scanned documents and electronic storage systems, which require vastly reduced physical spaces, are becoming more prevalent...but perhaps as a result, more kinds and types of documents seem to be consequently generated and stored, as well.
Official meetings of municipalities can become a serious chore as the activity in the town increases from population increases. The task of assembling the agenda packets with supporting documents can take several days for a single meeting. It becomes more complicated due to the input and iterative modification by numerous departments and agencies both within and external to the organization. Software applications that can easily assemble agendas, minutes and even automatically transcribe the meetings are now becoming more common. Often, these agendas and meeting minutes are downloadable by interested citizens by hitting the organization's website.