St. Helens City Recorder Earns Master Municipal Clerk Designation

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

October 25, 2017

ST. HELENS CITY RECORDER EARNS MASTER MUNICIPAL CLERK DESIGNATION

St. Helens, Ore. – St. Helens City Recorder Kathy Payne recently joined an elite group of 34 out of over 200 other city recorders in Oregon to earn the designation of Master Municipal Clerk (MMC) through the International Institute of Municipal Clerks (IIMC). The prestigious designation was announced statewide by Oregon Association of Municipal Recorders (OAMR) President Debbie Hamilton on Tuesday, October 24.

The IIMC is an international professional organization that promotes continuing education and certification for municipal clerks - known as city recorders in Oregon - around the world.

Payne earned her Certified Municipal Clerk (CMC) designation in 2011 and has been working toward the more advanced MMC designation since then. The MMC program is a continuing education program that prepares participants to perform complex municipal duties through extensive and rigorous education and professional contribution components.

“I am very excited and relieved at the same time,” Payne said about receiving her MMC designation. “It is quite an accomplishment. All the education I have received through the training and experience gained in a leadership role will be a big benefit in my job as St. Helens City Recorder.” 

To receive her MMC designation, Payne had to earn a variety of education and experience points. In order to do so, she became OAMR’s Region I Director in 2014, covering Tillamook, Clatsop and Columbia counties. She continues to serve as the Region I Director. Payne served as the OAMR’s Newsletter Committee Chair from 2013 to 2017, sits on the OAMR Internet Committee, attended two professional development trainings in Tacoma at the Northwest Clerks Institute, attended 10 OAMR academies, and participated in three Athenian Leadership Society Dialogues, in addition to completing required continuing education class hours and attending professional development conferences.

Payne works at St. Helens City Hall and can usually be seen at St. Helens City Council meetings where she provides administrative and technical support to the Mayor, City Council members, City Administrator and other City staff. She is also responsible for handling public records requests; maintaining City ordinances, resolutions, contracts and easements; managing human resource functions such as advertising job openings, receiving applications, and tracking, interviewing and organizing the final hiring processes; overseeing records management; administering municipal elections; organizing website development and management; and preparing and distributing agendas, packets and minutes for the City Council and other City boards and commissions, in addition to a wide variety of other tasks.

Payne was also recently featured as a guest contributor to a new blog series by Engaging Local Government Leaders (ELGL) about the role of local government clerks and recorders. In the blog, Payne wrote about her CMC designation. You can read her article online at http://elgl.org/2017/10/25/to-certify-or-not-to-certify-that-is-the-question/. 

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For further information regarding Payne’s MMC designation, please contact City Recorder Kathy Payne at kathy@ci.st-helens.or.us or 503-366-8217.