Photo by Ron Burkett.
Lynn Porter will retire Dec. 31 after 38 years working as city clerk for the city of Trussville.
She answered on the third ring, but before the tape recorder could get switched on, her attention shifted.
“Hang on just one second,” she said, and she turned from her phone to answer a coworker’s question.
Lynn Porter is always helping.
Porter, after 38 years working for the city of Trussville, is retiring. Her last day was Dec. 31. She spent her first four years as assistant city clerk and court clerk, and the last 34 as the city clerk. Porter has started a new position as a part-time interim city clerk with the city of Springville.
“I’ve just always enjoyed what I’ve done,” Porter said. “The job has so many facets. It’s never the same thing two days in a row. I’ve enjoyed the public interaction. I’ve got a wonderful staff that have made my job so much easier. Even when elected officials had differences of opinion among themselves, I was not a part of that. The city clerk works behind the scenes. It’s been a good ride. The city of Trussville has been good to me.”
Dan Weinrib, the former city clerk in Tarrant, will succeed Porter.
Porter’s storied career happened by chance. She had been a stay-at-home mother of two when she decided to go back to work. A friend let her know in the grocery store one day about the assistant city clerk and court clerk position at Trussville City Hall. She applied, interviewed and was hired by then-Mayor David Nicodemus.
“When I was hired as court clerk and assistant city clerk in 1982, I’m not sure I had ever been to City Hall with the exception of voting,” Porter said. “I had never been to court a day in my life. I wasn’t sure what a city clerk did. So, here we are.”
Porter has served as president of the Alabama Association of Municipal Clerks and Administrators. In 2014, she was named Clerk of the Year by that organization. Those recognitions have been bestowed because of Porter’s success in Trussville. Porter was the city’s custodian of city records; handled matters, including meeting minutes, for the Trussville City Council; wrote proclamations, resolutions and sometimes ordinances; managed city elections; oversaw a small staff that, along with Porter, won the Ned and Goldie Paine Memorial Gatekeeper group award in 2017; and has even washed the dishes in the kitchen.
“I’ve always tried to do things so as not to be an embarrassment to the city or to myself,” she said. “The city clerk plays a supporting role. When I heard the council mention things that maybe needed to be handled in a different way to be compliant with state law, I have not made these announcements in council meetings, but I have talked to them behind the scenes, like, ‘Maybe you need to address this from a different angle.’”
Always helping.
