By JESSA PEASE / Staff Writer

PELHAM— After years of attending clerk institutes and completing the necessary curriculum, Pelham City Clerk Marsha Yates earned the title of master municipal clerk through the International Institute of Municipal Clerks.

“I’m very excited about it,” Yates said in a Dec. 22 interview. “It’s just a growing thing. In any position, especially in a city position, you have to grow with it.”

Yates said she attends clerk institutes to keep up with the laws that govern her job, stating that they change every year. The institutes always inform the clerks of the things they need to know.

As far as getting her master certification, Yates said it was just a goal she had.

“It’s quite an accomplishment to get it,” she said.

Yates earned the title of certified municipal clerk in 2009 after three years of attending semi-annual clerk institutes at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa.

To earn a master municipal clerk certification, Yates said it takes an additional three years of institutes, and the program also requires service and professional points.

Attending the classes also gave Yates the opportunity to network, brainstorm and fellowship with other clerks from all over Alabama. Yates said she enjoys the camaraderie among the municipalities.

Before Christmas, Yates said she joked with the ladies at UA with the International Institute of Municipal Clerks, saying all she wanted for Christmas was her MMC. She sang the phrase to the tune of, “All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth.”

When she was approved, Yates said they called her over the phone rather than emailing her because they knew how excited she would be.

“It’s a fun group of people,” Yates said. “It’s been a good journey all the way through.”

As the city clerk, Yates prepares ordinances and resolutions, attends all meetings of the Pelham City Council and records the actions of the governing body. She serves as custodian of the rules, ordinances, resolutions and minutes of the City Council, municipal lawsuits, subdivision bonds and other permanent records of the city.

“I would like to thank the council, the mayor and the other city employees, especially Tom (Seale), for being supportive because it has required me being away from my job on occasion to attend the clerk academies in Tuscaloosa,” Yates said at the Dec. 21 City Council meeting. “It was a lot of fun and I hope it will help me do a better job.”