Thanks to Colleyville City Secretary Christine Loven for this lovely submission:
At the October 2021 Graduate Institute in Galveston, Kim Sutter, City Secretary of Euless, took the time to chat with me, although there were other responsibilities requiring her attention and expertise, I’m sure. I shared with her I haven’t been able to attend chapter meetings or network because there just didn’t seem to be enough hours in the day to accomplish all of the must do items, and I wanted to provide our Assistant City Secretary Angela Larson an opportunity to get to know everyone as she is relatively new to Texas. I was also considering not recertifying. Kim was very encouraging and kind, and reminded me of the benefits of our training, networking, and certification.
The next morning, Kim presented me with a challenge coin and reminded me to take a moment! Her encouragement has led me to take a little moment now and then and reflect on our accomplishments. Her encouragement and the challenge coin prompted me to look for ways for the work of our office to be recognized and develop a plan for Angela’s certification, and my recertification. We applied for and received the Award of Excellence. Angela has begun the certification process, and I’m almost through my recert. We also asked the Mayor to present a proclamation for Municipal Clerks Week and we ran a city-wide challenge throughout Municipal Clerks Week which culminated in an awards party with prizes and donuts. There were many I didn’t know you did that, or I had to look up the answer, and how fun it was to get to know your responsibilities comments by those who participated. The moral of this story is we all make a difference and may have an impact we don’t always recognize. Thank you Kim for sharing your insight and time.
