Manson native helps keep town running
Clerk has been on job for 25 yearsBy JO VETTER Messenger correspondent
MANSON -Manson City Clerk Becky Thompson has been serving the community's citizens for nearly 25 years.
Thompson grew up in Manson and was working in banking when she was approached years ago to apply for the city clerk position.
Her background in accounting has been put to use in her position as city clerk, but so has her experience in customer service, Thompson said.
"Being there to help whoever walks through the door. I think that's the focus of my job," she said.
Thompson described her greatest job satisfaction as "being able to follow through on a customer's concern."
Whether a citizen is calling to ask the hours of the swimming pool or to report a stray dog, Thompson and Assistant City Clerk Marge Insko are there to help out.
People even call Thompson at home.
"If they see a broken water main or a street light out or something and want to call me at home, I don't have any problem with that," Thompson said. " I see that as part of my job."
A typical day for Thompson includes a lot of customer contact as many Manson residents come in to the office in person to pay their utility bills.
When she goes for the mail or to the do the town's banking, she meets customers who sometimes ask if she's headed to work.
"They'll ask if I mind taking in their payment and hand me their check," Thompson said.
Thompson is ready to answer questions from Manson residents as well as questions from out-of-towners. One such phone call came from someone in Rockwell City wanting to know the hours of operation of a local business.
"We get questions like that, or someone wanting to know how to contact the Manson Chamber of Commerce, and we try our best to direct them to the right person," Thompson said.
"We also get calls from people wanting to come see the crater,' she said. Manson sits on top of the Manson Impact Structure, a crater created by a meteor colliding with the Earth.
Thompson said she explains that the crater is underground and directs callers to the Manson Public Library which has a lot of information on the subject.
Though some aspects of her job have changed over the years, much of it has remained constant.
"When we had the old swimming pool, I was responsible for taking the daily morning water samples and backwashing the filters," Thompson said. "But since we got the new pool in 2005, I'm not nearly as involved with it."
She prepares the city payroll which includes seasonal workers at the swimming pool and parks as well as the year-round employees such as the four full-time policemen and two full-time water, street and sewer employees, and the public library staff.
In addition, the office of the Manson city clerk is responsible for working with the mayor and City Council on the city's budget as well as preparing the city's bills for approval by the council.
Thompson said it is really nice that the Police Department, library and clerk's office are all housed in the same building because it helps with communication.
"It takes cooperation from all of us to meet the citizens' needs," she said. "It's fortunate that we have a good mayor and City Council and that we all work together."
Manson Public Library Director Ann Schlapkohl has worked with Thompson since she became the city clerk. Schlapkohl said they share a lot equipment including the copy machine and fax machine.
"It's nice to have her right here in the same building," Schlapkohl said. "She's always very accessible if I have a question or concern."
City Councilman Randy Kaiser said that Thompson is very thorough and organized.
"I don't know how she does it," Kaiser said, "but every time I've ever needed information, whether at a council meeting or if I call in, she can always put her hands right on it."
Thompson attends all of the City Council meetings the first and third Wednesday night of each month where she takes the minutes. Her office is also the official custodian of the city's records.
The Department of Natural Resources was inspecting the water plant and had called to ask when Manson had last increased its water rates.
"I thought I knew the answer, but I thought I'd better check," Thompson said, so she went into the files to confirm that there had been no rate increase since 2002.
"One of the challenges that the mayor and City Council are facing right now involves the city water supply," she said. "The DNR has had concerns about the city being able to meet demands during the heavy agricultural spraying season."
Thompson said that whereas the local farmers used to do a lot of the spraying themselves, in the past few years more and more of them had hired the elevators to do the work.
She said that when the farmers did the work, they used their own water supply.
"But the elevators use the city's water, and therefore the demand for city water has increased," Thompson said.
Such details are all a part of Thompson's work as the city clerk - work she said she really didn't know a lot about before she took the job.
"I was a pretty typical resident," Thompson said, " I had running water, clean streets, and the snow was always removed. I didn't realize what all was involved for the mayor and town council until I began working with them."
Now Thompson sees the workings of a city from an entirely different perspective, but she sees her job as fulfilling the objectives of the mayor and City Council.
"They make decisions, and we're here to follow through on them," Thompson said.
Contact Jo Vetter at (515) 573-2141 or editor@messengernews.net
