2011 is an election year in the Town of Dresden. Many offices are uncontested but I’ll be asking the candidates some questions over the weeks ahead to help the readers of the Huletts Current stay informed.
Today’s candidate interview is with Marci Wilbur who is running for another term as Town Clerk. She is the incumbent, having held the office for 4 years. While she is currently running unopposed, I thought this would be an opportune time to ask her some questions about her position.
While many people know you as the Town Clerk, could you tell us a little bit about yourself? (Interests, hobbies, etc.)
I am a stay at home mother having raised a family of 6 children. Three of our children have begun their own lives and I continue to be active with my remaining three children. I enjoy hunting and fishing and raising a vegtable garden as well as flower gardens. My husband and I have a small blueberry farm located at our home as well as plants located a mile away at my parents house.
Could you tell the readers of the Huletts Current, what the duties of the Town Clerk are?
Some duties of the town clerk include distributing Washington County Recycling stickers and selling the hunting and fishing licenses. People can also come to my office to apply for a marriage license and for purchasing a dog license. I am the Local Registrar of Vital Statistics and maintain the birth/death/marriage records for our town dating as far back as 1920. As the town clerk my duty during a town board meeting is to record the minutes of business taking place.
It has been in the news recently that Town Clerk’s are responsible for marriage licenses. Does Dresden get a lot of marriage license requests and do you actually officiate marriages?
The town of Dresden does not have a lot of marriage license requests and I do not actually officiate a marriage, that is performed by clergy or magistrate.
Many people know that you are the official tax collector for the town but you probably get an earful when people have to pay their taxes. However, you don’t actually set the amount of taxes people pay?
The actual amount of taxes collected is determined by the Washington County budget process as well as the town budget process. There is a trickle down effect that occurs based on State Aid for certain programs offered by the county. A shortage in aid will increase county taxes that is passed along to the residents. There is very little amount to be raised by taxes, if any, generated in our town and most increases are due to the county level of revenue and spending. Also when there are questions of assessed value of property I am not able to answer those questions and refer to our town assessor June Maniacek.
As I understand it, you also take the minutes at all town board meetings. Are those minutes available to the public?
The minutes of each town meeting are kept in the town clerk’s office and are available to anyone who wished to read them. I have posted them on the hulettsnews website occasionally and there seems to be an interest in that continuing. I will be making an effort to follow up with that interest.
I’d finish the interview by wishing you good luck in the election, but because you’re running unopposed I think its a foregone conclusion that the voters have already made up their mind. How do you run for election when you’re unopposed?
I continue to be available to my constituents and as I continue to hold this position I am exposed to all aspects of how to effectively assist them with reliable answers to their every need. To be unopposed doesn’t automatically assure me a free ride and a guarantee. So in conlusion I welcome any comments from your readers to better serve their needs and when I don’t have the answer, I will get to the bottom of it and respond. Thank you for this opportunity to serve as your town clerk once again.