BRADENTON BEACH – Bradenton Beach City Clerk Terri Sanclemente has been officially recognized as a Certified Municipal Clerk (CMC).
That recognition occurred at the Thursday, June 20 Bradenton Beach City Commission meeting.
Leading the ceremony was Holmes Beach City Clerk Stacey Johnston. Johnston is Master Municipal Clerk, the Southwest District Director of the Florida Association of City Clerks (FACC) and the incoming FACC vice-president.
Johnston said she was there to honor Sanclemente for achieving the milestone of becoming Certified Municipal Clerk with the International Institute of Municipal Clerks (IIMC).
“It’s not only an honor for Bradenton Beach that you have a Certified Municipal Clerk, but also for Manatee County and especially for Anna Maria Island,” Johnston said.
Johnston said the FACC currently has 631 members. Of those, 232 are Certified Municipal Clerks, including 21 in Florida’s Southwest District.
To be a full member of the IIMC and the FACC one must fulfill at least four of the eight core duties associated with being a municipal clerk. These include custody of the official city seal and the execution of official documents, elections, financial management, general management, human resource management, management of the municipality’s bylaws and other legal documents, meeting administration and records management.
“Every city clerk is a little different, we all may have different responsibilities,” Johnston said.
The certification process includes a minimum of 120 student/instructor contact hours, in-depth course study and 50 points accumulated during real-life experience working for a municipality.
“You can’t just walk in and get certified,” Johnston said.
Johnston said the student/instructor contact hours are turned into education points and 60 education points are needed to become certified. Johnston said an eight-hour webinar might only earn one half of a point.
“It’s a lot of training,” she said.
Johnston encouraged Sanclemente to now pursue the Master Municipal Clerk certification, which she can begin doing at this week’s annual summer academy in St. Augustine.
Sanclemente began working in Bradenton Beach in 2006 and worked there until June 2011. After a break, she returned to the city in mid-2014 and became City Clerk Pro Tem later that year. In June 2015, then-Mayor Jack Clarke removed the pro tem designation and appointed Sanclemente to serve as the City Clerk. Sanclemente then began the certification process she recently completed on May 10.
Johnston presented Sanclemente with a plaque conferring upon her the title of Certified Municipal Clerk.
She then placed on Sanclemente a pin symbolizing her new status as a Certified Municipal Clerk.
“Wear that pin with pride. You have earned it, you have worked hard for it and I’m just so glad you have it now,” Johnston said.
“Me too,” Sanclemente replied.
Sanclemente received a warm round of applause and a bouquet of roses from Mayor John Chappie and the city.
“Great job,” Vice Mayor Jake Spooner said.
“Congratulations. You’ve done a lot of great work. You are amazing as our city clerk and we care so much about you. We couldn’t get along without you. Thank you so much,” Chappie said.
“Thank you. I really appreciate it,” Sanclemente said. “Without all of your encouragement and support I couldn’t do this. My family helped a lot and my husband supported me when I was away.”
