Century clerk taking a leave

At Century's council meeting Tuesday night, the council approved the town's mayor to retain the temporary services of the town clerk for a period not to exceed six months to be paid out of American Rescue Plan Act funds, since Town Clerk Leslie Howington has stepped away due to medical reasons.

"There is a lot of work because we have these new city managers and we have a lot of moving parts and it is getting a little bit overwhelming for Leslie and it's getting overwhelming for the office staff," is what Century Mayor Luis Gomez described as the main reason for Howington's recent absence, although Howington says she has taken a medical leave and is under a doctor's care.

Gomez said the plan is to bring in a temporary to perform an assessment to see how to create a more productive work flow in town hall and to catch up on a lot of paperwork that has fallen behind, such as minutes that still need to be typed up and approved.

Gomez said he reached out to the Florida League of Cities, Florida Manager's Association and the Clerk's Institute to see if there was someone who is qualified and could provide interim town clerk assistant services during Howington's absence.

"Whether Howington is here tomorrow or not, we still need help with this," said Gomez. "We can do it as much or as little as the council so desires, we can do it one day a week, two days a week, whatever."

Interim City Manager Howard Brown (on zoom at the meeting) reminded the council that it recently purchased a software system City Plus, often used by municipalities, that helps organize information and whoever they hire will hopefully have experience working with that software.

Councilwoman Alicia Johnson made a motion, which was seconded by Councilwoman Sandra McMurray Jackson.

Councilwoman Shelisa McCall expressed concern about the town making a contract with someone and said had concern that a temporary agency would not have the qualified personnel the town needs.

"This is not going to a temp agency that might fill a standard clerical position," said Interim Town Manager Cheryl Lee (who works under Brown). "We are looking for someone who is certified and has previous experience serving as a clerk, someone who is skilled and has had training in municipal services, maybe a retired clerk who has certifications as a clerk. If they do not meet these qualifications, we will not be hiring them."

Councilwoman McCall voted yes after the clarification. All council members voted yes and the motion carried.