West Hartford Woman Named Town Clerk Of The Year

WEST HARTFORD, CT — West Hartford Town Clerk Essie Labrot was named “Town Clerk of the Year” at the Connecticut Town Clerks Association’s conference on Sept. 28. It is the highest award the association bestows each year. The winner is selected by all 169 Town Clerks as the person they feel has done the most for the association and the residents of their community.

Labrot was one of five finalists and her testimonies, research, presentations and volunteerism set her apart from the other candidates, according to a press release.

Read more from the press release below:

For many years, Labrot has volunteered much of her time and talent to the Connecticut Town Clerks Association (CTCA). As a member and past chair of the Legislative and Elections Committee, Labrot provided testimony, attended meetings, and provided detailed research on topics such as No Excuse Absentee Ballots, early voting, and fees.

In 2012, she collaborated with numerous state agencies to form a coalition to fight legislation mandating the redaction of residential addresses on land records. The group’s efforts were instrumental in successfully defeating this legislation and resulted in CTCA being recognized by the FOI Commission’s annual meeting.

Labrot has been a resident of West Hartford for over 30 years. She began her role as Town Clerk on January 7, 2008 and obtained her Certified Municipal Clerk (CMC) from International Institute of Municipal Clerks (IIMC) in 2015 and Master Connecticut Town Clerk (MCTC) in 2016.

As Essie is fond of saying, when she started in the clerk’s office they were still using carbon paper. The first item that Essie tackled was bringing the office up to speed with technology. Land records were made accessible to residents and title searchers on line. Carbon paper was replaced by receipts from the computer system. For elections, Essie decided that scanning in ballots would cut down on time and provide better accuracy and incorporated a scanning process with the Absentee Ballot program.

Essie, in addition to being the Town Clerk, is also the Clerk of the Council for West Hartford. Essie is always available to help the councilors and any resident that might call on a Saturday looking for a marriage license.

In 2010 Essie was recognized by the Town Clerks Association with the “Above and Beyond” Award.

In June 2012, Essie received the “Bice Clemow Award” from the Connecticut Council on Freedom of Information for her outstanding leadership in helping to pass legislation promoting open and accountable government.

She has volunteered for fundraising events including Mothers Against Drunk Driving; CT Aids Resource Coalition, Muscular Dystrophy, The Mayor’s Charity Ball, March of Dimes, World Vision and the West Hartford’s Town That Cares. Essie is a Former President of the Parent Teacher Council.

Essie is the mother of three children and her eldest recently married. They are Emma and Ben McIntosh, Kelsey Labrot and Andrew Labrot.

Contributed photo and press release