Clerk’s Office Keeps Niles Township Running Smoothly

From the Niles Township Government:

If Niles Township Government were an automobile, the always-busy Clerk’s office might be considered its engine. It may not always get the most attention, but without it, the vehicle would not run.

Clerk Charles Levy became a Niles Township trustee in 1979 before being elected clerk for the first time 10 years later.

Kitty Kendrick has been with Niles Township for 19 years, the last dozen as deputy clerk. She began her work in the Assessor’s office but then started helping the administrator with bookkeeping, which led to multiple job roles.

The Township Clerk’s office had experienced a lot of turnover, Kendrick said, but once this team was set in place, so, too, was a stability that is still going strong today.

“I gradually got into every program and every end of the business of Township government,” she said.

In addition to deputy clerk, Kendrick also wears the hats of Niles Township administrator and passport facility manager.

When the Township converted to a new accounting procedure, that fell on the Clerk’s office. Kendrick deals with the Township’s liability and employee health insurance programs as well — or as she puts it — “all the back roads of Township business.”

The Clerk’s office also establishes the annual levy after consulting with the supervisor; distributes passports and handicapped placards; and registers voters among many other functions.

In fact, no Township department has more day-to-day interaction with the public than the Clerk’s office. By the end of 2019, the office was expected to distribute some 600 passports (not even counting the help it provides for renewals).

“What we do is not glamorous or immediately attention-getting,” Kendrick said. “It’s kind of like the guts of the work so not everyone knows about it. That’s really how it should be.”

This press release was produced by the Niles Township Government. The views expressed here are the author’s own.