Who's Who: City Clerk Meredith Shirey

Head over to the city administration side of City Hall these days and you'll likely meet the friendly smile of Meredith Shirey, Enumclaw's new city clerk. Shirey began her job here in Enumclaw just a few weeks ago and graciously took time to chat with Patch about her new job and why she loves the Plateau so much.

What is your background here in the Plateau area?

I was born and grew up in Kansas until I was 14 and then moved to the Buckley area. I went through high school there. I married soon after high school and my husband was in the military so we moved around a little bit. And then we got stationed at McChord (AFB), which is in Tacoma. We were there for a little while and then moved back to Buckley in 1998. And we’ve been here in this area ever since.

What was it about this area that caused you to come back here? From McChord, you could have moved anywhere around Puget Sound.

I just really enjoy being in a small town. I didn’t particularly enjoy the hustle and bustle of Tacoma – I like it a little quieter. And then when I had my kids, I thought you know I really want them to experience a closer-knit community. And the only thing I knew was Buckley so we went back to Buckley. The kids started going to White River – or at least the school district – and I just like knowing people. I like having that relationship and knowing that there’s a past there instead of just meeting new people all the time. I like having connections.

Can you talk a little bit about your professional background?

I was a clerk-treasurer in Wilkeson so I did all the city clerk things that because it was a treasurer in a small town, I also did all the payroll and all the budgeting, investments – anything that you would need to do in an organization .. that’s what I did. Other than, of course, water and sewer -- we had guys to do that. Utilities, all of that. So there are some similarities that I’m familiar with clerk stuff because I had done it there.

I was at Wilkeson for 8 ½ years. Before that I actually worked for Renton Honda. I worked in their business office and I was there for three years. And before that, I was a stay at home mom, so I stayed home. And then I went to school and I got a two-year accounting degree and then started working.

Do you find that you’re using your accounting degree much?

It actually was an office management degree with a lot of accounting. In this capacity I won’t be using the accounting so much, but I’ll be using the office management side of that far more. Although I love numbers and I love accounting -- it kind of comes natural to me -- I also really love people, and in an accounting place you don’t always get that interaction with people. So I’m really excited to have that here.

What caused you to look for another position when you were at Wilkeson? Were you looking for something new to do?

A little bit. Because Wilkeson was so small, there really wasn’t anywhere else to go. Even when I started there 8 ½ years ago, there wasn’t anyone there that had been there when I came on so there was no training and none of that. Everything I had learned there, I kind of learned through going through classes and just experience. And I just felt like there was nowhere else to go. There was no way to expand. So if I wanted to grow professionally and personally, I needed to be able to come to an organization where I could learn more and grow in those ways that I just couldn’t there. That was a lot of the motivation. And I just felt like it was time to do that.

It might be a little early to ask this, but what’s a typical day like for you, right now, in your new job?

Right now it’s just becoming familiar with the way the city clerk office runs in Enumclaw – how they do their processes of permits or agendas or ordinances and how all that comes together. I’d have more to tell you a few weeks in but right now it’s just becoming familiar with the landscape and the employees and knowing who to get to know. So far I’ve done a lot of meet and greets – meeting a lot of people and just some training time with Maureen [Burwell] who had done this position in the interim.

Outside of work, what’s your favorite thing to do with your free time?

Spending it with my kids. I have four children and my three older ones right now are in high school, and so they’re involved in a lot of activities and sports and that’s usually what we spend our weekends and evenings doing: going to sporting events or spending time with friends that have those same interests. We just finished the wrestling season and all three of my teenagers wrestled this year so now we’re gearing up for track. That’s where we spend a lot of our time.

Also I am LDS and so I’m very involved in my church community. That’s where we spend most of our time outside of work.

Were you at all familiar with Enumclaw before coming to work here? Did you come here often?

I was really familiar with Enumclaw. We have lots of friends that live here, and since I went to high school in Buckley with White River, you get a lot of friends across the river since you’re rival schools. And then you grow up and you’re all friends. And in fact, I remember the very first date I went on with my husband, we went up to Mud Mountain Dam, so I’ve always been in this area. You know, when I was younger we used to come bowling here; we used to shop at Jayhawks which isn’t there anymore.

When I was looking for a job, it was important to me to be able to stay on the Plateau. I didn’t want to go down the hill – or into the valley. I just feel really comfortable up here. It feels like home, and that’s important to me.

How has the town changed, since you’ve been here since your teens, moved away and now returned?

It has changed. It’s gotten a little bigger but it has still maintained that small town feel, which is probably one of the reasons I love it. But also it provides the services that some of the neighboring small communities don’t. It’s been able to grow in areas of community services for children and the seniors in the community but still maintain this small, quaint atmosphere and feel.

There are some changes but I think they’ve been for the good. It’s a big art community, and I just appreciate those kinds of things, so yeah, there has been some changes but there’s going to be growth anywhere you go, and I think Enumclaw’s kind of done that in the right way.

But you no longer have a bowling alley…

I do wish we still had a bowling alley! We love bowling.