Community News

City honors Tammie Drake, who is retiring as city clerk

Mayor Barbara Volk presents a proclamation to Tammie Drake, who is retiring on June 1 as Hendersonville city clerk.

By Lightning Reports, Published: May 8, 2020

Tammie Drake, who has served as Hendersonville's city clerk for the past 25 years, was honored Thursday night for her "impressive legacy of public service to her hometown," including supporting the work and goals of four mayors and 17 City Council members, "coaching, leading and taming four city managers," taking minutes and archiving them in a searchable form and ordering meals and snacks for council members and staff and providing "limitless tissues, beverages and condiments."

Drake retires on June 1 after serving as a city employee for 31½ years. City Manager John Connet and Mayor Barbara Volk and the council honored Drake at the end of the council's regular meeting on Thursday night. A proclamation listed numerous achievements she was known for, including:

• Ensuring that all City Council minutes are appropriately archived at the State Archives of North Carolina

• Implementing a digital records database for city files to ensure that documents are easily searchable and available in alternative formats
• Establishing the Service Excellence Customer Service process
• Drafting countless resolutions, proclamations and ordinances to document the activities of City Council, recognizing the efforts of our citizens, employees and leaders and codifying the laws that govern this great city
• Managing the renovation of City Hall and serving as the full-time caretaker for the building she considered her direct responsibility
• Teaching all employees, elected and appointed officials the requirements of the open meetings and public records laws
• Ensuring that all meetings and public hearings were correctly advertised to promote transparency in local government

Drake "served all citizens with a positive attitude and professionalism, even when the questions or issues were not directly related to city business," said the proclamation that she did not draft. She has mentored numerous municipal clerks in Western North Carolina, has served on the Board of Directors of the North Carolina Association of Municipal Clerks and has served as a counselor, confidant and friend to numerous elected officials, employees and city managers.