News

Saluda promotes Pace to town clerk post

By Bill Moss, Published: September 10, 2012

SALUDA — Monica Pace, a Saluda native, has been promoted to the position of town clerk after the retirement of longtime clerk Doris T. Marion.

Pace, a 2004 graduate of Faith Christian School, has served as assistant clerk for six years. She attended Erskine College and attended the UNC School of Government program to earn her certification as a municipal clerk.
"It's never a dull moment," she said. "You're never sure what's going to walk in the door. It's nice to be able to serve the town I'm from."
The daughter of Madeline and Hobart Pace Jr., she is studying for a business degree at Blue Ridge Community College. She also works three nights a week at the Orchard Inn, where she shares chef duties with owner Marianne Blazer.
"I started washing dishes there when I was 14," she said. "I've always worked there. I love it out there."
Monica's grandparents, Hobart Sr. and Mary Ballard Pace, ran a dairy farm in the 1920s on what is now Crescent Street.
City Administrator Erny Williams said town residents are lucky to have Pace on board.
"Monica's been here six years and it's very nice that they can have an employee that is dedicated enough to be trained as clerk but there's so much more to it in a small town," he said. "She's taken six years to not only learn the trade but to learn the people and the things that go on in a small town."
With the retirement of Marion after 25 years as clerk, "you always lose history," he said, "but it's nice that Monica has gained as much of that history as she has."