Wolfe brings new ideas, experience to city clerk’s office

Ask Laura Wolfe, and she’ll likely tell you there’s no place like home.

The Greenfield native is back as her hometown’s new city clerk. She began her duties Monday, March 28 and her first city council meeting as clerk was Monday, April 4.

“If only people looked like they did in high school I wouldn’t have a problem recognizing them,” Wolfe joked. “That’s including me.”

Highlights from the April 4 city council meeting include discussion on waving food truck fees for the Fourth of July, removing a vicious dog from city limits, fixing a nuisance property and reworking the ATV/UTV/golf cart permit process to streamline work flow for the police department.

The council also discussed changing meeting nights going forward and approved a records rentention policy, in line with the Iowa League of Cities, so that space can be used more efficiently in city hall.

Nodaway Valley requested the south and west entrances to the Public Square be closed from 4 to 7 p.m. April 24 for prom, which will be at the Warren Cultural Center.

The council approved a quote from Central Iowa Power Cooperative (CIPCO) in the amount of $1,500 the first year and $500 the following year for a sonicwall upgrade for the wastewater treatment plant.

About Wolfe

Wolfe has spent over 30 years in city government, the last 20 being in Guthrie Center carrying out the obligations of a city clerk and bookkeeper for the community’s utilities.

Reconnecting with a high school friend brought Wolfe home. The 30-minute commute north was an issue during the wintertime, so when this opportunity presented itself, Wolfe was eager and drawn to it.

“It’ll be very interesting just doing the city side of it and not the utility side,” Wolfe said. “I’m not sure what you do when you’re just the city clerk, but I’m going to figure it out. I think, based on what I’ve seen, there’s a lot that needs done.”

One of those first items of business for Wolfe was developing a records retention policy that puts on paper when the city can destroy certain records.

“We have a lot of really old records. There’s a league of cities that has a retention policy, and based on that manual, we don’t need to keep some of these,” Wolfe said.

The main three duties of a city clerk are maintaining records, recording what the city council does in meetings and enforcing rules and regulations for the community that are set by the council.

“My experience is in the city realm,” Wolfe said. “I don’t know what drew me to this because most people don’t like the city clerk because they think he or she is the one who has made the rules when it’s really the council who has made the rules, and they’re just enforcing what the elected officials say.”

Wolfe said that ultimately there’s something new, exciting and challenging about each day on the job. Her short-term goals are getting up to speed on a software system the city uses that is new to her.

Active in the community

Wolfe looks to get involved in the community over time inside and outside of the primary duties of her job.

She notices empty buildings in Greenfield and wants to be a positive force for finding a way to use those buildings. In Guthrie Center, city leaders developed policies for dilapidated buildings and homes.

Finding rentals or lots to build a new home are both hard in Greenfield, she said. Daycare is another community issue that is always being discussed that Wolfe hopes to play a positive part in.

“I think a person needs to be very active in what’s going on and see where you can help,” Wolfe said. “The whole key is that you want to be able to turn it over to the next generation, that they’re happy with where they live, the infrastructure’s solid, and Greenfield’s making great strides in that with some projects they’re working on. You just try to keep it going.”