Mayor honors Cecil with 2018 Cap Gardner Award

December 20, 2018 | 3:00 am

Updated December 20, 2018 | 6:35 am

Beth Cecil receiving her award at the city commission meeting. | Photo by Katie Pickens

If you were to ask Beth Cecil what her job entails, she would struggle to give a clear, concise answer. That’s because Cecil’s job as Owensboro City Clerk revolves around so many different things, and she does so much for the City of Owensboro, that even she isn’t sure how to describe all of the responsibilities she takes on.

“You can make a plan, but nine times out of 10, that plan’s going to change,” Cecil said with a laugh. “It’s like juggling all these different balls, and when one drops, you have to pick up another one and keep it all going.”

After working through what Cecil calls “a year of transition” at City Hall, her hard work has was publicly acknowledged.

At the Dec. 18 city commission meeting, Cecil was surprised by Mayor Tom Watson and the Owensboro City Commission with the Cap Gardner Award, given annually to one, specific city employee whom is acknowledged for their work year-long professional achievements and dedication to the City of Owensboro. The award is named after the late mayor, Cap Gardner (1954-58) and was initiated in 2007 to honor what Watson described as “an exemplary city employee.”

“They did a very good job of hiding it. I was very surprised,” Cecil said.

Over the last year, City Hall experienced several major changes, including the loss of a city manager and city attorney, as well as the mayor’s assistant. Cecil said she filled in the role as the mayor’s assistant between June and October 2018, and she’s currently training the new assistant, as well as the newly hired paralegal employee who works under City Attorney Steve Lynn.

As Cecil trains these employees, she’s also balancing her duties as city clerk, a difficult job by itself, in addition to the extra responsibilities.

“I’m the behind-the-scenes person,” Cecil said. “I supervise the executive assistant to the mayor and the three customer service representatives at City Hall. Right now, I’m working on a project for the mayor. I get together with the mayor and city commissioners, and we decide what’s going to be on the agenda for each city commission meeting. We get agenda packets ready, I get all of that prepared for everybody–meeting minutes, municipal orders, ordinances, those kinds of things.”

Since Cecil was hired as city clerk seven years ago, she’s implemented a scanning system to place public records on the city’s website. This allows the public to view the city records. Cecil says transparency with the public is very important to her.

“It’s taken several years. We’re still tweaking it,” Cecil said. “It’s been a different variety of people coming through the doors.”

Cecil gave a good-hearted laugh when asked if her job requires her to adapt well to change.

“I am very adapted to change,” Cecil said. “I’ve really enjoyed working for the city — especially in starting out in personnel and then going to the administration side. And not having the same thing happen everyday. You never know what you’re going to get.”

When City Hall received over 500 phone messages from people across the world after the notorious incident that occurred in October regarding an offensive Halloween costume worn by a local resident, Cecil said she and two other workers listened to each of those messages to ensure nobody in the city was being threatened.

“That was a first,” Cecil said, laughing.

At the end of the day, Cecil said she’s humbled by the honor of receiving the Cap Gardner Award for her work, and she is quite happy with where her profession has taken her.

“My mentality is I’m preserving these records for future generations,” Cecil said. “I work with an absolutely fantastic team who helps me get everything done that I need to accomplish.”

December 20, 2018 | 3:00 am

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