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City Clerk Earns Group's Top Honor

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By JOYCE McKENZIE

The Tampa Tribune

Published: August 27, 2008

TEMPLE TERRACE - In her more than 10 years as a member of the Florida Association of City Clerks, Temple Terrace City Clerk Lisa Burns has served the organization in many capacities and has received numerous accolades from her peers.

On many occasions, they have recognized Burns for her expertise, hard work and dedication to the group - attributes many of its 500 members contend are commonly displayed through her roles as past president, chairwoman of the professional education committee, chairwoman of the president's advisory committee and head of the group's nominating committee.

Burns served as the organization's immediate past president from June 2007 through June, an office she assumed would keep her out of the spotlight for a while.

However, Tammy Vock, the outgoing group president and Vero Beach's city clerk, decided differently.

During the association's recent conference in Naples, Vock honored Burns for her eight years as chairwoman of the education committee, for which she plans programs and arranges to have speakers for the group's business meetings.

But the biggest surprise of all for Burns was when Volk presented her with the group's President's Award, an annual honor given to a member selected by the outgoing president as a person who offered the most assistance to the president during her term in office.

"I was blown away," said Burns, who was also recipient of the award in 2002.

Volk said Burns was "always there for me."

"I'd get e-mails from her at 3 a.m.," said Volk, who noted that never a day went by without her sending at least one e-mail to Burns seeking her advice and that Burns always responded, even if it took some research to come up with an answer.

"Temple Terrace is very lucky to have Lisa," Volk added. "There is nobody else like her."

Cynthia Goudeau, the incoming group president and Clearwater's city clerk, said she is often astonished by the extraordinary amount of work Burn does.

"She does whatever it takes to make things better for all the city clerks in Florida," Goudeau said. "Lisa just puts her heart and soul in FACC. I don't know how she does it."

Burns also has been unanimously selected as Florida's candidate as a Region III director of the International Institute of Municipal Clerks, an organization with more than 10,400 members. The association promotes continuing education and professional development and consists of 11 regions, each with two directors.

Because she faces no competition, Burns will automatically be sworn in at the institute's May conference in Chicago to the three-year appointment that also includes a position on the association's board of directors. She will oversee city clerk organizations in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama and Florida.

Reporter Joyce McKenzie can be reached at (813) 865-4849 or jmckenzie@tampatrib.com.

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