It was a clean sweep for Windham as Town Clerk Linda Morrell and Deputy Town Clerk Judy Vance were honored for their exceptional service to the community during the Maine Town and City Clerk Association’s 28th Networking Day and Annual Meeting held at the Augusta Civic Center on Sept. 12.
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| Windham Town Clerk Office members display awards they were presented during the Maine Town and City Clerk Association's 28th Networking Day and Annual Meeting on Sept. 12 in Augusta. From left are MTCCA's 2023 Deputy Clerk of the Year and MTCCA's 2023 Clerk of the Year Linda Morrell. PHOTO BY BECKY WOODBURY |
Moving with her parents to Windham at age 14 while in her freshman year in high school, Morrell graduated from Windham High School in 1978. She started working as a deputy clerk for the Town of Windham and following seven years of serving in that position, she has spent the last 29 years as the Windham Town Clerk. Before coming to work for the town, Morrell spent eight years as a ballot clerk during elections and was a stay-at-home mother. Her husband was a shift worker and when she was offered the job as deputy clerk over the phone, she eagerly accepted, launching a lengthy career of service to the public in Windham.
Among her duties as Town Clerk, Morrell serves as Windham’s Supervisor of Elections, be it municipal, county, state, or presidential elections. She also oversees two full-time and one part-time town clerk’s office staff members and she’s responsible for the town’s dog registrations; the sales of hunting and fishing licenses; officiating weddings; maintaining the town’s vital statistics; overseeing state boat and automobile registrations; providing notary service; swearing elected municipal officials into office; helping collect tax payments for the town; and serving as the secretary for the Windham Town Council.
She has said that her greatest challenge as Windham Town Clerk is staying knowledgeable about updated rules and regulations and being able to educate the public and training her staff members about those changes, she said.
In 2007, Morrell was awarded lifetime certification for her town clerk duties from the State of Maine at Maine Municipal Association. Through the years, she served the association in various capacities and continues her education to stay current on laws and procedures and completing all lifetime certification requirements. Morrell also met all qualifications and requirements to be enrolled as a member of the International Institute of Municipal Clerks, allowing her to use the title of Certified Municipal Clerk in all 50 states.
With all her duties, Morrell puts in many long hours and late nights on behalf of the town, especially during election season and attending every Windham Town council meeting every other week.
Married and the mother of two grown sons, Morrell lives on a farm in town and has said that her work remains as meaningful to her now as it was the day she started.
“I want everyone to know that we are here for them whenever they need us,” Morrell said. “We all enjoy our jobs here and we try to be friendly all the time. We’re fortunate to have a great staff here and the public really seems to like them. I love my job and it is a privilege to serve this community as the Town Clerk.”
Morrell was nominated for the award by Vance and supported for the MTCCA award by numerous department supervisors of the Town of Windham.
Vance is a Windham native who has worked for the Windham Town Clerk’s office for 26 years, serving as the town’s registrar of voters and a Deputy Town Clerk.
Among her many duties, Vance processes all vital records for Windham along with hunting, fishing, and business licenses, and administers two elections per year, with an occasional special election. Her department also helps as needed with processing registrations for motor vehicles, boats, ATVs, and snowmobiles, as well as processing taxes.
Raised in Windham and a graduate of Windham High School and the University of Southern Maine, Vance married her high school sweetheart, and they live in Windham, where they have raised two daughters. Along with their significant others and children, the daughters live in the same neighborhood as Vance and her husband.
Despite all the years of working for the clerk’s office, Vance still finds the job interesting and challenging.
“It seems like every day we’re learning something new,” she said.
She was nominated for the MTCCA Deputy Clerk of the Year Award by Morrell, so those attending the meeting in Augusta said that both Morrell and Vance both knew the other one was getting the award they received but they did not know they were each receiving awards.
The MTCCA Town Clerk of the Year Award is presented annually to a municipal clerk who is nominated by their peers and recognizes excellence both in their contributions to their community as well as to the profession of municipal clerk. Award recipients provide service and contributions beyond just that of the municipality in which they serve by active participation in the state and/or county clerks associations and demonstrate a socially responsible approach toward their community and promoting the cause of good local government.
The MTCCA Deputy Town Clerk of the Year Award is presented annually to a deputy municipal clerk who is nominated by their peers and recognizes excellence both in their contributions to their community as well as to the profession of deputy municipal clerk. Award recipients are honored for their expertise and for work in their Town Clerk’s Office that goes above and beyond what is required by the job title, and they are committed to improving municipal government and their community. <
