Recorder of the Year
Please read the guidelines below and take the time to nominate any City Recorder or yourself to receive the Oregon Association of Municipal Recorders’ “Recorder of the Year” Award. You are encouraged to participate in this program, in order to acknowledge recorders and recognize their excellence and professional accomplishments.
Guidelines:
1. Any individual OAMR member, board member, City Manager, or Mayor may submit a confidential nomination to the President no later than Friday, August 11, 2017.
2. The President shall select a recipient for the Recorder of the Year award from the nominations submitted. There may be years in which there are no outstanding nominees. The decision of the President is final.
3. Recognition will be at the annual conference and will include presentation of a plaque and complimentary registration at the following year’s annual OAMR conference. The registration is not transferable to anyone other than the award winner.
4. Criteria for selection are as follows:
a. Any OAMR member in good standing is eligible, with the exception of the President, First Vice President, and Second Vice President. A member in good standing means a fully paid member.
b. The nominee must have made an outstanding contribution or performed outstanding service to OAMR, to the profession of Municipal Recorder, or to an individual city during the association fiscal year. In general, it is not sufficient that a person performed his/her duties well. This award recognizes outstanding service and performance over and above the person’s job description.
c. Areas of expertise may include but are not limited to the following:
- Public Relations
- Organization and Administration
- Special Projects
- Legislative Procedures
- Council Procedures
- Records Management
- Technology
- Emergency Preparedness
- Other: _________________________________________
Please use the Recorder of the Year Nomination Form to nominate a Recorder.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact:
Dale Shafer
City Manager/Recorder
OAMR President
PO Box 143
Nehalem, OR 97131
503-368-5627 phone
503-368-4175 fax
manager@ci.nehalem.or.us
Barbara Christensen, MMC, City of Ashland
2016 Recorder of the Year
Barb is an incredible asset to the OAMR organization. She gave exceptional and dedicated effort towards being our host recorder, and through her exemplary organizational, administrative, and project management skills, helped to give us a wonderful conference. She had planned to retire this year, and had an actual scheduled retirement date. However, once she learned that she would be the host recorder, she postponed her retirement in order to serve OAMR.
Her official nomination came from 7 members of OAMR, but there were many others within her City’s organization that have added comments in support and acknowledgement of her dedication and hard work. I’ve heard about multiple projects that she’s been the architect of for over 20 years, plus I’ve heard from an Associate Planner, and even a petitioner, who complemented her on her election office capabilities. That says so much about her. Some of the comments received, were as follows:
• She “is an essential resource for a City Councilor, whether they are a newbie or a veteran. She has answers, helpful advice, even criticism. She does all this for a councilor and always with a smile and upbeat attitude which is contagious. She can turn a dismal day into a bright one. Her knowledge and institutional history will be a loss to our city when she retires. Barb is a gem, and we love her”.
• “She answers every request given to her, regardless of how large or how small, expeditiously, and in a very professional manner”.
• Her Mayor said that “When she retires, she will leave a hole that can’t be filled, both for her capabilities and for her gregarious and expansive personality. She is an Oregon original, and someone I’m proud to have known as a colleague and a friend”.
• “She is the ‘Boots on the Ground’, ‘Mover & Shaker’ and the ‘Go to’ person for all conference planning. Questions regarding the venue; room sizes; audio-visual issues; potential honored guest dinner locations; speaker gifts; speakers; room set-up; and much, much more were handled by Barb quickly and competently.”
• “Barb has always been an advocate for easier access to public records. Because of this, she introduced and spearheaded the City’s electronic file base, Laserfiche. This required intense work inventorying, re-numbering, and scanning that continues to this day. Her efforts led her to receive the First Freedom Award in 2005, (from the Greater Oregon Professional Chapter Society of Professional Journalists) recognizing her strong efforts to preserve and strengthen the First Amendment, and in 2010, the Pioneer Award from Laserfiche for her groundbreaking efforts to streamline information management”.
• “Barb has a long and significant history of service to OAMR that, in itself, is representative of the qualities for this honor. She’s served as Treasurer, Second VP, First VP, President, and Immediate Past President. She’s done all this while also holding the distinction of being a rare type of City Recorder who is elected to the office”.
Barb was instrumental in not only being in charge of many of the details of the conference, but also arranged for group tickets for Thursday evening, that were used by many of our members to attend either a Shakespeare play, or the Cabaret. She obtained an internationally known speaker, Dr. Rick Kirschner, to present a general session for OAMR, and not only asked him to lower his fee for our organization, but also asked him to donate that fee to the Helman Elementary School Library, our charity organization for this year. She worked with the membership to raise a total of a little over $1,300 to go to the Helman Elementary School Library.
Barb is respected by her OAMR colleagues, co-workers, family, friends, and community. OAMR members are motivated by her example of professionalism, and dedication to our organization. Thank you Barb, for all you’ve done for the City of Ashland and its service organizations. As stated by Past President Ruth Post, “Barbs retirement in 2017 will be measurable loss to OAMR but she is going out having made a lasting impression on the success of the 2016 Annual Conference”. Indeed, she has made a HUGE impression. Barb, thank you for your sacrifices, and providing outstanding service to the members of OAMR!
Michele Eldridge, CMC, OAMR President 2015-2016