History article written for the GFHS website,First in 112 Years! When Granite Falls incorporated in November 1903, the town fathers knew they had plenty of work ahead of them. They knew they were responsible to ensure the smooth functioning of a new town. They knew it would take work and dedication. Essentially, they knew they had to define the role and hire a person to fill the position of "Chief Worker Bee”, otherwise known as Town Clerk. Ordinance #1 of Granite Falls was passed on Jan 11, 1904, as the first official action of the new city government, and defined the role of Town Clerk. Over the century since then, many well-known names served in the role. C.T. Smith, W.D. Sibley, Anna Pugh, Clyde Plants, Hiram Jewell, George Thompson, Frank Eder, Kenneth Rogers, Martin Engebretsen, Ruth Bromley, Ilene Larson, through the years to long-serving folks like Gerry James and the current clerk, Darla Johns-Reese. These folks made contributions both inside and outside their town clerk roles, some serving at times as fire chief, librarian, treasurer, and school board chairman, while coordinating everything from town meetings to town parades. But 112 years after the job was first established, Darla Johns—Reese has raised the bar of performance for the long tradition of personal excellence demonstrated by our city clerks. Darla has achieved recognition as a Master Municipal Clerk, the foundation of which was completion of a long complex set oftraining courses over several years, It encompasses all facets of financial, legal, political, and municipal activities, After completion of the training and certification by the International Institute of Municipal Clerks, Darla became only the 41St person in the State of Washington and the first in our city to achieve such recognition (amazing, when you consider the hundreds of towns and cities across the State). Now you know why, when you ask a question at City Hall, you often get an initial response of, "Darla can likely explain that!" Congratulations to our city clerk for a job well done, and for achieving a level of contribution that few have achieved. Of course, the Town Council and Planning Commission (two of the agencies who benefit directly from Darla’s participation) felt obligated to offer a certificate of appreciation. Besides a printed copy of Ordinance #1, the text on the certificate reads: mafia Johns-Reese Master Municipal Clerk In the earliest annals of City history, our founding fathers knew they had to answer one all—important question before any progress could be made. So they passed Ordinance #1 to establish the position of Town Clerk, thus forever answering the question: Who’s running this chicken outfit? Congratulations to our very first MMC in 112 years! June 2016 , Accession/Object ID: No accession number, Object Name: , Title: "Back in the Day" article, Author: Fred Cruger, Description: History article written for the GFHS website, Date: , OCR Text: First in 112 Years! When Granite Falls incorporated in November 1903, the town fathers knew they had plenty of work ahead of them. They knew they were responsible to ensure the smooth functioning of a new town. They knew it would take work and dedication. Essentially, they knew they had to define the role and hire a person to fill the position of "Chief Worker Bee”, otherwise known as Town Clerk. Ordinance #1 of Granite Falls was passed on Jan 11, 1904, as the first official action of the new city government, and defined the role of Town Clerk. Over the century since then, many well-known names served in the role. C.T. Smith, W.D. Sibley, Anna Pugh, Clyde Plants, Hiram Jewell, George Thompson, Frank Eder, Kenneth Rogers, Martin Engebretsen, Ruth Bromley, Ilene Larson, through the years to long-serving folks like Gerry James and the current clerk, Darla Johns-Reese. These folks made contributions both inside and outside their town clerk roles, some serving at times as fire chief, librarian, treasurer, and school board chairman, while coordinating everything from town meetings to town parades. But 112 years after the job was first established, Darla Johns—Reese has raised the bar of performance for the long tradition of personal excellence demonstrated by our city clerks. Darla has achieved recognition as a Master Municipal Clerk, the foundation of which was completion of a long complex set oftraining courses over several years, It encompasses all facets of financial, legal, political, and municipal activities, After completion of the training and certification by the International Institute of Municipal Clerks, Darla became only the 41St person in the State of Washington and the first in our city to achieve such recognition (amazing, when you consider the hundreds of towns and cities across the State). Now you know why, when you ask a question at City Hall, you often get an initial response of, "Darla can likely explain that!" Congratulations to our city clerk for a job well done, and for achieving a level of contribution that few have achieved. Of course, the Town Council and Planning Commission (two of the agencies who benefit directly from Darla’s participation) felt obligated to offer a certificate of appreciation. Besides a printed copy of Ordinance #1, the text on the certificate reads: mafia Johns-Reese Master Municipal Clerk In the earliest annals of City history, our founding fathers knew they had to answer one all—important question before any progress could be made. So they passed Ordinance #1 to establish the position of Town Clerk, thus forever answering the question: Who’s running this chicken outfit? Congratulations to our very first MMC in 112 years! June 2016 , Granite Falls Historical Society,Documents (articles, clippings, letters, papers),Local History Articles,Back in the Day (local),MMC article.pdf,MMC article.pdf Page 1, MMC article.pdf Page 1