Mark Huizenga: This is another episode of with Mark and I'm really excited to have with us today, Joe DiMarco, the clerk for Ada Township. Joe, thanks for joining us today. It's really great to see you. I think a lot of times when people talk about clerks, they have this perception of what a clerk does. And it sounds like maybe it's the one time of year or the two times a year that you do an election, but the clerk's role is really a lot bigger than what most people think. Can you give us just a little bit of a snippet of all the different things that you do ⁓ tell us a little bit about why the clerk's role is so important? Well, first of all, thank you so much for having me and allowing me this opportunity. It's always a good ⁓ pleasure to see you. The role a clerk. Well, when I decided to run for the position, of course, I did due diligence to the best of my ability to try to determine like what all is the role because I the most predominant statutory responsibility for a clerk is running, administering, managing our elections, which was very appealing to me because I had been doing election work of a wide range throughout the state for several years. So that was a big component. I did also look into, what are the other responsibilities? And discovering a good portion of them, I realized my business acumen from many years prior would be certainly applicable and very appealing because I have been, if I do say so myself, a successful in the corporate world. So I thought I ⁓ the adequate skills to bring to the position. So what does a clerk do? Again, the most prominent statutory responsibilities are managing, administering good, fair, and accountable, accurate elections. That's first and foremost. But that That also involves a lot of knowledge as to how elections should be run. Now at the front end, meaning within the role of a clerk, there's a lot of preliminary knowledge that you have to acquire managing our voter file or the QDF. My experience had come in in the middle, meaning working the precincts, working elections, and in the end, ⁓ meaning working with county ⁓ canvassers. ⁓ as we audit and review all election returns. So that's where my experience was. And I had a bit of a learning curve to get over like the preliminary, how to set everything up and this and that. I have the benefit of working with a very, very knowledgeable deputy and her skills on the front end and technical abilities and my process abilities on the middle and the ⁓ back we put it all together. And I am very proud of what I call a very well-organized machine. for ADA. Well, that's what our residents expect. Seamless accuracy, sensible solutions that help them get their work done. There's an expectation that things are going to flow smoothly. And I think that the role of the clerk is so important to do exactly that. But aside from that, you still are a member of the board of the township, right? Yes. You attend the meetings? Yes, absolutely. Everyone. And then responsible for the minutes and... Yes, another part of the clerk's role is maintaining all the record keeping for the township. We have a board meeting ⁓ second and fourth Monday of every month. We a recording and then the clerk's office, one of my staff people, administers all the board minutes that come from that so that there is a record. ⁓ We them and maintain them, store them, file them accordingly so that the records are always there. So I think it's probably fair to say that you're the keeper of all records for the residents of your township. Tell me what does a normal day look like for you? mean, aside from an election day, which is probably absolutely but ⁓ a ⁓ normal day for you, ⁓ what does it look like? You get to the office and... Well, I usually get to the office ⁓ about 7, 7.15 in the morning. ⁓ And I do like that little of quiet time, fire up the office, get the start going through the emails and whatnot. When you say what is a normal day, I am not really sure because a detailed organizer, as I like to call myself, you never know what's going to happen. The clerk's office receives all the incoming calls from residents on a wide range of subject matter. So taking in what calls are coming in, addressing them accordingly, who's coming into the office physically. addressing the people who are physically there at the window. They're looking for somebody ⁓ a different department. We will bring them to that department. Somebody looking for information regarding their home. They might need the assessor or the treasurer. We guide them to whoever it is they need to speak to. I also manage the cemeteries. Ada has two lovely cemeteries ⁓ that we've been on diligently ⁓ because one the that I had upon taking office was our two cemeteries have not been very well maintained. They've been somewhat neglected. And I put a complete operational plan in place to address these needs. work very closely with our buildings, facilities, and grounds department to perform all the required maintenance and whatnot. We are responsible for issuing ⁓ grave and kind of permits so that we can, and then we also maintain those records. Sometimes it gets a little tricky if people want to purchase a grave, maybe they have family members in another area. We'll go through mapping. That's another thing that we are responsible for is cemetery mapping and marking of all the graves. So we know who's where and whatnot. We do mark veterans ⁓ whether it's a full. casket burial or cremains. Ada recently purchased last fall two brand new beautiful columbarium units and that's ⁓ if you are being cremated and they're gorgeous. So ⁓ taking care of all of that. ⁓ in the course of one day, what does the normal day look like? I'll say a mix of everything. And I actually love that because it's never boring. I know that we talk about the keeper of the records, but like the details for a cemetery. Sometimes I think with different staffers of the clerk's role and you know, when I was the mayor of Walker, we had the same kind of issue with the cemeteries. Like who did this? And you know, it's, it's one of those jobs that's probably, kind of forgotten about, but yet it's so important, so important to the families that have the expectations that we're managing those and we're maintaining, ⁓ the grounds and keeping them the beautiful and in good shape. One of the things that I always thought was interesting is that the clerk's role is also responsible for identifying what the precincts look like. So every 10 years we do a census you've got to do a balance ⁓ the precincts. ⁓ that was one of the things when I was on local government, I was surprised about how important that was to make sure that the balance of people was the right way and that people were notified. And so you're not only just as keeper of records, but you're the one that's responsible to notify everybody what's happening. What do you wish that the people of Ada, the residents there in Ada Township, what do you wish that they knew more about the job that you do that might help them and then frankly might help you do your job better? I'm so glad you brought that up because I'm all about communication. I'm a people person. I love talking to strangers on the street. And that's one of the reasons why I love when people just come to our office right at the window. You can't believe the conversations that you wind up being engaged in. And I absolutely love that. No matter what their issue was when they walked into the door, it usually turns into something else. But I ran on three principles. Number one, transparency. Number two, accountability. Number three, stability. If you're transparent, you will be accountable. If you're accountable, you will be stable. Those were three main components of mine. And upon Stepping into the role I You know after I had a little bit of time to get familiar with things and whatnot I wanted to engage in a notification program Which I think has been it has finally evolved to a level that I'm very very happy and proud of we we redid our website and We a component in there where you can go to our website and you could scroll all the way down and there's a there's a little tab that says e-notify. So I've been encouraging sending out residential notices to all of our residents on our website, on our Facebook page, through Instagram. ⁓ sign up to receive these notices because it's one thing ⁓ put vital information on the website, but I prefer to have it come to me. I want it to go out there to all of our residents so that they're familiar with things and they're just going to get. Yeah. Over-communicating is actually a good thing. Over-communicating is never a bad thing. So we send them information about events. We send them information about particularly elections and any changes that are underway within the township. And it's all good. I mean, we get people coming into the office to say, ⁓ thanks so much. I got that notification. And, know, now I you know, blah, blah, blah, whatever the subject matter is. So ⁓ I'm all about communication. AID has seen a lot of growth, obviously, in especially that downtown area, but the general township, lots of houses in there, lots of nice growth, but your downtown has really, really come a long way in just the last five years. Can you tell me about a couple of the really exciting things that are maybe have just happened that have completed, but also what's the future hold for ADA and where are we going there? Well, first, let me say how proud I am of our beautiful downtown. It has something for everybody. ⁓ And we'll call it the village, the downtown village where all the shops and stores and restaurants and there is something for everybody, men, women, children. The boutiques are fantastic. The restaurants are all very diverse. They offer food choices from a wide range of origins. Well, even the shops, the different things that are available. mean, there's something. You said it earlier, something for everybody and there really is. I mean, the pharmacy, the salons, the restaurants, the boutiques. And ⁓ something that really resonated with me was there is a fabulous barber shop there that it's kind of going back to the old school. And my grandfather was a barber. So ⁓ when I see that little pole, you know, like the one spins around with the stripes on it, it makes me think of my grandfather. that puts a smile on my face. That's awesome. Where we're going, I like to talk about the growth in the other projects that are underway. Like ⁓ main one that I'd like to talk about is the Covered Bridge Park, where this community. This is families bringing their children to a beautiful new park with a splash pad and a dog park ⁓ also an where they could sit and have lunch. ⁓ parents, moms could bring all their kids and let them run around and play and experience summer right under their nose. then, you okay, kids, go on, it's time for lunch. And it's just a beautiful area with all ⁓ modern facilities, but yet still maintaining the charm that many residents refer to as old Ada. it's a beautiful example. The small time feel, something for Yes. And if I was to summarize what you just described is customer service. for your resident service. You guys are all about that and making sure that is absolutely gorgeous in that community, that there's intentional growth, it's done the right way. And it's just, it's just been amazing to watch it grow. ⁓ If, if I can interject for one more thing, because as you say I'd like to say how very privileged, honored and proud I am of the Ada Township team that I get to work with. Our department heads, our they are top notch and I have to first mention our, what I call the best of the best township managers, Julius Succi. often call him the glue that keeps us all together. He's amazing. But our parks director, ⁓ Deason, ⁓ buildings, facilities and grounds director, Dennis Brinks, our downtown development director, Kevin Austin, our treasurer, Kevin Moran, these are people who have deep roots in ADA and they ⁓ don't come to work and do a job every day. their hearts and souls are in what they do for the community. And when I see that, I mean, you notice it immediately. Just be in our office for a little bit of time and you can immediately see that. And people are the driving force that make ADA what it is. Yeah, it's the passion of the people that work there. Joe, do you have a favorite story of a resident that you've been able to help as a clerk that ⁓ you could share with us? Because I think a lot times, It's not just paper pushing but the work that you do really matters to people if I if I may I hope I don't sound like I'm being a little arrogant but ⁓ one of the that really I Really that really resonates with me and and incentivizes ⁓ is to just keep doing ⁓ the job that I'm doing I have implemented a lot new policies procedures operational plans And when people come to our board meetings and they say, thank you, clerk DeMarco, which I always say, don't call me clerk, call me Joe, you know, but they say, thank you for this, this, and this. And they mentioned the ability to choose what notifications they get. And they mentioned the abilities. They've seen an improvement in our election process. And they mentioned improvements that not only come from my office, but from some of the other departments that I've mentioned, the cemeteries in particular. We've done a lot, a lot of work on cleanup of our cemeteries. That means the world to me. If there is one favorite story, I might say, and this is a little emotional for me, but the cemeteries always been a special place for me. The cemeteries have always been a place of Zen for me. And my deputy shares those sentiments as well. So that's another area we make a good team. We had to assist a lady who her daughter, unfortunately, and that really resonated with me because my own had severe mental issues, but thankfully she's overcome them. ⁓ But this lady was not that fortunate and we had to help her find a grave, ⁓ put it in place and whatnot. And it was very emotional, very emotional. So it was Friday afternoon. ⁓ I gave her all the paperwork that she needed and I said, you know, just take your time, go home over the weekend, think about it, this and that. She said, okay, I'll be back on Monday. So while I was out and about shopping on Saturday, I thought of her and I found a beautiful little pink rose arrangement and I thought of her and I bought it and I brought it on Monday and thinking, you know, maybe this will cheer her up a little bit. And when came in, she also had a bouquet of flowers and they were for me. ⁓ And we exchanged our gifts. And before you know it, we're all in the hallway and kissing and hugging and ⁓ you know, so, ⁓ I, touch base with each other every now and then. And that just, I, sad for her, but it me feel really good. But that goes so much further customer service. That's really about people creating environment that says that you care, that you're passionate about your job and that you're there to provide service for the people of West Michigan. Joe Clerk of Ada Township, thank you for coming in today, for spending time with us, telling us a little bit about this, demystifying what it's like to be a clerk. And thank you to you and your team for all the great things you do in Ada. Everybody loves it. You are very welcome. And I just want to tell you how much I appreciated the opportunity to say so. Thank you. Thank you.