Saratoga News

Photograph by George Sakkestad

Betsy Cory is leaving her job as deputy city clerk after 17 years with the city of Saratoga.

Deputy city clerk makes plans to leave

By Sarah Lombardo

Betsy Cory is looking for a change. So, after 17 years behind the deputy city clerk's desk at Saratoga's City Hall, Cory has announced she is looking for another job.

"I think I've done about as much as I can do in this job," she said. "I feel I've been pretty narrowly focused for a long time, so I'd like to broaden my horizons."

Cory has not formally turned in a resignation, nor has she set an actual date for her last day, although she said it could be as early as mid-July or as late as August. But she said she is already receiving a number of faxes, emails and cards from residents and city officials who have heard of her plans to leave.

And City Manager Larry Perlin said it's no wonder. "She has an amazing knowledge of the history of issues and of the area," he said, "and she is extremely organized. She seems to always be able to pull any information out at her fingertips. ... I actually wish she would stick around."

Perlin said Cory was invaluable last year when he first moved from acting to permanent city manager. "She made my transition a lot smoother than it could have been," he laughed.

Cory, who got her first taste of city government work in the town of Corte Madera, has helped a number of city managers adjust to Saratoga since she was hired in 1980 by then-manager Bob Bier, who left Saratoga a few months later. Four more city managers would follow.

Cory's departure comes just as the City Council is considering separating the positions of city manager and city clerk, which has always been filled by the same person. "The role of city clerk has evolved so much over the years that it really takes a knowledge and skills I just don't have," said Perlin, who has been pushing for the change. "Also, there are some inherent conflicts that result when the city manager is also the city clerk. And for all intents and purposes, Betsy has been serving as the city clerk for some time."

The new city clerk position would bring more salary with the title, but Cory said it wasn't tempting enough to make her stay.

"I knew it was happening," she said, "but the money and the title really didn't mean that much to me. The important thing about the job is the challenge of the job itself and not the title. But it'll benefit the next person, and I wish the next person a lot of luck."

Cory already has a number of tools handy to help that next person. On a shelf behind her desk sit a number of policy manuals and booklets and, most importantly, she said, a directory with the names and addresses of other city clerks.

"Learn all you can about how the council and the rest of the staff works," is how she would advise an incoming city clerk. "But other city clerks are always the best help."

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