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Photograph by Skye Dunlap
'I thought I would hate it,' Butler said of her feelings when she first took a job at City Hall 33 years ago.
After 33 years, clerk steps down
Butler cites a hard year, retirement as reasons for departure
By Kelly Wilkinson
Carol Butler was admittedly reluctant when it came to working in the clerk's office at City Hall nearly 30 years ago.
"I thought I would hate it," she says. "And when I first got in here, I thought, 'Oh my God, what am I doing in here?'"
Her perception changed enough along the way to keep her significantly longer than the 6 months she anticipated staying in the clerk's office. Instead, she stayed for 33 years. But as of June 30, that tenure comes to a close with Butler's retirement.
Butler took a circuitous route to becoming city clerk, starting with post-high school expectations of pursuing a teaching job in physical education. While teaching swimming in San Jose, the parent of one of her students told her of an opening in the city's finance department.
"This was the '60s and things were a lot easier then," she said. "And I thought I'd just go in there and interview, but the next thing I knew I was taking a typing test and was offered a job."
Butler said she thought at that point she would only stay for six months before moving out of Sunnyvale City Hall, but instead she moved into the clerk's office.
"It wasn't by choice," Butler said, adding that this time period marked the beginning of the electronic age when the city started to move on-line with some of its operations, including those within the finance department.
"I had a decision to make and was told that I could either stay in finance and hope that I wasn't replaced by a computer, or I could move into the clerk's office," she said. "[The clerk's office] was really the least of two evils."
Butler initially thought the department would be boring "because it's records and everything," but said instead it's been an opportunity to learn about government, people, issues, and make a second family along the way.
"I feel like I really got my degree at City Hall," she said.
In her position, Butler has been responsible for managing records, providing support and clerking to City Council, and conducting city elections. She was promoted to deputy city clerk in the mid-'80s.
"Every day is definitely different and I'm not a routine-type person, so it's worked really well," she said. "There are always catastrophes and I kind of enjoy that I guess."
Among the highlights have been the firing of two previous city managers, the arrest of one mayor, and a bomb scare in council chambers.
"You really have to be on your feet all the time and ready for anything," she said. Butler also said the job demands objectivity which she credits herself for, despite having "to bite my tongue a lot."
Lenore Wilcox, City Council secretary, said the loss is both professional and personal.
"She's been a great friend and so much fun to be around," Wilcox said. "She's cute and fun and bubbly and has a sense of humor like no one else."
Wilcox said the history Butler brings to the job will be impossible to replace, but also said it's a fact of life that people move on.
"She will continue to do good things and enjoy whatever else she does, and she deserves it after 33 years," she said.
City attorney Valerie Armento echoed the historical implications of Butler's departure.
"She's a significant portion of the institutional memory of the city," she said. "She's always very amiable and has a great rapport with staff and is very easy to work with."
Butler said there is a new leadership style under city manager Bob LaSala's direction, which she predicts might continue some of the turnover.
"[LaSala] is different to [previous city manager] Tom Lucock, and that's what people are dealing with right now," she said, adding that she feels the city has become "disjointed" under LaSala's management.
"Maybe I'll be proved wrong and there will be some positive results in the future," she said. "But this is a different leadership style than I've been used to."
For now, Butler said it is time to move on after a difficult year of surviving breast cancer and losing her father. She has already planned several trips in the near future, and said she is adjusting to not having the responsibilities of her job.
"I'll miss some wonderful people who have become like family," Butler said. "After so many years, this has become my life and now I have to learn how to detach myself."
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Sunnyvale, California Since 1994
