Flowery Branch may have lost its city clerk. But it won’t be losing her as resident.
Melissa McCain said goodbye last week to her old clerk job and will begin Monday commuting to Doraville, where she’ll assume an expanded clerk role in the DeKalb County city.
“When you’re here for so long, you’re dealing with all the water customers and business owners and running the elections, you really get connected to the community,” McCain said Friday. “It was hard to break those (professional) ties.”
Personnel will shift until her replacement is hired, said Flowery Branch Mayor Mike Miller. Assistant City Clerk Lou Camiscioni will take over McCain’s duties until city council appoints a permanent clerk, Miller added.
“It won’t be a quick process,” Miller said. “Obviously, with all the responsibilities, you need someone who is highly qualified.”
Advertisements for the post will be distributed locally as well as through municipal association job boards, Miller said, with the salary listed between $40,000-50,000 depending on experience.
Losing McCain, clerk since 2006, is both a difficult and happy occasion for city staff and council, he added.
“She has done a great job for us in Flowery Branch,” Miller said. “I, personally, am sad to see her go. But I’m very, very excited for her professional career that she has this opportunity to grow with a larger municipality.”
Doraville, home to about 10,000 residents, runs a type of city government in which the mayor serves largely as manager and the council handles most decision-making power.
As the city’s main clerk, McCain will supervise human resources, organize council meeting minutes and agendas, handle ordinance matters, elections and more. The new post pays nearly $10,000 more, includes a pension benefit and is flexible as far as what time of day she works.
The last bonus is an important one for McCain, 41, whose family will keep its Flowery Branch residence. She’ll work about an hour away from her husband, Chris, and their two sons, whose sports activities take up most of her free time.
“If I’m not at work I’m on the football or soccer field,” she said, with a laugh.
McCain first entered government work as an officer in Illinois. She served eight years with McHenry County Conservation
District Police, a department north of Chicago, where she was the first female deputized to enforce laws on the road, she said.
Moving to Georgia with her family, she stayed at home with her children before accepting a position with Flowery Branch in 2005.
In recent years, she has earned her bachelor’s degree along with a series of certifications related to her clerk profession. McCain credited her father, John, with inspiring her to pursue self-improvement opportunities.
“He has always been a go getter,” she said. “You never stop learning. You constantly have to strive to better yourself, just for you and the city you’re working for.”