Inside Richmond: The City's Pulse

Episode 7 - Inside Richmond: The City's Pulse | From Marriage Ceremonies to Public Records: The Roles of City Clerk

• Kevin Shook

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Ever wonder what goes on behind the scenes at your local government? Guest Karen Chasteen, Richmond's City Clerk for the past 22 years, joined host Lindsay Darnell on Inside Richmond: The City’s Pulse to pull back the curtain on one of the most vital yet often misunderstood municipal offices.

Far from just taking meeting notes, the City Clerk’s office serves as the beating heart of local government operations. “We have 200 years of history in my vault,” Chasteen shares, highlighting how her team has worked to transform those historical archives into accessible digital records that citizens can browse from home. This commitment to transparency is just one aspect of the office’s wide-reaching role in supporting Richmond’s governance.

From preparing materials for City Council, Board of Works, and Richmond Power and Light meetings to processing the resulting documents, the Clerk's office ensures smooth and efficient government operations while keeping the public informed.

What truly sets the office apart is its daily connection with residents across all walks of life. Need a bus pass, parking permit, or to register your pet? The Clerk’s office handles it. They also collect ordinance violation payments and help connect those in need with social services. One unexpected duty? Chasteen has officiated over 2,000 weddings during her tenure.

With modest fee updates after 25 years and a small but dedicated three-person team maintaining constant availability, the City Clerk’s office continues to serve with heart and history. Visit them on the second floor of the City Building, call 765-983-7232, or explore their services online at richmondindiana.gov/departments/clerk.

Speaker 1:

Welcome back to another episode of Inside Richmond, the City's Pulse. I'm Lindsay Darnell, your host, and today we have Karen Chastain with us. She is the city clerk for the city of Richmond. Karen, thank you for joining me. Well, you're welcome. So I wanted to bring you on here to talk about your role and what your office does, to just clarify and let the public know what services you offer. So can you give us an overview of what the city clerk's office?

Speaker 2:

does Well, according to the state code, when I took office, it was to take notes at common council meetings and to keep the city seal.

Speaker 1:

Ok, it's much more than that Much more than that, so you do keep all of the records.

Speaker 2:

We have 200 years of history in my vault and we've archived every bit of them to our document management system so that people can access them from home on their computers and they can find that on the city's website.

Speaker 1:

Yes, they can, and they just go to the city clerk's part on the website.

Speaker 2:

Actually, you can go into departments and then it'll have public records, okay, and you can go into that Okay.

Speaker 1:

So what are some of the most common misconceptions people have about your role?

Speaker 2:

I think they think all we do is take notes and keep the city seal, but we have so many things we do. We take care of Common Council, board of Works, richmond Power and Light Board. We make sure that their information is ready for them when they have meetings. We take care of the documents afterwards to make sure that they're processed properly and we file them. We archive them, and we file them, we archive them. I think those are probably the longest things that we do, but we have so many people that come into our office for things like bus passes, parking permits, dog tags, you know, you name it. We kind of we're the hub and if a department needs some research done, they call us, and we and I love research anyway, so we can usually find their answer for them.

Speaker 1:

And you're a lifelong resident of Richmond right. Except for a few years I lived in Arizona, so there is a lot of history in this town. Oh my gosh, yes.

Speaker 2:

Music, sports, especially music. I think we're the cradle of recorded jazz, so, yes, that's important.

Speaker 1:

So tell me, how does your office interact with the public on a daily basis?

Speaker 2:

We have every walk of life that walks into our office, like I said, for dog tags, all those things, but also ordinance violations. We receive the money for those and of course we have to keep databases on all those so we can report to whoever needs it, you know, the law department, or if we send stuff over to the court eventually, you know.

Speaker 1:

Something else I wanted to bring up that I just thought about. You actually are ordained to marry couples, correct? Yes, that's part of the job.

Speaker 2:

Okay, yes, and I've done over 2,000 of them, since I've been in office oh wow, that's a lot. Yeah, they either love me or hate me. You never know.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, okay, so tell me, your office handles public records and transparency. How can residents access important city documents if they don't have internet or a computer?

Speaker 2:

Well, they can do a public records request and that now has to go through the law department. We could receive them. We'll let them know we have it and then we forward it on up to the law department and they make sure it's taken care of and then you guys can make a copy, or a law department makes a copy for the resident asking Okay.

Speaker 1:

Right, I know that was something I wanted to let people know. Yes, it's accessible on our website, but you can come in person. It's just a longer process.

Speaker 2:

Exactly.

Speaker 1:

Okay. What steps does the city take to ensure transparency and accessibility in government?

Speaker 2:

I think our document management system is a big part of that, because you can find it on your computer. Just about anything in our history. If you walk into my vault, there's 200 years of history in there and every bit of that now is on Laserfish, which is our document management system, and that you can access through public records online, so you can find anything you want and if you need help with it, call us We'll help walk you through it.

Speaker 1:

Okay, that's very helpful for you guys to take that steps and walk someone through on the phone.

Speaker 2:

We really like to help people. We have people like I said. We have disadvantaged people that come in. We have people that really need help, not necessarily in just buying a bus pass, but we've helped them find community services that can help them homeless, whatever.

Speaker 1:

That's awesome. Are there any upcoming initiatives to make public information more easily available?

Speaker 2:

Not that I know of. I know that there are a couple of things coming in July. I'm not sure it changes what we do to make sure that we have all the information online. And there's only one thing I think they're adding that we don't do now we have live streams for all of our meetings, but then to have recordings of those online also. We haven't been doing that, we just have it available if they need it. But we're going to start to do that.

Speaker 1:

In July. Okay, so how does your office support the city council and local government operation? We?

Speaker 2:

take care of all their paperwork. We make sure they have everything that they need to run a nice smooth meeting. And when they have things that go to committee, then they have to come back to us and say, okay, put this on the agenda so we can talk about it more. So we kind of organize that. It's not rocket science, it's just maintaining it.

Speaker 1:

So you maintain their agendas, their minutes.

Speaker 2:

Yes, and make sure all the documents are signed afterwards. Okay, because sometimes you have to have council sign it, you have to have the mayor sign it, resolutions have to have everybody sign it. And now Board of Works is another thing that we take care of in our office and the deputy really handles that well and all the contracts that go to Board of Works works. She has to make sure that they're signed by the mayor and sent to the department so that vendors can sign it and then bring it back. And then we always have the originals in our vault filed, but we have them on laser fish also and so the public can access those contracts and look at them if they're curious.

Speaker 2:

Exactly, rpnl is the same way. We take care of their board stuff.

Speaker 1:

Okay, what are some of the biggest challenges you face in keeping council records and meeting minutes organized?

Speaker 2:

I don't know that we have a challenge really. I mean, we've walked it through since I took office 22 years ago. Everything was done by hand. We had to do our packets nine packets for them. We had the police department deliver them to their doors, and then, when we became more digital, you know we can send it out on email, which makes it a lot better. I don't think we have challenges, though. We just have to be organized about it.

Speaker 1:

Which you guys do a really good job, by the way. Oh thank you, you're welcome. So tell me what are some of the. I'm sorry. Can you walk us through how a typical city council meeting is documented and archived?

Speaker 2:

Well, of course they always have their agendas ahead of time, so they know what's coming and I read them. I read the first reading or second reading. First reading is when we introduce it to the public and then they either refer it to a committee or talk about it a little bit. Some will go through that night and move it to public hearing and second reading. But second reading is when there is a public hearing and that the audience can comment, which is important.

Speaker 2:

But if it's been referred to a committee, then the second reading is when that committee makes its recommendation because they've already reviewed it, they've analyzed it, done whatever, especially tax abatements and rezoning things it has to be maybe referred back to planning and zoning and when those recommendations are made then we have a public hearing on it. Then they'll vote and after they voted I just I do very few notes because we record everything so I can run that recording again in the office and figure out who said what. And then we make sure it's signed and we scan it into laser fish so that anybody can see them. But we also keep the paper copies and we also put them in the archive books in our vault. So that's pretty much it, and that's the way it is with rpnl and also board of works, is pretty much the same same routine which I know a lot of people.

Speaker 1:

If they're watching the council meetings from home, they'll see you sitting up there and you'll do roll call and and we read by title only.

Speaker 2:

Thank you, thank you. We could have to write or read them every word of an ordinance or something, and when it's's 50 pages long, that's a lot. But we, we, what are they? You know we don't do the rules. You know we can just read it by title only and that's nice. And if they need to know anything in it, they'll talk about it. It's different sections and maybe analyze it a little bit. So.

Speaker 1:

I'm not keeping it secret. Okay, have there been any recent or upcoming initiatives from the clerk's office that residents should know about?

Speaker 2:

Well, we've done a couple of things. We've worked with the mayor's office on increasing some of our fees because they haven't been increased for 25 or 30 years, like parking permits. They were $15 a month for 25 years and we recently increased that to $30, but when you compare it to other cities, they charge $30 an hour sometimes, so ours are still minimal, but we did have to do that. Also, with our alarm permits that are renewable every two years, we've raised it from $10 to $20. And they're important. Again, those have not been increased for 20 or 25 years, so I felt like we needed to do it and to change some things in our animal ordinance about registering your dogs and what you need to do and what's mandatory.

Speaker 1:

So, registering your dogs, do you also have to register your cats? Yes, okay, can you give us a brief description on what they need to register their pet?

Speaker 2:

Well, you have to have your vaccinations papers, but specifically rabies. If they don't have the rabies documentation, we can't give them a dog tag. They'll have to bring it back. But it's just that we have to verify the sex, the breed, if it's been neutered or whatever you know. But the rabies is the biggie. And that's not to make money, that's on public health, so that we have our animals vaccinated, and how much does it cost to register your?

Speaker 2:

pet $15 a year or half a year. We do do six months, but then also if they've been neutered, it's half that.

Speaker 1:

Oh, okay, so there's a discount and this is just to you know. Have your pet registered? You know that your animals had their vaccines you know who the animal belongs to.

Speaker 2:

Yes, if they get out and somebody finds them, there's a tag that they wear. It has a number on it. We have that in our office and we can tell them who it belongs to. Our animal control officer relies on that also.

Speaker 1:

So it's just an extra step to make sure you know if they do get out. There is that extra step that could be found Exactly. Okay, how do you see the role of the city clerk evolving with changes in technology and governance?

Speaker 2:

I don't know. It changes with every mayor. You know our routine does, but I don't know what's coming up. I mean, I do know that there's more AI. You know that could impact our office, but I haven't seen it yet. So we just take it as it comes and adapt to it. And my staff is really nice and good about it. They're very smart and they can do that.

Speaker 1:

And your office has three people.

Speaker 2:

Deputy and an ordinance violation specialist. Okay, that's who you see when you walk in the ordinance violation specialist. Okay, that's who you see when you walk in the door.

Speaker 1:

Yes, okay. So tell me a little bit about let's go back to you being a lifelong resident. Tell me a little bit about your. You said 22 years as a city clerk. Did you have any other positions within the?

Speaker 2:

city prior I did. Back in thes when Byron Clutie was the mayor, I started to work for the city engineer and really liked that, but then when the city engineer went off and did a private practice, I kind of went with him and then I don't know, that just wasn't the same as government and so I stopped doing that. And then I worked over at Tess Junior High for a year and then I came back and worked for the mayor and the controller for about well until we lost an election and that changes things. So you know, I did do that and that was about four and a half or five years that I worked for the city and then when I came back it's been like I said this is the 22nd year for this.

Speaker 1:

So I was kind of going through Laserfish. This has been months ago, but there was actually a photo of you when you were young in the city building which you know. Just seeing that history and then talking to you too, I thought that was really neat.

Speaker 2:

I have a lot of history in my office. I have pictures that the police photographer used to take pictures of all the women that worked in the building. I have pictures of Don McBride with his lion cub, brought it up on our way to the vet. You know things like that. When we dedicated the city building, I worked here then and I've got pictures of the crowd then and that's kind of cool. So it's just yeah, you know, if they need to know something about it, usually they come to our office to find out, because you have all that information archived it's historic knowledge.

Speaker 2:

It's like when something comes before council that has a history back here. If I remember it, I can pull up some of the documents and provide them with some of the history so they know what's going on now too. So that's kind of neat.

Speaker 1:

So you are the history keeper for the city?

Speaker 2:

I don't know about that, but you know I do like history, I love history and I love research, so that kind of fits me.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah, that's awesome. Well, karen, is there anything else that you would like the public to know about your office or any ways that they can reach out to you if they do need assistance?

Speaker 2:

Well, they can call the city building. They can either call the main number or call 983-7232.

Speaker 1:

And then they can also come in and they can walk in.

Speaker 2:

We have to. You have to come in through the police department and up to the second floor and we're the last office on the right going south, okay, and uh, there's somebody there. All the time we try not to close during lunch unless it's an emergency, because people come in there during their lunch hours and we don't want to have it vacant.

Speaker 1:

So yeah, so another big thing I want people to know is that you guys sell the bus passes there. Yes, we do.

Speaker 2:

We didn't used to. I mean, we didn't used to sell a lot of the things at the city building. They had to go down to the bus garage but we talked to them and we kind of took that over. We can do ride tickets now. We can do all the documentation and turn the money in. It goes to the right account.

Speaker 1:

Okay, Well, Karen, I want to say thank you for coming and joining me and getting the information about what your office, the services you provide and ways that the public can reach out to you if they're wanting any records. Thank you for joining me.

Speaker 2:

We know who to ask also.

Speaker 1:

Yes, If you don't have the answer you know who to ask.

Speaker 2:

We know who to ask. That's awesome. Okay, ask also. Yes, if you don't have the answer.

Speaker 1:

You know who to ask. Yeah, okay, great, well, thanks. So this is inside richmond, the city's pulse, until next time.