Henderson City Clerk Maree Collins has worked with six mayors, five city managers, four interim city managers and 24 city commissioners in her 29 years with the city.
In that time, she’s learned virtually every process of city government, becoming the go-to when questions arise about how to handle a conundrum, especially if it relates to precedents set by previous governments—sometimes those set decades ago.
Some have called hers an encyclopedic knowledge of city matters.
“She is the city of Henderson encyclopedia,” said Theresa Richey, the senior legal secretary in the city attorney’s office.
City Attorney Dawn Kelsey said younger city employees call Collins “Mother Wisdom” for all the knowledge and history stored in her brain. Collins knows so much about the city, Kelsey said, that it almost causes the city attorney to be jealous.
“I’m never going to have the breadth of (city) knowledge she has,” Kelsey said. “She’s just extraordinary.”
On Wednesday, Collins will say goodbye to her “second family” at the city of Henderson when she finally retires.
Collins moved to Henderson in late 1991 after her husband, David, was transferred here with his company, Simmons Rand, where he was a warehouse manager. For several years, Collins sometimes helped him out, delivering underground mine equipment to different locations. In 1995, she got on at the city, starting in the human resources department.
Six years later, in 2001, she moved positions, becoming the city manager’s assistant. There she stayed until 2015, when she became the city clerk.
Throughout her time at the city, she has developed a reputation as the person to ask if you want to know the government’s workings. In the middle of city commission meetings, it’s not uncommon for a commissioner or the mayor to look to her for guidance or reference—or a historical perspective.
Collins believes that local elected leaders need to know the city’s history and precedents before any changes are made. They need to understand how it may affect other ordinances or regulations, she said.
“You need to know how all these things affect each other,” she said.
Collins said she learned the ins and outs of city government during former City Manager Ben Saag’s time in city government. Saag came on in 2005. After his hire, he was diagnosed with lung cancer.
Saag took a leave in 2007, Collins said. As the city manager’s assistant at the time, Collins was one of the many in the city who took over duties that Saag had been handling.
“We kept the office going,” Collins said. “A lot of department heads pulled together to keep it going.”
Richey, who was early in her career at the city then, said that Collins is being modest about her role in that tough time. It was not so much as everyone pulling together so much as it was that Collins spearheaded the work and “kept the group rallied”—and in fact, was the leader, Richey said.
Saag died in 2008. That was a “rough time for all of us,” Collins said.
Kelsey said that Collins’ work to digitize city records has “brought the clerk’s office into the digital age.”
Now, Collins said she can conduct quick searches for information all the way back to 1904 when the city’s minutes first began to be typed.
Sometimes, though, Collins doesn’t need computers.
“She has the memory of an elephant,” Kelsey said.
When an employee asks if something has happened previously, Collins says something to the effect that, ‘Yes, that happened in 1993 in April or May,’ Kelsey said. “Then she will go find it and she’s right,” Kelsey said.
Jessa Brandon was hired in July as deputy city clerk and will move into the city clerk role upon Collins’ retirement. Both Kelsey and Richey say that Collins has worked diligently to instill Brandon with all her knowledge—another testament to Collins’ dedication and loyalty to the city and citizens.
“She wants us to continue to flourish,” Kelsey said.
Collins said she’s excited for the future of Henderson. There are new businesses and the new interstate I-69 and “we’re working to improve the park system.” City staff, she said, continue to work towards making Henderson better, which has been a point of pride during her career.
“I take great pride in working here for the city,” Collins said. “It has been good to my family. I will dearly miss this second family at the city.”
She said she’d been hinting at retirement for a while, but she knew it would be hard to leave. So, when she and David were watching a New Year’s Eve program that showed the celebrations in Sydney, Australia, last year, she mentioned that she’d always wanted to go there. Her husband quipped “that would be a way to keep you from staying longer, so book it,” she said.
Collins said they will spend January touring Australia and New Zealand.
Kelsey is grateful that Collins was at the city when she was hired. The city attorney said she didn’t get much time to learn her role under the previous city attorney. It was Collins who took her under her wing and taught her the role.
“I will forever be grateful for what she’s done for me,” Kelsey said. “I adore her.”
