Pittsburgh city clerk leads push to create Pa. association of municipal clerks

Pittsburgh’s city clerk is helping to establish an association of municipal clerks in Pennsylvania to make training and networking opportunities more easily accessible.

“Pennsylvania’s one of the few states in the country that does not have its own association,” City Clerk Brenda Pree said.

When Pree moved to Pennsylvania and began working as Pittsburgh’s city clerk in 2017, she realized there was no infrastructure in place to help people in her position get training in the commonwealth. She and others in her office have had to travel out of state to get necessary training and to network with other municipal clerks.

“I was just a little disturbed we didn’t have a state association or a way to train our clerks,” said Pree, who previously served as the city clerk of Jackson, Miss.

City clerks are appointed by City Council every three years. They’re responsible for a variety of duties, including filing legislation, overseeing the legislative process, creating meeting agendas, scheduling City Council meetings and public hearings, accepting petitions filed by citizens and serving as a liaison between City Council and other city departments, other branches of government and the public.

Pree is a Certified Master Municipal Clerk, the highest national designation you can receive as a municipal clerk by the International Institute of Municipal Clerks, which has around 75 members, including Pree, in Pennsylvania.

She has sent members of her staff for training online or in other states because she said she believes such training is imperative — yet it can’t be found in Pennsylvania.

“One of my passions has always been career development, and training is big for me,” she said. “As a leader, my goal is always to make the people around me better and help them to be successful.”

Since 2017, Pree and several other city clerks have teamed up in hopes of creating an association for Pennsylvania’s municipal clerks, so that training and networking with others in the field would be more accessible. Pree has been working with Linda Kelleher of Reading, Kirk Petroski of Harrisburg and Bernard Harris of Lancaster.

“Everyone is so excited and cannot wait for this program to come to fruition,” the International Institute of Municipal Clerks wrote in a regional newsletter. “It will be a proud moment indeed for these clerks and the state of Pennsylvania.”

The group has already created a logo, bylaws and its first education committee, Pree said. It’s also working to establish a training program through Albright College in Reading, she said.

“I’m just really excited about being a part of pioneering an effort to assist clerks in this state,” Pree said. “It does my heart good to know that I’m able to provide something that will be of help to others.”

Pree said she hopes the association will be operating by the spring.