FAMILY members of Town Clerk Barbara Stats gathered with the Select Board Monday to honor her 40 years of service to the town. From left: Chairwoman Kate Manupelli, members Vincenzo Stuto and Liane Gonzalez, grandson Zack Stats, Don Stats Sr., Barbara Stats, Fire Chief Don Stats Jr. and his wife Tracy, member Stephen O’Leary, T.A. Mike Gilleberto, member Rich Wallner. (Maureen Doherty Photo)
By MAUREEN DOHERTY
NORTH READING — Retiring Town Clerk Barbara Stats was recognized by the Select Board Monday night as the embodiment of what it means to truly be a public servant.
Having spent a 40-year career serving the citizens of North Reading, including the last 24 as the Town Clerk, Mrs. Stats has earned the respect of her peers, colleagues and fellow townspeople by doing her job competently, fairly and professionally while being diplomatic in her interactions with the public, especially when needing to diffuse difficult situations.
“You are a gracious person and a gracious guardian of our right to vote, and how important that is!” Select Board Chairwoman Kate Manupelli told her. “Of all of these unbelievable changes you have seen over these past four decades and the election cycles over the last eight to12 years have been something totally out of the norm.”
Commenting on her “amazing legacy of 40 years,” in an era when few people remain in one job for that period of time, Manupelli added that Barbara not only dealt with the various “personalities” of all elected and appointed officials, including “our flaws and lateness” in turning in required paperwork on time which often required her to send out reminders on weekends, she also had to deal with all the personalities presented by the general public.
“And to top it all off, a pandemic!…Any time we needed information or I needed information about anything — charter, bylaws, election process — I could ask you and you know it like the back of the your hand. That is invaluable to the town, to us, and to the citizens of the town,” Manupelli said. “The amazing way that you effectuated your work, and your work was for us – all of us – we all benefitted from it and we are so appreciative of you and your graciousness and your diplomacy and your professionalism. It is really a standard we should all aspire to and your whole staff is like that.”
Town Administrator Michael Gilleberto commented that the word used to describe Barbara by everyone he has encountered is “professional.”
“You handle yourself so capably, with so much pressure when talking about elections or public records,” Gilleberto said. “Barbara, as you can all imagine, is a very well respected Town Clerk in the Association of Town Clerks statewide. I have heard from folks over the past few months how highly she is regarded. They will miss her as well as a resource that she is to answer questions for folks statewide.”
“Wherever and whenever my time comes to retire, if I could have even half of the standing in community and the positive comments and professional reputation, I would be fine with that,” the town administrator commented. “We all have been as a community so blessed to be served by her. We are very happy for her and excited for her and wish her a long happy healthy retirement, but we will miss her.”
Gilleberto added that he knows the office will be in good hands with Stephanie Connolly serving as the statutory temporary Town Clerk and administrative assistant Carol Ducrow also remaining in the office. “We are in the midst of a hiring process for Barbara’s successor,” he said.
Select Board member Stephen O’Leary quipped that Barbara has had to “endure” him throughout her career. And Barbara joked “…and it hasn’t been easy.”
“I am not an easy person to deal with, at times,” O’Leary admitted, “particularly when it comes to elections. There is a passion there, but I have mellowed…Your professionalism is unmatched, and diplomacy has always been your strong suit even when dealing with difficult people like myself!”
Holding up a large manila envelope, O’Leary said, “We keep getting these things. I almost want to gift it back, along with the probably 30 years worth that I haven’t filed. We have all been reminded up until her last day that we needed to take the ethics exam and get our finance reports in. For years I was a delinquent. For the last 10 years I have been much better and it’s because of her prodding and her patience.”
“I also remember when Barbara came on board, what the office was like then and the personalities she had to deal with at that particular time, and she always handled it with grace and professionalism, and fortunately got rewarded 24 years ago to become the Town Clerk,” he added.
From typewriters to the internet
The changes in technology over the past 40 years in her office have been significant — when Barbara arrived in 1981 they were still using manual typewriters, she recalled.
In spite of the many technological advances, O’Leary said these transitions were made seamlessly in her office.
“It has been seamless for a reason with Barbara at the helm handling the situation. We haven’t had to worry about it. The feedback has always been positive,” O’Leary said. “Congratulations, good health and enjoy the family, enjoy your time off. And if the phone rings, caller ID is very good! Don’t pick up because you’ve earned it.”
Select Board member Rich Wallner apologized for missing Barbara’s party but he was out of the country at the time. Remarking about numerous duties of the Town Clerk’s office, which includes keeping track of all the town’s vital statistics, running every election and keeping track of all Town Meetings, the annual town census, keeping voter rolls up to date, and ensuring all boards and committee adhere to the Open Meeting Law and posting of public hearing notices and agendas, Wallner stated: “You are democracy. You know the rules, you follow the rules, you ensure that we follow the rules, and it is just a wonderful thing. Congratulations.”
“So I have an interesting story,” Select Board member Vincenzo Stuto said in recalling his first encounter with the Town Clerk back in April of 2018 when he arrived to attend his first-ever Town Meeting after moving here from Malden in December of 2017. To make a long story short, he had not returned his census and had not re-registered to vote in town so even though he had informed the RMV of his move, technically, he was still a registered voter in Malden, which does not have a town meeting form of government.
This meant he got “sent to the bleachers” with the non-voters in the auditorium that night. But even though Barbara was obviously very busy getting the voters into Town Meeting, Stuto recalled that while he was irritated by this process that “she was kind enough to go through the detail of exactly what I needed to do and where I needed to go.” And a couple of years later, when he decided to run for Select Board, she was again gracious with her time in helping him get up to speed with all the requirements.
Select Board member Liane Gonzalez commented that Barbara’s party at the Hillview was “a beautiful time.” During the party she presented Barbara with a framed photo of the Town Common in winter on behalf of the board, which she also had to take it back so that it could be re-presented to her at Monday night’s Select Board meeting!
“All of the descriptions people give for Barbara — professionalism, wealth of knowledge, capable, dignity, diplomacy, it goes on and on. But my big word is confidence. I always have confidence in whatever information you give. Anytime I have ever needed to come and ask anything I know I am getting the exact information I need. So that confidence is so important. Even for us as a board during COVID, we had elections and you would come onto our Zoom meetings and we were completely confident in whatever it was that you were telling us, and that’s huge and I thank you for that,” Gonzalez said. “I am going to miss your smiling face.”
“I want to thank you once again for this recognition and the picture of the plaque of North Reading Town Common, an infinitely recognizable scene that embodies the essence of our town. I don’t think anyone can look at that and not feel that it’s just a representation of North Reading,” the Town Clerk told the board.
“I have been truly overwhelmed by the outpouring of well-wishes from all of you and our state officials, my co-workers, my extended family of election workers and the entire community. I am really not sure that I am deserving of all the accolades that have come my way but it is very satisfying for me to know that I have been able to befriend, guide, and assist so many people over the years. That is the true mission of being a public servant — to serve others equitably and with compassion and I hope that if I do, in fact, have a legacy, that I have done it well,” she added.
“My family has been the most important part of my life, especially my husband Don. Without their support and understanding, I would not have been able to dedicate myself to doing what I have loved doing and being able to devote the time to do it. And it has been a personal privilege for me, as a mother, to have also had the opportunity to work alongside my son, the fire chief. I can tell you that tugs at my heartstrings,” she said.
Mrs. Stats also expressed thanks for the support her office had received over the years from past and present town administrators, “especially Mike Gilleberto” and all of the Select Boards and Finance Committees whose financial support “allowed the office to advance. Without the support of all of you, the office could not advance the way that it has, so I am really grateful for that. Any programs that I have wanted to start, including the code book, that was well-received and I really appreciated the opportunity to do that.”
“No one is an island, so I have to acknowledge my office staff, past and present, who have put up with me and endured alongside of me! Stephanie Connolly, who has been the most recent addition to the office and has stepped up to take on new challenges, but especially Carol Ducrow, who has been by my side for over two decades and deserves a medal for putting up with me. Without the assistance and support of each of them and all of my past staff members I would not have been able to do the job that I have done,” she said.
“I will be forever proud and grateful to have spent my career with the town of North Reading to have had the privilege of serving as the Town Clerk and hopefully earning the trust and the faith of the community along the way. For all of that I will be eternally grateful,” Mrs. Stats said.