MOUNT MORRI, NY — Present Town Clerk Christie Murphy is seeking re-election to a third 4-year term with the nomination of her Republican Party and on the independent “Community” line.
A native of Rochester, Christie holds an Associates degree in data processing from SUNY Cobleskill. She came to Mount Morris following her sister, who left the city seeking a better place to live. Married with two daughters at that time, Christie continued to commute to her job as a programer and data analyst for Kodak, where she worked 17 years. Shortly after leaving Kodak, Christie found work in Mount Morris as deputy to then-town clerk Joyce Swanson.
Christie ran the office two days each week for five years, also working for Livingston County Records Management and in the library.
“The three jobs were less than I made at Kodak, but I wanted to eliminate the commute so I could be here with my kids,” Christie explains. Upon Swanson’s retirement, Christie successfully ran for clerk.
Four years ago, tax collection became one of the duties of the town clerk. Christie’s other duties include town-outside-village water and sewer billing, selling various licenses including hunting and marriage, and writing up meeting minutes for town board, joint planning board, joint zoning board and assessment review board.
“I use about five different software programs,” Christie states. The various programs include one specifically for town clerks, one for tax collection, one for hunting licenses, and one Christie designed herself for collecting water bills.
Christie notes that her deputy does not work regular hours, only backup, “sitting at the desk when I’m out.” She is not fully capable of handling all the clerk technical duties or training someone else to do them.
“I know my stuff,” Christie vouches. “Come January, if someone is in that chair who doesn’t know how to collect the taxes on top of everything else, it would be the worst scenario. There would be a real mess in that office if someone were to step in, not knowing the things I know.”
“The village clerk duties and town clerk duties are not the same,” she states. “There is a little bit of crossover, but not a lot.”
Christie “offers service with a smile”.
“Everyone has always told me I’m very helpful, even when they’ve wondered into the office and it’s the wrong place to be,” she reports.
Christie has three children: one adult, one college senior and one high school senior, and also one grandchild and another grandchild on the way.
