Douglas D. Melegari Pine Barrens Tribune/Ventnor City Clerk Lisa Hand greets members of the Washington Township Committee after being appointed as part-time clerk in Washington Township.
By NANETTE LoBIONDO GALLOWAY
VENTNOR – City Clerk Lisa Hand was chosen to fill the vacated post of the township clerk and registrar of vital statistics in Washington Township in Burlington County. The part-time position will allow Hand to assist government officials in the rural community where she has strong ties.
Hand will work two hours a week on Tuesdays, from 5:30-7:30 p.m.
“It’s commonplace for some municipal officials to have other part-time jobs,” Hand said. “I was excited when they called me, because my grandmother and uncle are from Greenbank and it really means something to me.”
All of the employees in Washington Township, the host community for Wharton State Park, work on a part-time basis.
Hand said she cleared the employment offer with Ventnor officials before taking the job.
According to staff writer Douglas D. Melegari of the Pinelands Tribune, a newspaper that serves rural Pinelands communities, Hand was unanimously appointed during the Washington Township Committee meeting on Jan. 5.
In an interview with Melegari, Hand said her uncle, Rodney Koster, was a council member, forest fire warden in Wharton State Forest, as well as Postmaster in Green Bank, a small town along the Mullica River.
Hand knows all the people she will be working with very well, and previously worked with Deputy Clerk Karen Bacon when they both worked in Galloway Township, where Hand currently resides.
Hand, who was hired as Ventnor’s deputy clerk in October 2016 in anticipation of the retirement of City Clerk Janice Callaghan. She was appointed to the clerk’s position following Callaghan’s retirement two months later.
She has worked in municipal government for nearly 25 years, first as an administrative assistant in the Galloway Township Fire Department, then as planning board secretary in Eagleswood Township in Ocean County. She obtained her municipal clerk certification while employed in Eagleswood and was promoted to deputy clerk.
Hand earned a place on General Code’s Municipal Clerk Honor Roll in 2019.
Acting Administrator Maria Mento, who nominated her for the honor, said Hand “strives for excellence” in all she does.
Hand was selected for the honor roll from among 228 nominees.
Mayor Beth Holtzman called her “a true asset to Ventnor.”
Hand plans to help the township improve public access to government by upgrading technology, allowing all resolutions and ordinances to be accessed on the website using E-Code, which Hand instituted in Ventnor when she was first hired here.
The E-Code database makes it easy for citizens to look up ordinances and resolutions without having to call the clerk’s office, she said.
“I want to make it as easy as possible for Washington Township residents to have access to their government,” Hand said.
She will work on a very limited basis, which will not affect her work in Ventnor, she said.
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