When not sorting through borough records, Candace Gallagher can often be found on stage or at craft shows.
By:Mark Moffa
HIGHTSTOWN – "Everything" – that’s Borough Clerk Candace Gallagher’s job description in one word.
The 48-year-old Hightstown resident received tenure in May, marking her fifth year with the borough.
Ms. Gallagher was hired in 1995 as administrative assistant to Clerk Arlene Etgen. But after Ms. Etgen’s unexpected death in April 1995, Ms. Gallagher was asked to take the reins.
"I went from being somebody who had no government experience to being borough clerk in a very short period of time," Ms. Gallagher said.
She said the state and fellow clerks were extremely helpful.
"I got lots of phone calls within the first few days, offering lots of assistance," Ms. Gallagher said.
The scariest thing: "Not knowing what I didn’t know." In other words, she wasn’t sure if she was aware of all of rules and regulations she was expected to abide by and enforce.
Within two years she had taken the five required courses and the state examination to become a certified clerk, and was reappointed to the three-year position in 1998. Now, with tenure, she simply has to maintain her certification by taking certain state-approved courses every two years.
The job of clerk is seems to be one of high exposure but little understanding. She is the borough’s official liaison with the public but few know what she actually does.
"It’s so multilayered," Ms. Gallagher explained. "You really can’t summarize it briefly."
Her official job description says that she is the secretary for the borough and the Borough Council, the election official, records manager, and the person who handles licenses and permits.
But Ms. Gallagher, who was recently elected treasurer of the Mercer County Clerks Association, has taken on much more.
To understand Candace Gallagher, one needs to look at what she’s done in her life.
Born in Delaware, Ms. Gallagher received an associate’s degree in liberal arts from the University of Delaware and wanted to be a marine biologist. She eventually decided against that.
"It seemed way too much to go through at the old age of 22," she said.
So she went to Delaware Technical and Community College and earned an associate’s in business administration and accounting.
The accounting degree has profoundly affected her life.
"Once you learn accounting, there’s a real aesthetics to it, it’s a way of being organized" Ms. Gallagher said. "It sort of led me to that way of thinking and doing that’s been very helpful to me."
She worked as a junior accountant for a while, and then got a job as a controller at Dover Downs Raceway. She also ran a business services company, called Your Miss Brooks, in which she provided services such as editing and desktop publishing to clients.
Eventually, she moved to Florida and did some free-lance writing.
She moved to New Jersey late in 1993 with her third husband, working as an assistant box office manager for the McCarter Theatre in Princeton before starting to work for Hightstown.
Although she is very committed to her job, a self-proclaimed "nut for perfection," Ms. Gallagher said there is another side to her.
"This job is about half of who I am," she said.
"There’s another side of me that’s very artistic and intuitive and sort of mellow," Ms. Gallagher said.
She is active in local theater and does custom jewelry through her own Web site, www.medicinebeads.com.
Last year, she was in a production of "The Elephant Man" with her husband at The Peddie School. In September she will be in a performing arts piece as part of the Philadelphia Fringe Festival with Tim Trelease, chairman of arts at Peddie.
Somehow, she finds time to design and edit a quarterly newsletter called the Hightstown Crier, containing news from Borough Hall.
"I’ve also recently managed to get our borough code into electronic format," she said.
This means that the borough can save $10,000 a year by not having an outside firm update and maintain the code.
"I can also provide pieces of our code by e-mail to people now," Ms. Gallagher said.
Her big project now is trying to develop a Web site for the borough.
"I’ve been thinking about it for a long time," Ms. Gallagher said. "I’m hoping to have it up this fall sometime."
The site would contain meeting schedules, information on ordinances and resolutions, forms, license applications, the municipal code, and a calendar of community events, among other things.
Residents would be able to obtain desired information without actually making a trip to Borough Hall.
"I think that I should be able to do it all myself," she said.
She hopes also to include a virtual walking tour of Hightstown, with photos and points of interest.
"People not in Hightstown can visit it and feel that they’ve come to the community," she said.
Asked if she will ever grow tired of the job, with its hectic nature, she answers confidently, "I don’t see how I could."