Clerk Lori Buckelew has tendered her resignation
By Linda Seida, Staff Writer
LAMBERTVILLE — City Clerk Lori Buckelew has tendered her resignation and will work for the New Jersey State League of Municipalities (NJLM) in Trenton as a legislative analyst beginning Aug. 3.
Her resignation was announced Monday during a meeting of the City Council.
Ms. Buckelew said she would continue to work in Lambertville for an unspecified period to ensure a smooth transition when a new clerk is hired. For a short time, the two jobs will overlap. She could not say when her last day would be.
The city is advertising for a new clerk.
Ms. Buckelew, 37, of Point Pleasant, said she has mixed feelings about leaving Lambertville. She loves the community, but at the same time, she said, “I think this opportunity is going to be exciting.”
As a legislative analyst for the NJLM, Ms. Buckelew’s duties will include reviewing legislation and bills and testifying before the state Senate and the Assembly.
Before coming to Lambertville, she was the assistant to the director and deputy director of the Division of Local Government at the Department of Community Affairs.
The new opportunity will allow her to use her experience and knowledge at a “more global level” as she did in her DCA position, she said.
Ms. Buckelew declined to state her new salary. She did say, however, the new job will start off with a “small decrease” from her current $64,000 salary, but Jan. 1, her salary will jump “significantly above what I’m currently making.”
She has been on the job since August 2004 and worked through three floods in recent years, remaining in Lambertville to man a phone or a desk instead of driving home to higher ground.
Ms. Buckelew received a bachelor’s degree in political science and criminal justice and a master’s degree in public administration, both from Kean University in Union.
Before working for the DCA, she was a municipal clerk for Long Hill Township from June 1998 to January 2000. She also was deputy municipal clerk for Maplewood Township from October 1993 to May 1998.
What will she miss the most about working in Lambertville?
Almost without hesitation, she said, “The people, and the fact we actually completed projects.”
During her time in Lambertville, the city has embarked on numerous improvement projects, among them roads and drainage, the completion of a hazard mitigation plan and studies to curb flooding. The city is restoring the nearly 140-year-old City Hall.
”Public service is a high calling, and I think she’s lived through some rough times in the city — floods, broken bones on her part,” Mayor Del Vecchio said Tuesday.
Earlier this year, Ms. Buckelew continued to perform her duties even while on crutches after breaking her foot on a city sidewalk.
”She’s had one thing after another, and it’s made everything a little bit harder,” the mayor said. “I think she has served the taxpayers of the city very well.”