JACKSON – Mayor Michael Reina and members of the Jackson Township Council honored Township Clerk Ann Marie Eden at the governing body’s Dec. 18 meeting as Eden marked her retirement from the position.
Eden started working in Jackson in April 1997. She was appointed deputy clerk in June 1998 and acting township clerk on Jan. 1, 2001. She was named township clerk in December 2001.
Eden emotionally and tearfully read a resolution at the Dec. 18 meeting appointing Janice Kisty as Jackson’s new township clerk effective Jan. 1, 2019. Kisty had been serving as Jackson’s deputy clerk.
The resolution appointing Kisty was passed by council President Ken Bressi, Vice President Robert Nixon, Councilman Barry Calogero and Councilwoman Ann Updegrave.
Updegrave held the Bible while Eden swore in Kisty to her new position.
“It is my honor and privilege to serve as township clerk,” Kisty said.
Reina read a proclamation honoring Eden, calling her a dedicated employee for more than 29 years and saying she has earned and deserves recognition for her exemplary service.
Bressi called the meeting bittersweet and said, “Sometimes you hear, ‘You’re a good council president,’ sometimes you get blasted; that is something else that is politics. In this form of government especially, it is the clerk who is the good council president.
“It is her guidance, her work, her follow through with everything we need. I think it is such a wrong title for that position, calling it ‘clerk.’ I do not know what they could ever call it, but it never could describe the responsibilities and how they are carried out. Ann Marie, you carried out more than your professional responsibilities,” Bressi said.
He said the governing body is only as good as the township clerk.
“Thank you for your dedicated service to the township, to this town hall, to all its employees, to all the councils and every form of government we have had. Thank you so much, Ann Marie, you truly will be missed,” Bressi said.
“Today, Jackson has lost two of the hardest working dedicated public servants in its history,” Calogero said, noting that Dec. 18 was Councilwoman Ann Updegrave’s final meeting on the governing body.
He said that six years ago when he joined the council, he was told that “if you want to be a successful councilman, if you want to know what is going on in town, make friends with the town clerk.”
“And that is true to a fault, so thank you very much for your hard work, your stewardship, your efforts, your dedication,” Calogero said to Eden.
Nixon said Eden is the definition of a class act and a professional.
“I do not know how I would do this job without the guidance you provided and what I admire about you is the deep passion and dedication you have to protecting this town. You would stand up for things you knew were going to be a hard fight, but you stood up because you were doing it for the people of this town,” Nixon said.
He said he was jealous, adding, “For all those thousands of people who came into your office with a form or a question or a correction, people who came to these meetings looking for answers to problems. You have a longevity here I think we are all jealous of. You really did know how this town ran and I think you are an amazing person.”
Updegrave said she and Eden go back more than 20 years.
“We have gotten in trouble together, we have had many laughs, we have shed lots of tears, but I only wish you my dear friend the best that life has to offer you. Jackson is losing their diamond in the rough,” Updegrave said.
Eden said she will miss “so many” great people she has had the good fortune of meeting over the past 21 years but she is looking forward to starting this new chapter in her life with her husband, family & friends.