City Clerk Receives Prestigious Certification

By VERNON ROBISON

The Progress

A long-time city staffer was recognized for an important achievement last week. City Clerk Tracy Beck received her Certified Municipal Clerk (CMC) designation from the International Institute of Professional Clerks, a widely respected organization which was founded in 1947 and has more than 14,000 members throughout the world.

“This was not easy to achieve,” said Mesquite Mayor Al Litman in a brief presentation ceremony during City Council meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 23. “It took Tracy a lot of work!”

Litman explained that recipients of the certificate must complete demanding education requirements and have a record of significant contributions to local government, the community and the state.

This includes at least 120 hours of professional education in the classroom. Beck said that she had attended classes at the Clerk’s Academy at University of Nevada, Reno on three different dates. She also attended classes given by the Nevade League of Cities. In addition, she had previously received a Certified Public Official certification through an extensive course in Governmental Finance.

Beck also had to show significant experience in her field to earn the certification.
“This is not the kind of certification that you receive before you take the job,” Beck said. “You don’t start working on a CMC until you are working in a clerk’s office. You must be in the role and have a lot of experience to be eligible.”

Beck has been working in the Mesquite City Clerk’s office since October of 2013. At that time she came in as a part time Deputy City Clerk. She became a full time Deputy Clerk in June of 2015. And a few months later in October 2015, she became City Clerk.
“At that time, I was by myself in the Clerk’s office,” Beck said. “There was not a Deputy Clerk.”

The City didn’t hire a part-time Deputy Clerk until 2018. Then in 2020, the impact of the pandemic brought a layoff of all part-time employees including the Deputy Clerk position. Last year, a Deputy Clerk was hired again to help out.

“It takes quite a bit of time and effort to get the CMC,” Beck said. “I probably could have got it sooner. But being on my own so much in the office didn’t allow me to be out much for training.”

Beck was born and raised in the Los Angeles area. She spent much of her career working at University of California, Los Angeles for 27 years. After retiring from that, she moved to Mesquite in 2008. She worked for Black Gaming for a time before taking a job with the City.

Beck said that she was happy to finally receive the certification.
“I have been working on it for a long time,” she said. “When the notification came that I had completed it, the Mayor got the email and I didn’t. Mine went to a different folder and I didn’t see it at first. When he got the email, he was sitting across from my office and started to read it aloud to me. I was trying not to cry because I was so happy about it.”

Litman said he was pleased to present Beck the certification. “I am honored to endorse the conferring of CMC to Tracy Beck,” he said in the City Council meeting. “We share in your pride on this achievement and applaud the role you play to our city.”