Living in Tahoe, Learning to be Assertive, and Becoming a Feminist

When we moved our family to our newly built home in South Lake Tahoe in the summer of 1975, I went to City Hall to get a building permit for a garage and while there, I filled out a job application on a whim. I guess they liked what I had to offer because I was hired by an elected City Clerk to be a Microfilm Technician. I had never even seen microfilming equipment before.  The only requirement for the position was shorthand and I did have that skill. But what did shorthand have to do with microfilming?  I have no idea.  It made no sense to me then and it still doesn’t.

It was an interesting job and certainly necessary for saving space at City Hall which was inundated with paper. The City Clerk’s office consisted of a staff of four: City Clerk, Deputy City Clerk, Microfilm Tech (me), and Clerk Typist. It was a great staff and we all got along famously.

The City Clerk was a perfectionist and if you were careless about your work, she would be a barracuda.  I remember one time we could not find a “conformed” resolution (the original with signatures and City seal). I felt sorry for the Clerk Typist who misplaced it. She had inadvertently placed some files on top of the waste basket and the janitors threw it all away that night when they cleaned the office thinking it was garbage. The City Clerk actually made her climb into the garbage bin outside of City Hall to look for it and retrieve it, which she did, and she returned with a lump in her throat and tears streaming down her face.  My heart went out to her and I tried to console her but she was so upset she could hardly talk. 

I also had heard all the horror stories about the 13 employees the City Clerk fired during her tenure, as it was legendary throughout City Hall.  I was warned over and over again by co-workers and I am sure they were counting the months to see how long I would last or if I would be the next casualty.

Working in the City Clerk’s office, one requirement was you that had to be a registered voter because you had to register people to vote.  So, I registered to vote finally at 27 years old.  The City Clerk’s department handled the municipal elections at that time so election years were especially busy for us.  Years later, after I was gone, the county took over the election process.

It was not long before it became apparent that the City Clerk was not thrilled with her Deputy City Clerk and as soon as her Deputy took a cigarette break, the City Clerk called me into her office for dictation.  It was like a light went off in her office as soon as the Deputy got up off her chair.  I knew I would get buzzed and I hated this little drama. When the Deputy (not only my co-worker, but my friend) returned to her desk, she was visibly upset that her work was being given to someone else.  This angered the Deputy (and rightly so) and here I was innocently caught in the middle of my friend and my boss.  I could not refuse to do the work. I did not want to anger the City Clerk in any way, and I surely did not want to do work that was someone else’s job, as I had my own. I certainly did not want to tell her how to run her office either. Not long after this went on, the Deputy was fired and joined the ranks of the 13 before her who this City Clerk had fired. 

The City Clerk asked me if I wanted the job and I said that I was happy doing what I was doing. Besides, I said I was more a follower and not a leader and, after all, this was a supervisory position that needed a leader. She disagreed with my assessment of myself.  She was disappointed that I declined her offer, but I had projects I was involved in and wanted to finish them before I left the position. 

I took assertiveness training which was great training for me.  I learned about the difference in being assertive versus being aggressive.  And I took a supervisory class as well, thinking that some day it would come in handy but I had no idea I would be using that training sooner than I thought.

The City Clerk then hired her good friend as her Deputy and ended up firing her before her six month probation was up.  I liked her friend and I thought she did a really good job, but perhaps she was perceived as usurping some authority which did not sit well with the boss. 

I was offered the job again and this time I agreed to take it.  By this time, I was very comfortable working for the City Clerk and knew we got along quite well. I always figured that since I could deal with the nuns at Catholic school, I could work with anyone.  We were a really good team and were inseparable. We balanced each other out.  I respected her and I feel l learned so much from her.  

I learned how to be assertive and not a doormat. Hard to believe for those that know me now.  Although I was never a wallflower, I didn’t speak up about much of anything. Now you can’t shut me up because I found my voice.  I found that voice that my Dad would not let me use.  I found the voice that my ex-husband tried to control.  I learned about equal rights, and fighting for what is important to you, and I learned that I was a feminist. I believe in equal pay for equal work and that women can do whatever they set their mind to, as can men. I am a feminist who loves men and not what have been categorized by some as “femi-nazis” or man haters.

We celebrated Municipal Clerk’s Week every year and invited the public to City Hall to see the City’s archives. South Lake Tahoe’s Echo Summit was the site of Olympic high altitude training in 1968 and we had lots of memorabilia from that training.  We always had goodies for the public to munch on and I did more of my share of baking for the various celebrations.  One time I baked 95 dozen cookies.  We depended on one of the casinos to make large sheet cakes with the City Seal on top of them for our celebrations too.  We needed one of them for a photo op one year and we were not going to have it on time, so I went home, put a huge white bathrobe box together, frosted it with white frosting and put a City Seal that goes on the City vehicle doors on top of it and decorated it with blue icing.  It made a good prop for our photo op and saved the day. It looked edible too and, seeing the photograph, you would never know it was a prop.

As I later learned, it was not uncommon for City Clerks and City Managers to disagree about a lot of things.  She had such a cantankerous relationship with our City Manager years earlier that she went to the community and instigated the election of a City Clerk because up to that time, the City Clerk was an appointed position.  The ballot measure passed and she was overwhelmingly elected full-time City Clerk and truly a keeper of the records.  “The public’s right to know” was her motto and she believed in a truly transparent government.  The public loved her.  This did not always please the City Manager or the Mayor. Each year they put her through hell and she had to literally fight for her salary.  She did not need to put in eight hours a day, but she did. She was a hard worker and I respected that.

There was a very contentious time when donated land to the City from a well-known family, for the purpose of building a City Hall, was sold by the City to the County for one dollar.  The City Manager and Mayor did not want that made public, but the City Clerk was stalwart in her belief that this was public information.  It amazed me the lengths they went through to bury the tape recording of the meeting where it was discussed. The County subsequently built a jail on this land which was not what the former land owner wanted on property that once belonged to her family.  She was very angry that “convicts were housed” on that land and she spent thousands of dollars to try to do something about it, including trying to get the City Attorney disbarred.  The jail is still there and to this day its location is a sore subject for that family.

The City Clerk was also President of the California State Local Elected Officials organization. During our time together, I went to the State Capitol with her to get some bills authored that had to do with elected officials. This was an opportunity of a lifetime for me to see just how the political machine actually works and I was surprised about the fact that the elected legislators basically throw everything to their aides who are not elected and act as gatekeepers.  The aides make all the decisions, if truth be known. 

The City Clerk and I attended the CEPO (Continuing Education for Public Officials) conferences, a professional educational forum for city, county and special district public officials. During each week's session, participants select their own personal curriculum for the week and participants select six courses from more than 38 offerings which are informative and fun. CEPO sessions focus on the culture of community and community building as part of the learning environment and they approach the development of human capacity in a holistic way, focusing on transformation of the mind, body, and spirit. Through a process of reflection, participants gain deep and meaningful insights about themselves and the world in which they live, which creates opportunity for change and transformation for themselves, their agencies, and their communities. My boss took the training of trainers courses in Santa Barbara in the fall and when I attended I took the classes on the campus of UC Santa Cruz in the summer. 

At CEPO I loved the interaction with other City Clerks, Deputy City Clerks, Fire Chiefs, Planning Directors, Engineers, Finance Officers, etc. who came from other organizations in California.  I made some wonderful friendships with some of the attendees that lasted for many years. We were in classes each day from 9 AM to 9 PM with a break for lunch and dinner.  After classes were over at 9 PM, a group of us got together for fun and to “paint the town red” and paint it we did. I even celebrated a birthday there and the group celebrated with me.

My boss wanted me to attend CEPO for years but it was a struggle with my husband at the time because he did not want me to be away from him and my kids for a week and also, he had a very huge jealous streak. After a several years of arguing about it, time came for me to assert myself that I was going to attend as it was part of my job.  I was able to attend that year and the next.  I learned a lot about myself in the process and came to the realization that I needed a new challenge in my career and that I really needed to change my personal life.  By the time I attended my second conference on year two, I had changed departments at City Hall and not many months after the end of the session, I changed my marital status too.

I stayed on as Deputy City Clerk for about five years – the longest tenure of a Deputy City Clerk under this elected City Clerk.  I joined the Business and Professional Women’s Club in South Lake Tahoe and became President for several years, was awarded the “Women Helping Women” award from the local AAUW club, became Vice President of my women’s political party in South Lake Tahoe, and was the Secretary of our square dance club. I guess you could say I had a full plate. 

I had lots of friends in Public Works and Engineering when I worked as Deputy City Clerk, and it was not uncommon for co-workers in those departments and their significant others to take the snow train from Truckee to Sacramento for the weekend and they always invited us along.  I always had such fun and seeing the mountains all covered with snow was incredibly beautiful, especially in the area around Donner Lake. 

The last time we took the train trip with my co-workers, we had car trouble close to home when we got back from Truckee.  The car just stopped working about a mile and a half from home. We were not prepared for what we had to do. Dressed in regular street clothes, we walked from the “bug station” in Meyers up Highway 50 to Upper Truckee Road to get to our house, a distance of over 1.5 miles.  I was not wearing après ski boots, but high heels.  It was so ridiculous that it was funny because we were slipping and sliding as we walked home on a snowy and icy road in freezing weather without our ski jackets on.  I was freezing, my feet were wet and freezing, and I could barely feel my fingers.  Who knew we would be in this predicament?  If only we had money to take a taxi.

One night after work, we had a meeting to discuss salary and benefit negotiations with the Personnel Director. My friend and co-worker, Noreen, who was the Public Works and Engineering Department Secretary when I was the Deputy City Clerk, was present at this meeting of all the mid-managers and department secretaries.  It was heartbreaking to learn that Noreen had died several hours after we had all been together at our meeting. This was devastating to our staff.  About a week later, I discussed filling her position with both the Director of Public Works and the Director of Engineering, both of whom supervised the position, and expressed my desire to work for them.  They were encouraging and after the hiring process went full circle, I moved across town to my new office on “D” Street at the “Y.” 

The City Clerk was not happy that I was leaving and especially not happy that I was going to work for two men, one of whom she said always turned his chair away from her at staff meetings. I was burned out and there was nothing challenging there for me any more. She said that since I was leaving, she would run for county office, which I thought was a good idea, since she was burned out too and needed a new challenge. Change was good for both of us.

When the Board of Supervisors found out the City Clerk was leaving her position, two of them strongly suggested that I run for City Clerk.  Being that I lived outside City limits, a requirement for the position, they suggested I take an apartment in the City to meet residency requirements, and if I remember correctly, offered to help pay for the apartment. This was not the direction I wanted my life to take and I politely thanked them for their support but declined. 

I did accept the Board of Supervisors’ appointment to the Meyers Cable TV Franchise Review Board, however, and served for several years on that board, a non-paying position. I was also elected to the South Shore Utility Coordinating Council as Secretary/Treasurer, a position I held for about five years until I left City employment. This was a group much like Underground Service Alert (USA – Call Before You Dig). In fact, while I was there, we carried an assembly bill to Sacramento, adding our organization to the provisions for USA up in the mountains and it provided for our organization to handle the notifications from the foothills to the mountains.  We were joined by several organizations including Volcano Telephone Company in Pine Grove and the South Tahoe Public Utility District.

While working for the City, we managed to get through the bombing of the Harvey’s casino in August 1981, the opening of Loop Road, and the total shutdown of the City when we could not keep up with the snow in the winter of 1981/82.  Everything was closed down for most of the week. Snow removal could not keep up with the snow.  Schools had to close. Busses could not run, and it was chaotic to say the least.  It seemed the snow would never stop. I think the record was 67 inches of snow within 24 hours in January 1982. All the kids loved “snow days” because there was no school. Kids could downhill ski for fifty cents at the high school hill but days of pounding snow, made it impossible to get to.  Our power went out for about 11 days during that time and we packed a clean garbage can with snow and transferred all our frozen foods into it and put bungee cords on the lid to hold it down so animals could not get into it until our power came back on. Kids loved it because they got pancakes for dinner or whatever we could cook on top of the fireplace insert.

Another drawback of living in the snow was when kids would come in soaking wet, change clothes, go back out again with dry clothes and boots, and repeat the process all the while having clothes and shoes drying near the fireplace. This is not a fun thing for moms.  Moms end up feeling like nags because the kids leave a path of clothing in their wake.

At my house out in the county, we stored our 19.5 foot vacation trailer out in the back of the property and we did not realize that when we walked back there in the snow that we were walking on top of the roof of the trailer. The snow was very deep and lasted a long long time.  That was the worst winter we had in the ten years we lived there. There was snow around my property until mid to late July that year.

The title of the position at my new job for Public Works and Engineering was changed to Office Services Coordinator, a position that supervised two clerk typists and included a nice salary raise.  I loved my new job and two of the best bosses (both department heads, Ed and Carol), and nicest men you could ever have the privilege of knowing and working for.  Public Works encompassed the airport, street maintenance, motor pool, bus division, and snow removal.  Engineering included planning, building permits, business licenses, tree removal permits, and various other permits and citations.  

All the mid managers in my two departments: Public Works Supervisor, Motor Pool Supervisor, Transportation Supervisor, Airport Supervisor, Engineering Supervisor, Building Inspection Supervisor, and me, the Office Services Coordinator, got along very well as it was a great group of people all working together as a tight team.  We had the best staff ever and we really were like family.  It was undoubtedly my favorite job that I ever held.

Public Works and Engineering administration were slated to move to a recently gutted old phone company office building at the “Y” and not far from our old office.  I met with the architects and interior decorators for our building on a regular basis as the project went from inception to completion. When it was completed it was really beautiful. I was thrilled that they gave me the most beautiful office I could ask for with its colors of lavender, heather, and light blue. 

We had a crisis one year at south shore when there was a gas leak in the Tahoe Basin.  I agreed to a shift manning the phones at City Hall with my friend, Germaine, from Planning, one evening in the late hours.  We got very few calls.  My boyfriend at the time, Bill (my husband) was working in Reno and offered to bring us girls a frozen Razzaritas (Margaritas made with raspberry sherbet) from the Hacienda, a wonderful Mexican restaurant there.  How can you refuse that, especially when it came in a soda container?  By the time he got to City Hall, it was ready to drink.  Thank God no one saw us because we could have been in big trouble.  I guess you could say we were practicing “don’t ask, don’t tell” about this particular issue.

Working at City Hall for ten wonderful years, it was sad to leave that job and my friends but I was going to be married and we agreed to make our home back in the Bay Area where we both grew up. Bill grew up in the Oakland hills and I grew up in SF.  This was a decision that I have not regretted. God has truly blessed us. And I am so glad I do not live in snow country any longer. Like the broken record that I am, “snow is the worst four-letter word I know.”