Peabody city clerk to stay

PEABODY – Peabody City Clerk Tim Spanos will serve at least another three years in his position, as Councilors recently voted unanimously to reappoint him.Spanos, born in Buffalo, N.Y. and raised in Peabody, has been a staple in City Hall for 31 years. He first started as a City Council Clerk in April 1977 after being offered a position by former City Clerk Natalie Maga.”I was going to school to be a court stenographer,” recalled Spanos. “Then, Natalie approached me. She said that she was looking for someone to do council work. So, I said, ‘Yeah, I’m interested,’ and have been here ever since.”Spanos continued as a City Council Clerk for 30 straight years. When Maga unexpectedly stepped down from her post in June 2005, he knew he could fill her shoes.”I felt that I could step it up and make it to the next level, which is City Clerk,” said Spanos. “That’s what I was striving for.”One month later, on July 1, 2005, Spanos got what he had been working for. He quickly became the leader of a department that handles a variety of municipal responsibilities, such as birth records, marriage certificates, special permits, and the most challenging of all, election day voting.”Elections can get a little hairy,” he said. “Especially with last-minute law changes.”With 2008 out the window and 2009 at his front door, Spanos said he’s excited for what the new term will bring.”There’s a lot of new things coming on the horizon that we have to take care of,” he said. “One of them of course is polling places in schools, that’s probably the big thing. We still have to work that issue out.”The issue surrounds a motion by School Committee member Brandi Carpenter to remove polls from the schools, or perhaps close schools on election days.One thing Spanos is particularly looking forward to is new technology making its way to Peabody.”We’re looking to make things a little more easier and user friendly for our residents,” he said. “As far as doing some stuff online (such as various license renewals), we’ll work those out in the next couple of years.”And Spanos said he hopes to stick around City Hall long enough to see those changes happen.”I didn’t think I’d be here this long to be honest with you, but it just worked out well for me,” he said. “The city’s been good to me, so I have no complaints. I would probably say that I’d be here, God willing, for another two or three terms. Probably until I’m 60. That’s when I’ll be close to reaching my max. Then, we’ll see what happens.”