Town of Lake City Board of Trustees is currently on the hunt for a new member (see notice page 11), after unanimously approving the resignation of Amber Votruba at their Wednesday, July 17 meeting.
According to Town Manager Lex Mulhall, Votruba was appointed to the board but was never sworn in, so the approval of her resignation was a formality. Votruba and her husband, Josh, are proprietors of Packer Saloon and Cannibal Grill, and during the bustling summer season with the restaurant closed only on Wednesdays, said Mulhall, as Votruba communicated to him, she simply did not have time to devote to being a Town Trustee.
In other town news, a new Town Clerk has been hired, Grant Massey, whose parents, David and Diane Massey, own a home in the area.
Massey, 29, previously worked in Dallas, Texas, for a corporation called The Judge Group, specializing in recruiting, executive staffing, IT consultancy and learning solutions. His area of expertise was in security clearance for commercial defense contractors.
His desire to move to Lake City originated with the notion of escaping Texas summer heat, in addition to the fact that he had been for some time looking to get into Town Government. Having been coming to Lake City for many years with his parents, he jumped at the opportunity to become Town Clerk and live in Lake City full-time.
The Massey family has been visiting Lake City in summer for approximately 47 years, and his parents purchased a home here 13 years ago. He tells WORLD that while technically, home base for his parents is Irving, Texas, they mainly live out of their RV and keep on the move owing to his father’s career as an HR recruiter and talent manager.
It was because of this moving around so frequently that Massey was homeschooled for his High School education, but once he graduated, he earned his degree from Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.
When asked what his first impression of the job as Town Clerk were, he said, “everyone has been so friendly and welcoming.” He also said that larger towns have larger administrative staffs, sometimes 4 or 5 clerks, and while that’s not necessary in Lake City because of its population, he knows it is going to take him a while to become fully acclimated to the job of Town Clerk. “I imagine it will be a few years before I really have a handle on everything that a single Town Clerk needs to learn. The breadth and depth of this job are enormous.”
For now, Massey and his Corgi-mix, Rufus, are settling into the Massey family home here in Lake City and enjoying the cooler temperatures.
Town Manager Lex Mulhall says he is thankful to again have a clerk, and wishes to remind readers that Town office hours have changed; open 8-5 Monday, Wednesday and Friday, closed Tuesday and Thursday.
