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photo by Jessica St. James
Former Ironton Clerk of Council Janet Hieronimus stands in city council chambers where she has served as the administrative arm of the city’s legislative body for the past 27 years. Hieronimus announced her retirement effective June 1 with plans on partially relocating to Florida.
Calling it a Career
Longtime council clerk
Published Tuesday, June 9, 2009
IRONTON — A significant page in the 160 year political history of the city turned last week when longtime clerk of council Janet Hieronimus announced her retirement from the post she has held for the past 27 years.
Hieronimus, who will be partially relocating to Kissimmee, Fla., with her husband Dan, said the decision to walk away was very difficult.
“I have mixed feelings about it. It is very, very bittersweet,” the Ironton native said.
Hieronimus’ husband is former Lawrence County Sheriff Dan Hieronimus who served as the county’s head law enforcement official from 1981 through 1993. Janet said much of her decision to step away from the clerk’s position was Dan’s retirement from the STAR Community Justice Center in Franklin Furnace last summer.
The clerk of council is the administrative arm of Ironton City Council. The clerk prepares and maintains the minutes of council meetings and selected committee sessions along with administering the roll call for each vote. The clerk is also responsible for maintaining an index file of ordinances and resolutions adopted by city council, some going back decades.
Unlike the mayors and dozens of councilmen and women who have revolved in and out of council chambers through the years, Hieronimus has been a steady and reliable presence for the city and its legislative body since clerking her first meeting in 1982.
So steady and reliable in fact, that Hieronimus’ attendance at the semimonthly meetings and too-many-to-count committee sessions is stuff of legend.
Since accepting the clerk’s position nearly three decades ago, Hieronimus has missed only a handful of meetings and committees. Those statistics do not even take into consideration the other responsibilities of the position that has her at the Ironton City Center an additional two or three times a week.
In other words, Hieronimus has been the rock of Ironton’s legislative body. In 27 years, she has never missed a meeting due to sickness and never scheduled a vacation that would conflict with a council session.
But at the beginning, that rock was a little pebble in a big ocean.
“I do remember my first council meeting. I was just amazed and impressed,” Hieronimus said reflecting on when council held session on the third floor of Memorial Hall. “The city had just switched from its city manager to mayoral form of government right when I took over.”
She said the two most important lessons she learned from clerking was the meanings of compromise and putting personal feelings aside.
Hieronimus said all minutes from Ironton City Council meetings are written in shorthand and transcribed immediately following each session since they “are fresh in my mind.”
Even though Hieronimus’ retirement was effective June 1, she will clerk for the June 25 council meeting. The part-time position is being replaced by Marta Leach, who comes from the law firm of current Lawrence County Prosecutor J.B. Collier, Jr.
Besides clerking, Hieronimus served as an adult probation officer with the Lawrence County Diversion Program for 15 years, a department that she and its three other employees were selected as one of the best in the state numerous times with it being awarded the prestigious Clifford Skeen Award in corrections.
Since 1982, Hieronimus has also served as a special deputy for the Lawrence County Sheriff’s department.
In her free time, Hieronimus is involved with her membership at First Baptist Church and her three grandchildren and one great-grandchild. She also takes care of her 91-year-old mother and 94-year-old aunt.
For Hieronimus, just making a difference in the growth of Ironton, is what makes the satisfaction of serving the city and working with other city workers so special.
“I love my city. It made me part of the city that I love.”
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Comments
Posted by john_mushenhouse (anonymous) on June 9, 2009 at 12:11 p.m. (Suggest removal)
wonder if the new sheriff will put his wife in that job?
Posted by jenx12000 (anonymous) on June 9, 2009 at 1:28 p.m.
(This comment was removed by the site staff.)
Posted by jenx12000 (anonymous) on June 9, 2009 at 1:34 p.m.
(This comment was removed by the site staff.)
Posted by MEinOH (anonymous) on June 9, 2009 at 2:13 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Her quote: “I love my city. It made me part of the city that I love.”
But she plans to move to Florida as soon as she retires !! LOL
Posted by collards (anonymous) on June 9, 2009 at 2:44 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Look she loved the government job and the pension her and her hubby got off the taxpayers.
Look at when she got the job. When Danny was in office. Another gaugher of the system then out of the county. She could be spending her tax paid for pension in the county instead of Florida.
The taxpayers took it again.
Posted by Green (anonymous) on June 9, 2009 at 3:50 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Have any of you ever observed how hard Janet has worked -- both paid and in-kind -- for the City of Ironton and for Lawrence County? She and Dan have done lots for the community. Follow their footsteps sometime. You won't be able to keep up with them!
Posted by mehop (anonymous) on June 9, 2009 at 4:30 p.m. (Suggest removal)
It was a pleasure to work with Janet during my time in the Courthouse. Enjoy what you have earned Janet.
Posted by MasterChef (anonymous) on June 9, 2009 at 6:38 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Well, according to the story Janet had her hands in THREE public pies at a time. But then, she learned from "Dan the Man". So, what's their combined number of years retirement? They make Moose and several superintendants look like angels.
How does one "partially" relocate to Kissimmee?
Anyway, Janet, enjoy your retirement. Enjoy that Kissimmee weather. Does my jealousy show?
Posted by tigerdad (anonymous) on June 10, 2009 at 8:19 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Best of luck to Janet and Dan, Enjoy your retirement, Some of the best people you will ever meet. Do not judge people unless you know them personally.
Posted by john_mushenhouse (anonymous) on June 10, 2009 at 9:53 a.m. (Suggest removal)
tigerdad, but they were on the public payroll. You must judge those who work for the public.
That is how governments get into trouble by blindly tolerating everything. Duh
Posted by Anonymous51 (anonymous) on June 10, 2009 at 11:48 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Judge not lest ye be judged.
Posted by john_mushenhouse (anonymous) on June 10, 2009 at 12:51 p.m. (Suggest removal)
1 Cor 6:3 Do you not know that we shall judge angels? How much more, things that pertain to this life? In that same passage which you misinterpreted Jesus says we are to use righteous judgement ( John 7:24). He isn't contradicitng Himself. In Mathew, Jesus calls people dogs(Mat 7:6, Give not what is holy unto dogs. That is judging.
We judge everyday. How could choices be made if we didn't. learn to interpret the passage before you run your mouth. you may be judged to be ignorant.
acts 4:19 But Peter and John answered and said to them, "Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge.
I am so sick of reading biblically illiterate use Judge not as an excuse for allowing anything and for a lack of accountability. it seems that people nowadays have been reduced to that one scripture only. They used to also know John 3:16, but those days appear gone.
1 cor 6:2 Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world will be judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters?
judge not means a hypocritical judging and not to never judge. Go and learn the Bible.
Plus you judge people in every election. You vote for one and not vote for another.
Your comment was really too ignorant to respond too, but I did you help you in your ignorance.
Posted by collards (anonymous) on June 10, 2009 at 1:09 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Ralph Walter in his small book, Tortured Texts, notes the differences:
“Consider first the Greek word Krino, translated judge in our text. If you look at a concordance of the King James Version, you will find the word has been translated: conclude, condemn, damn, decree, determine, esteem, ordain, think and then judge 87 times. Other Greek scholars say that Krino means to call in question, conclude, decree, esteem, determine, think and sentence. From all of this I think it would be safe to say that the word our Lord used means to condemn or to pass judgment upon someone maliciously; while the context shows that we have the responsibility to properly evaluate a thing or an act” (pp. 28-30).
It seems that people have forgotten the word “discernment” and forgotten that encouragements to do the same are found in the Bible (see Young’s Analytical Concordance to The Bible, pg. 257). There are two main Greek words translated as “discernment.” One is anakrino, meaning to examine or judge closely; the other diakrino, to separate out, to investigate, to examine.
Judge not lest you be judged"? The statement has become the great American open-mindedness mantra when anyone has the courage to declare that someone else's belief, actions or lifestyle is morally amiss.
Those that tell you not to judge, quoting Matthew 7:1 grossly out of context, are often some of the most mean-spirited, judgmental souls you could ever meet. It's not, of course, that they don't want anyone to judge anything, because they want very much to judge and condemn your commitment to lovingly speak and practice your Christian worldview. You see how these tolerance rules work? We must tolerate them, but they don't have to tolerate us. The logic is consistent, anyway.
This is work. We must put in the work of discernment. We must study to show ourselves approved workmen (2 Timothy 3:16).
Today's postmodern culture of adults and students is so consumed by non-judgmentalism that there are some who say we should not even call wrong or evil the terrorists that attacked America on Sept. 11, 2001
If Americans don't start to judge and punish evil instead of accepting all ideas and beliefs as equal, we will become a nation that welcomes same-sex marriage, polygamy, pedophilia, incest, euthanasia and likely a host of moral aberrations so bizarre they're still hidden in the darkest reaches of the Internet.
I wish I had a dollar for every time I heard someone say, "you know we are not to judge people; even the Bible says 'judge not lest you be judged.'" Americans had better start getting comfortable with politically incorrect, non-humanistic forms of making intelligent judgments on moral issues because even if we don't make them, I'm concerned there is Someone very willing to hold our nation accountable for what we allow. And He doesn't respond well to intimidation, name-calling, flawed logic or being quoted out of context.
Posted by MasterChef (anonymous) on June 10, 2009 at 4:55 p.m. (Suggest removal)
At some point during my forced Sunday School days, I remember hearing a number of times of a passage about "you can judge a tree by the fruit it bears". I'm sure someone can cite the passage.
Posted by danhieronimus (anonymous) on June 10, 2009 at 8:08 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Correction to original article:
Janet and I 'hope to vacation' for a few weeks in FL in 2009. To interpret that as a "partial relocation" is a little over stated. We have every intention of spending our tax-paid pensions (after more than 30 yrs of honorable public service each) right here in Ironton. And we plan to continue serving in our community and in our church as long as our health permits. We invite and encourage you to join us at FBC, 5th & Vernon this Sunday. May God continue to bless you and yours. DeColores!
Posted by Green (anonymous) on June 17, 2009 at 12:44 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Right on Dan!
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