North Adams Holds Virtual Swearing In for City Clerk
City Clerk Marcus Lyon, left, and Assistant City Clerk Joshua Tassone pose with Cathleen King, who beamed in for the swearing-in ceremony on her last day.
Outgoing City Clerk Cathleen King appeared on a large television screen to swear in her successor, Marcus Lyon, in front of a small crowd of family members and officials.
COVID-19 had again disrupted a tradition but technology allowed the official succession to proceed — albeit with the some glitches.
After a number of back-and-forths between Lyon and King — "Can you hear me? Can you see me?" — Lyon was duly sworn in as the new city clerk.
He, in turn, swore in Joshua Tassone as the new assistant clerk — in person.
"It really didn't hit me until today," Lyon said on Friday. "Oh, it was earlier than expected. But I'm excited to keep doing what we've done with forward momentum for the office."
Lyon takes the helm in the city clerk's office after less than a year as the assistant. The office has seen unusual turnover the past few years. King was hired about a year ago to replace Deborah Pedercini, who left after two years, making Lyon the fourth clerk in four years (and the first man in the post in 64 years). He will finish out King's three-year term.
It's not unusual for the assistant clerk to move up but last year the assistant decided to retire. King and Lyon, her choice as assistant, came into the office brand new. They both had some administrative experience, King as a teacher and administrative assistant to the head of a private school and Lyon in human resources at Annie Selke, but neither had muncipal experience.
During their short tenure, Lyon said they'd made progress in updating processes in the city clerk's office.
"We implemented the databases, and added the credit card machines now. That's huge," he said. "We're working on getting rid of the typewriters. And we're working on trying to find some sort of grant to digitize a lot of our records, which will be hard to do."
The City Council hires the clerk and did do a search for both positions, largely because Lyon had only been in office less than a year. But he turned out to be the best qualified for the job and was promoted last week.
Lyon said he'd been recruited by King, whom he has known for some time, and, once here, decided that he wanted to stay and take the next step up.
"I just really enjoy working with the residents of North Adams and it's something that I am very passionate about and looking forward to continue to do," he said.
He'll be attending his first City Council meeting as city clerk on Tuesday. But, his swearing in was up in the air for awhile when King had to isolate because of COVID-19 two days before the event that was also to mark her departure to become marketing coordinator at 1Berkshire.
It took some calls to the governor's office to verify that King could do the swearing-in virtually as her last act as city clerk.
King thanked the current and former city councilors who had provided support and guidance over the past year, as well as former Mayor Thomas Bernard.
"Sometimes it was a bumpy road but you all made it much easier to travel and I'm glad to have you now as friends," she said. "To everyone in the offices up and down the first floor of City Hall. Thank you for your patience, your humor and your friendship. You're the best group of co-workers anybody could ask for."
She especially thanked Lyon, her teammate, saying she was thrilled he was taking over and told Tassone that she was very proud of him.
The clerk's job is "complex and crazy and different every single day," King said. "You have got to be careful yet expeditious, thorough but timely, you've got to know minute details about multiple tasks ... We tread an awful lot of a lot of new ground together. We taught ourselves what we needed to know to be successful."
Tassone, a Taconic High School graduate, has been working for the city for five years in custodial and maintenance roles at City Hall and other buildings. He said he'd worked several elections and became interested in the work.
"So I asked the clerks about what they did in the offices over the years and sounded like something I definitely wanted to do," he said. "So I felt like I was up for the task. And so I put my name in and and here I am."
Lyon selected Tassone out of several applicants.
"I'm very excited to work with you," he said before swearing his assistant in. "You demonstrated everything that we were looking for. And I think you have a lot of potential to really good things."
Lyon might not have a lot of experience but neither did Mary Ann Abuisi back in 1976. Abuisi had worked only a year in the office before the retirement of City Clerk Mildred Manson but would stay in the post for 28 years, the second-longest tenure of the 10 clerks prior to Lyon.
The longest-serving city clerk was Charles S. Brooker, who was the town clerk for four years before being appointed city clerk in 1896. He would serve the city until his death in 1924. He was followed by William G. Carter (1924-1941), Albert L. Fuller (1941-1958), the first woman Viola Desnoyers (1958-1964) followed by Manson. Marilyn Gomeau worked in the city clerk's office with Abuisi for 20 years before serving as city clerk from 2003 to 2018.
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