By Allison Carrier
Tody Justice doesn’t need a lot of sleep. In reality, she keeps a notepad by her bed for when thoughts from the day wake her up. With a racing mind, decades of expertise, and an off-the charts work ethic, she runs a self-described tight ship in the Town Clerk’s office.
Tody started with the Town of Scarborough thirty years ago after four years with the school department. She had applied to be the Assistant to the Town Manager and didn’t get the job. It’s since led her to a lifelong career in municipal administration as the Town Clerk. Now, as she looks ahead to a retirement date, she’s ceded some of her clerk duties to transition into the Executive Assistant to the Town Manager role that first drew her to the town several years ago.
Given the nature of balancing two roles, no two days are the same. That is especially true during Fall 2024, when a presidential election is underway and the Clerk’s office is responsible for supervising all elections. Here’s what an October day looked like for Tody, one week before Election Day and with early voting underway.
Early Morning
Tody starts her day at 4:30am. It’s dark out and gives her quiet time to drink coffee and do a word puzzle to ease into the day. By 5:30am, she’s out the door of her Gorham farmhouse. She plans what needs to get done in the office, and when she arrives, she checks email and prints requests for absentee ballots for the staff to process.
Early voting opens to the public at 7:00am. Election workers arrive before then, and Tody goes to the Public Safety Building to check in with them. During elections, especially a presidential one, Tody eats, sleeps, and breathes elections — it’s a big commitment that requires a lot of time and attention to detail. She remembers back when election preparations were only at set times of the year (June/November), but now it’s year-round. There’s advanced planning and voter registration needs, plus the population has gotten bigger and in turn the voters we serve.
Tody heads back to her desk to fulfill her tasks as both the Clerk and to support the Town Manager. She takes calls and redirects inquiries to the appropriate department. She opens the Town Manager’s office and organize invoices from the mail that need to be approved. She also books conference rooms, updates website information for boards and committees, and ensures that meeting minutes and video streams are connected and up to date online.
Late Morning
After catching up on administrative duties, Tody crosses the hall into the Clerk’s office, where a staff of three others work the counter. State training was critical for Tody’s path in this career field, with courses for new clerks or on topics like vital records, parliamentary procedures, Freedom of Access requests, etc. Additionally, she and her staff need to be well versed in local ordinances and licenses. They receive daily requests for licenses like cannabis, food handlers, innkeepers, and shellfish. They also need to know the Town Charter, essentially the rulebook for the Town of Scarborough. By now, it’s second nature to Tody, but she remains acutely aware of the wide scope of all there is to know as a clerk.
She then heads to her desk to balance accounts for the Clerk’s office. They send a portion of funds to the State for dog licenses and vital records (deaths, births, marriages, burial permits).
Afternoon
The afternoon takes on a different feel. The activity level of Town Hall has shifted from the quiet morning as more people stop in. She’s gotten to know residents over the years and often sees a familiar face across the counter.
Tody is switching gears constantly throughout the day. Another priority for her role is to prepare for Town Council meetings. She attends the twice monthly night meetings and is responsible for taking the minutes, answering procedural or ordinance questions, and making sure they’re following Robert’s Rules (the standard followed for parliamentary procedures). Today she is finalizing the agenda and supporting documents so it can be posted to the website ahead of time. She also does this for the Finance committee and Rules & Policies committee.
Throughout the day she pokes her head over at the Clerk’s office to check in on anything that may have come up. Tody loves meeting people and interacting with the public, and trying to solve an issue they have. Recently someone hadn’t received their absentee ballot before traveling overseas. They worked toward a solution for having a ballot mailed abroad. Customer service is big with Tody, as is enjoying the people she works with because so much of the day is spent with them.
For the remainder of the day, she supports the Town Manager with ongoing tasks. She works on various reports throughout the year and also updates ordinances. Tody is the go-to person who people come to if something needs to get done.
Evening
While the work day typically ends at 5:00pm, she stays longer today since it’s the last week of early voting. At the end of each day of voting, the election workers do an audit to ensure every ballot is accounted for, so she helps with this process before heading home.
Tody’s 20-minute commute is her time to wind down and reflect on her day. She asks herself, Would I have handled anything differently today? More often than not, her answer comes back no. She’s confident in herself and her choices, and makes decisions based on reason. She’s learned in her 30+ years not to get upset or overexcited, to keep calm, and deal with situations the best she can.
Back at home on their 24-head cattle farm, her husband graciously has dinner on the table. Weeknights are quiet when she’s not working a council meeting, and she takes the down time to tidy the house and pick up a quilting project. Weekends are centered around kids and grandkids. Between the farm, work, and family time, they’re still lucky enough to occasionally sneak away to a trip to Ohio or, coming up soon, Alaska.
Tody takes pride in what she does and the commitment her career requires. One day, she’ll retire, but for now she is holding on to her running list of to-do’s for the day ahead.
