BUCHANAN — After serving her Buchanan community since 1999, Gladys Bybee, 60, of Niles Township, announced her retirement from the Buchanan city clerk’s position during Monday night’s regularly scheduled commissioners meeting. But her parting words to commissioners sought to remind them of their duties to the city.

Before Bybee spoke, commissioners each talked about how Bybee has helped them throughout the years of her service. Mayor Brenda Hess described Bybee as a fountain of knowledge who helped her on multiple occasions. In addition to being a fixture for the city of Buchanan, Hess said Bybee has helped to share her wisdom with other city clerks so that they too can seek to make their city a better place to be.

Hess presented Bybee with a commemorative plaque for the occasion.

“Gladys is the person you go to,” Hess said. “Gladys is the person who knows everything about what needs to be done, when it needs to be done and how it needs to be done. I was impressed by her professionalism and the way she takes things seriously.”

Other commissioners echoed this praise Monday night.

Commissioner Dale Toerne said Bybee’s expertise helped tremendously to help run elections. He said her absence will be felt around the office.

“I will miss her tremendously,” Toerne said. “Gladys, thank you from the bottom of my heart.”

Members of the Berrien County Clerks Association also attended the meeting and expressed their gratitude to Bybee for her work. They presented her with a tribute testifying to her work for the city of Buchanan.

Outside of her work as clerk, Bybee is known for her role in helping to organize a free Thanksgiving dinner for community members in need. Bybee described this as a highlight to her time working in the city of Buchanan. She was also well known for acting as the character Frosty during the annual Thrill on the Hill event, where residents inner tube down Front Street in the snow.

For Bybee, retiring from her position at the city was a bittersweet occasion. She expressed some criticism on “difficult working conditions” that she observed throughout her time as clerk. This environment contributed to her wanting to leave the position, she said. Before the meeting ended, Bybee read a letter addressed to the administration describing how she felt.

“The past several years, have been a real conundrum for me in the clerk’s position,” Bybee said “One, disregard of rules, city code and two division and separation of administration. We are public stewards for our Buchanan community and not ourselves.”

She asked that commissioners provide better support to the city clerk hired next, including hiring a deputy clerk to help with the workload. As clerk, Bybee managed city paperwork and helped to run commissioners’ meetings, among an array of other tasks.

Following her letter, she presented a book titled, “Do the Right Thing, Make Ethics Your Brand,” by Judge Jeffrey Collins, to commissioners and to city manager Bill Marx.

When pressed on the issues mentioned after the meeting, Bybee said at this time she cannot provide details on the specifics. She did say that she often felt overworked. To fix this for future clerks, she said she will continue to advocate for the city to hire a deputy clerk to assist with the clerk’s duties. Bybee said she has contacted the legislature with the hopes of achieving this.

For his part, Marx accepted the book presented by Bybee. He acknowledged that there were some differences on issues in the office, most recently regarding medical marijuana processing procedure. But he agreed that differing perspectives can be useful in finding solutions because it shows varying ideas and perspectives on a topic. He too commended Bybee for her knowledge in the clerk’s role.

“She leaves with a lot of skills and institutional knowledge that will be hard to replace,” Marx said.

As far as transparency, Marx encouraged people with questions to talk to their city leaders.

“I’m always open to suggestions and new ideas,” Marx said. “I have nothing to hide.”

In the coming days, the city will look to replace Bybee. Marx said the city has received 11 applicants for the role. Interviews for the position are expected to be conducted this week.

Overall, Bybee said she felt very passionately about her role as city clerk and will miss serving the city.

“[It’s] bittersweet. I love what I do and being the city clerk,” Bybee said. “It was a hard decision to make. I love being a public servant meeting new people and helping people.”

With her retirement time, Bybee, who is Native American, said she plans to travel to a releasing ceremony on Sugar Island on Lake Superior to reflect.