City Secretary graduates from clerks program

Heather Robertson Caraway, the city secretary of Breckenridge, graduated from the Texas Municipal Clerks Certification Program in January, according to a release from the Texas Municipal Clerks Certification Program at the University of Texas. While the course regularly takes about four years to complete, Caraway was able to do it in roughly a year-anda-half.

“It’s tedious,” Caraway said. “There’s a lot to it.”

The course is broken up into four courses, with each course consisting of four modules, along with seminars one has to complete. In total, graduates complete approximately 200 hours of study. There are eight seminars that last two days each, which accounts for an additional 100 hours of classroom study, the release states.

Caraway did it in less than a year-and-a-half. She was able to accomplish this because of 40 to 50 hours she would put in each weekend.

“I wanted to get it done and I needed to get it done,” she said.

Caraway had her experience broken up in two sections: the first was one course she completed about a year-and-a-half ago. But life got in the way and she wasn’t able to complete her studies all at once. Fast forward to February 2018 and she began her work again, completing the remaining three courses by July. While she said she is happy it’s behind her, the work she has to do is not done.

“I’m glad it’s done,” Caraway said. “But you have to re-certify every five years and the recertification is as tedious if not more so.”

Caraway said the recertification process is based on a point system, 60 points specifically. She added there are multiple things you can do to earn points, such as book reports, revised homework modules, different courses on human resources or even other college courses.

The Texas Municipal Clerks Certification Program is located at the University of North Texas in Denton. It is the third oldest of 33 such programs in the country, according to the release. The curriculum included involves public administration, election law, budgeting and finance, municipal laws and personnel management.