Liberty Hill's new City Secretary working to streamline record keeping

Elaine Simpson is already enjoying the “wild ride” that joining the City of Liberty Hill as city secretary has given her, because she said she’s able to use every bit of her education, skills, training and knowledge in the position.

“It’s exciting to be here,” said Simpson, who became city secretary on May 17. “I wanted the challenge of the job. I knew it was going to be a big job, and I think that’s really refreshing. We have a good team put together now, and I don’t think there will be any stopping us.”

Simpson was born and raised in Odessa and earned both her bachelor’s degree and master’s degrees in public administration. She most recently worked as city secretary for the City of Granite Shoals for nine years, and before that, spent time in similar roles in many other Texas cities, like Seymour and Garland, since 1999.

Since joining the City of Liberty Hill, Simpson has taken on several projects to improve the City’s record keeping, which fell behind for several months after former City Secretary Nancy Sawyer resigned in November 2021. 

“Liberty Hill is a city that is really on the precipice of something fantastic, and I’m going to have opportunities to contribute with my knowledge and experience,” she said. “My biggest projects right now are getting all the meeting minutes caught up, updating the City’s code of ordinances, and overseeing the open records requests.”

Simpson said the code of ordinances hasn’t been updated since 2015, which means there is a lot of work to do.

“The magnitude of updating the City’s code of ordinances is huge,” she said. “Every department relies on this book and relies on having solid and current information about what they are supposed to be doing. Right now, it’s gunking up the work and it’s a drag on everybody, which is why it’s my top priority. Once it’s done, keeping it updated will be a priority, because everybody relies on it.”

Once she finishes updating the code, Simpson has other goals to streamline records management for every department.

“I plan to go paperless with the agendas and packets for board and City Council meetings,” she said. “Going paperless was one thing I instituted in Granite Shoals while I was there, the software we used is exactly what we have here in Liberty Hill. They’ve been using that software for recording and broadcasting the video, but we can go paperless and utilize it to its full capacity.”

Simpson added that going paperless will require Council members to have laptops or tablets to view the agendas on, but she believes the savings from the printing of paper and storage needs will cover the cost of those devices.

“It will also streamline the format of our meetings to shave time off, and I think it’ll just get better, because once they go paperless, they’ll like it,” she said. “I am also working with [City Administrator] Paul Brandenburg on the agenda format itself so that under each agenda item as it's listed, there will be a link to the documents that are related so you can zip back and forth easily. This will be helpful for both our staff and our community.”

As secretary, Simpson will also coordinate future elections and support each department and board as clerical staff by attending all city meetings. She is also a notary and can provide notary services to Liberty Hill residents.

“As a long-term goal, I want to help squire the city,” she said. “We are not a home rule city yet, and we’re not big enough to be a charter city, but we are right there knocking on the door. We will keep growing though, and hopefully I’ll stay here for several years to see the City go from being a small city to a charter city and economically develop.”