While the title, ‘Clerk,’ is used loosely to designate many occupations within the American work force, we are dealing with a position that is uniquely identified with Municipal Government. Its roots extend centuries back into the history of England and other Western European countries. Wherever there has been an elected Council there has been a Clerk of Council.

Traditional duties have included the recording of Council action, and the custody and safekeeping of official records. All proposed Ordinances and Resolutions are submitted to the City Clerk’s Office for processing.

The Clerk’s office is responsible for making sure that all proposed legislation is introduced by Council, assigned a bill number, placed in proper committee, discussed in Committee Meeting, and before Council for final action deemed by Council. All legislation receiving final approval is then signed by the Council President and City Clerk and forwarded to the Mayor for signature of approval. The Mayor has ten (10) days to act on the legislation. Once the Mayor approves the legislation, it is returned to the Clerk’s Office. The Clerk then records the legislation and issues a Resolution or Ordinance number. Resolutions and Ordinances are advertised in the newspaper.

The City Clerk’s Office is responsible for recording minutes for Legislative meetings and Public Hearings. Minutes of Legislative meetings are recorded verbatim and transcribed. These minutes are kept on file in the Clerk of Council office and can also be found on the City of Warren’s website.

The Office of Clerk of Council is the conduit through which the general public, as well as public officials and other governmental bodies, seek information and assistance. The Office of Clerk of Council is indeed one of importance and great responsibility.

The Office of the Clerk of Council dates back to 1834, when the Act to Incorporate the Town of Warren in the County of Trumbull was enacted on March 3 that year.

Resolutions, Ordinances and Records of Minutes have been preserved and kept in safe keeping by all the Clerks of Council since that date and are still preserved in that Office, as well as other History that had been kept by a previous Clerk, Charles B. Selby, in a scrap book through 1910.

Everything you need to know about the City, its history and its predecessors are in ‘safe keeping’ in the Office of the Clerk of Council.