Retiring City Clerk Gets a Safe Send-Off
What to do? Your city clerk retires and you don’t want to give the cliche gold watch.
In Ojai, for City Clerk Cynthia Burell’s retirement after 21 years on the job, fellow staffers bucked tradition and literally played it safe by giving Burell . . . the 4-foot-tall, avocado-green safe that sat in her office all 21 years.
City Manger Andy Belknap recommended last month that the city get rid of the thing, which isn’t fireproof, doesn’t lock and is ugly.
The City Council then voted unanimously to give Burell, 58, the safe as a parting gift. Two days later, city workers delivered the sticker-covered iron hulk to the garage of Burell’s Ojai home.
Burell agrees it’s ugly and was never very useful for keeping valuables safe. She mostly used it to store her lunch. But after 21 years, it’s like an old friend, she said, and since the city has purchased a safer safe, she is happy to give her old friend a home.
“All I could do was stand there and laugh hysterically,” Burell said, as she watched the safe being delivered to her garage.
Burell’s official last day was Wednesday, but city officials plan a going-away bash for her at Soule Park on June 9. The party is open to the public, and tickets are $12.
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