Let’s go back to the year 1982 — 42 years ago. The World’s Fair was opened in Knoxville, Tenn., with an address by President Reagan; the Weather Channel began, E.T: The Extra-Terrestrial was released, Eddie Murphey made his first appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, The Commodore 64 8-bit home computer was launched, a ground-breaking ceremony for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial was held in Washington, D.C., and Tracy Prost began working for the City of Perryville.
That’s right. The same Tracy Prost that holds the title of city clerk today… well, that is until Friday of this week, when she officially retires after working for the city for 42 years.
In the beginning
“When I started back in 1982, our city hall at that point was a two-story building that had been downtown forever,” she said. “It was in front of where our police station is now. That’s the building I started in. Our offices were upstairs, and the very first time I sat down at my desk on my very first day, it was in one of those old army surplus secretarial chairs.
“One of the wheels fell off when I sat down, and I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, what have I gotten myself into? Back then, of course, we were using typewriters. We didn't know anything about computers. When it was time to convert to computers, we were all very leery of them because we just didn't know what to think, but golly gee, hasn't it changed since then?”
Prost’s husband, Tom, worked nearly as long at St. Vincent High School as his wife has worked for the City of Perryville, but retired two years ago.
“He was their religion teacher and did some English teaching there,” she said. “Today, we have four children and eight grandchildren.”
People and progress
Forty-two years is a long time to keep a job. How is it that Prost was able to keep hers for that many years?
“Well, one of the things I think I enjoy most about my job, besides the people I work with and the people I work for, is that every day is different,” she said. “It's one of the best things and one of the worst things because it's never boring. You never know what's going to happen and what hoops we're going to jump through for the day. That's part of the fun of the job.
“When I was driving by the Justice Center the other day, I said, ‘Oh, the lights are up!’ I was in charge of making sure Citizens Electric got that old streetlight down. It's the fun part of working on all these projects and seeing them come to fruition. We worked really hard to get Vincentian Way in. I think of all the things that we did, and here it is. It's now this great street.”
Prost sees the same progress made everywhere in town through the years.
“We get involved in all of those projects, and it's fun to see them done,” she said. “We’re really proud of the sewer line going through town. We've been involved in getting all the easements on that. It's such a big project, but it's such an important project. And then there’s whatever little bit I did to help get the Perry Park Center initiative going with our city administrator at that time.
“Look around town. There's lots of stuff. I worked a whole lot on when we did all the curbs and gutters in our town. Our streets used to look like every other city —maybe people don't see it because they're so used to it now — but our streets are beautifully curved and guttered, and we have concrete streets. We worked hard on getting all those things done.”
The city administrator
For the past 15 years, Prost has had a productive work relationship with City Administrator Brent Buerck.
“Working with Brent has just been great,” she said. “I know it's been great for all of us because he is always thinking outside the box and coming up with ideas that I would have never dreamed of in my entire life. You see how his mind goes to places, and you think, ‘Wow! I would have never thought of that. Just think, I've been working side-by-side with him all these years, and it's been fun.”
Listening to Buerck talk about Prost, it’s obvious that the professional respect she has for him goes both ways.
“She was here when I got here,” he said. “I did a lot of my negotiating to accept the job with Tracy as she represented the board in that process. Tracy's work ethic is second to none, and her attention to detail is incredible. She has made me a better administrator. She generally reviews my documents before I go out.
“She's my sounding board as we talk through difficult issues or challenging situations. She's a confidant. I can visit with her about these things and her history with the city. Since she's been with the city for over 40 years, her understanding of the details of our past has been vital as we rewrite our future by knowing how we got to this point. There's nobody better.”
Vital to the city
Buerck believes Prost has been vital to the quality of work that the city has performed over the past four decades.
“Tracy attends all of our board of aldermen meetings,” he said. She puts together the agenda on behalf of me, the mayor and the board. She takes all the minutes. She tells our history. Quite frankly, she's a historian through the minutes that she keeps. She's worked with the public in lots of capacities as well.
“She oversees the billing department, which is really one of the main interfaces we have with the general public. She also oversees insurance claims. When there is an incident with the city, Tracy is the one who helps do the paperwork, and then she oversees or supervises the front office at city hall — in years past, everything from the treasurer to the front desk reception. She's got her fingers in all those things.”
The mayor
Perryville Mayor Larry Riney shared many of the same sentiments about Prost.
“Tracy's just been a wonderful cornerstone for city hall,” he said. “Even as an alderman before I became mayor, her note-keeping was just out of this world. That takes a lot of doing and a lot of concentration in trying not to lose any valuable information that may transpire through the meetings. She's just been a meticulous worker, very dedicated, and I couldn't be prouder to have worked with her.
“She has outstanding character and an outstanding personality. I have never seen Tracy upset, which is something to be praised. I've worked with her for almost 16 years. From my time as alderman to becoming the mayor, I have not seen her upset at anything.”
A great team
As she counts down the last few days on the job before retirement, Prost knows she will miss many things about her job, but she will her coworkers most of all.”
“We've got a great team up here,” she said. “I'm working with the people in this office, and I think they're all super. Everybody is so considerate of what we're doing and how important our roles are. We all work together with public works, the police department and the parks department. We’re one big family. We’re all the wheels in the cog that make the machine go. I will miss the hustle and bustle of it all in the busyness of it. I guess I enjoy that.
“The type of job I have is very much in the background. Maybe that's my personality. I don't necessarily want to be in the spotlight. So, I've been happy in this job. It's the person in the background doing the stuff to make sure things get done, and that's where I've been. Many people probably don't even know there is a city clerk, and that's fine with me. It's been a great job for me, and I've it's been I don't know have I will always be thankful for it.”
Retirement
No longer working for the city will leave Prost a lot of free time, but she and her husband have already made a few general plans.
I'm sure we'll do a little more traveling and will be able to do it on more of a whim than when we had to plan around the schedules that we've got here,” she said. “I just want to be able to spend more time with my family and friends. Six of my eight grandchildren live in St. Louis and St. Charles, so we'll be helping out there a little bit more than we do now. I hope it keeps me busy because I don't want to get bored.”
