By Louise Deegan – Originally published in the 2008 Founder’s Review
Sandi McKamey has worked for the City of Belleview for the past thirty-two years. She was named City Clerk in 1984 and has served as City Clerk/Administrator for the past twenty-five years. In addition to being designated as a Master Municipal Clerk and a Certified Public Manager, she also has a Business Administration degree in Human Resource Management. During her tenure as Clerk, Sandi has worked for six different mayors and twenty-one different commissioners.
Sandi McKamey was pregnant with her first child when she and her husband came to Belleview in 1978 from North Dakota on a vacation. They liked it here and decided to move. They moved to Summerfield, and her first job was at the Bank of Belleview (now Wachovia) as a teller. Bank employees had a lot of questions about the electrical outlet hanging from the front of her car. In North Dakota, you had to plug your car into a heater to be able to start it in the mornings in the winter.
In June 1979, she took a job with the City of Belleview as a cashier. Now, she is City Clerk/Administrator. There were only three departments and approximately sixteen people working for the City back then: the Clerk’s office, the Public Works Department, and the Police Department, all located in the City Hall building. Now the City has five departments, adding the Information Technology Department and the Development Services Department. The Police Department now has its own building. There are also plans for a new public works complex that will move the present yard out of the Lake Lillian Park to the city property that was purchased on Hwy 484. The City had fifty-three people working for it in 2008, but due to the recession, it now has only forty-three people.
Sandi has seen many changes since starting to work for the City. When she started working for the City, she had an electric typewriter with correction tape above the ribbon. They grew from one NCR 9020 with about four “dumb terminals” to an entire server room, containing both physical and virtual servers connecting the City’s entire computer network for all the departments. They can sign on to the same programs at all computers instead of going back to their personal computer.
The Administration Department consists of the Clerk’s office, Finance Department, and Human Resources. Public Works is in charge of roads, water, sewer, parks, and the cemetery. The Police Department has the Investigation Unit, Patrol Division, and Administrative Support. They have fifteen people employed in that department. The Information Technology Department is one person, the Information Technology Coordinator. He keeps the computers in the police vehicles, utility vehicles, work yard, sewer plant, city hall, and police department working properly. He keeps the city’s computer programs up to date and free from viruses. He also helped to create and maintain the city’s website.
There is a Development Services Department that handles building, planning, zoning, and code enforcement. They review the property to see how it affects the roads, schools, and other aspects of the city before they annex property into the city limits. They have State rules they have to abide by before any property is annexed.
Fire service is provided through an interlocal agreement with Marion County. The Building Department and residential garbage service are both privatized. The city places requests for bids to get the best prices and services for its citizens in these areas.
There have been a lot of improvements to the building over the years. They had to get rid of the pigeons that roosted in the bell tower. It was a hazard for customers coming into the building, dodging the droppings. Sandi said she felt sorry for the men that got up in the bell tower to clean it out. They had to wear coveralls and masks to get the job done. The smell was terrible.
Her office area was where the writer had her 5th and 6th grade classes. Her 1st and 2nd grade classroom was the police department for several years, and her 3rd and 4th grade classroom was the council room for several years. Someone donated some church pews to the city to put in the council room. There were some pews left over, so they were placed in the hallway. At that time, the outside doors were open to the hall all the time because of the police department. Some mornings Sandi would come to work and someone would be sleeping on one of the pews or in the bathroom washing up.
She said, “To get people to the council meeting, all you have to do is mention that you are going to do something to the ducks at Lake Lillian.” Belleview was about one square mile when she came to work in 1979, and today it is about 3.3 square miles. They have a utility service area of twenty-seven square miles. The population within the city limits has grown from 1,500 to approximately 4,000 now.
Sandi’s husband passed away about eleven years ago, and she moved from Summerfield to off Baseline Road. The City employees planted a tree behind the city hall in memory of her husband, and their son got married by that tree.
The city employees had a pool betting on the date her daughter would be born. Mayor Frank Latarche won that bet. Because of good management by the City, they have reduced the millage by about half. They have also built up the Fund Balance to cover emergencies. The budget and audit reviews have garnered certificates of excellence. It acknowledges the personnel that worked on it.
Sandi has always been involved in community events such as Founders Day, the Belleview Christmas Parade, and Nine-Mile Pond. She was the Co-Chair of the first Light-up Lake Lillian event and has been instrumental in planning the annual Freedom Walk. She has served as a judge for the Belleview-South Marion Christmas Parade, the Miss Belleview Pageant, and the Belleview Idol contest. Sandi has also served on the Board of Directors for both the Belleview-South Marion Chamber of Commerce and the Public Policy Institute of Marion County. She has seen a lot of good changes during the time she has been City Clerk.
There are a lot of long-time employees, and it makes it feel like a family by knowing them for such a long period of time. She has her son and his family with her and her daughter and her family in Ocala. There are six grandchildren, ranging in age from five to twelve. She enjoys them all.
