Town's 'go-to girl' retiring after 27 years

BOONE, N.C.,None — "Every time I called, you knew the answer to my question."
Boone Town councilman Rennie Brantz, speaking at the Feb. 23 monthly council meeting, concisely expressed how many citizens and officials feel about Freida Van Allen, who retires Feb. 29 after 27 years of service with the town of Boone. 

Van Allen has served as Boone's town clerk since 1993.

The Boone Town Council approved a resolution of appreciation for Van Allen and wished her well at council meetings last week.

"Thank you for your dedicated and loyal service to the town and its citizens," said Town Manager Greg Young. "For more than 20 years, you've been my right hand and helped me and the town in more ways than you can imagine."

Van Allen grew up by the Watauga River in the Sugar Grove community, where she attended Cove Creek School. She graduated from Watauga High School in 1980 and landed a job with newly established AppalCART in 1981 through a W.A.M.Y. Community Action job placement program. Her first week there was trial by fire.

"They said, 'Oh, by the way, we have a board meeting. You need to take the minutes,'" Van Allen remembered.

From AppalCART, Van Allen moved on to an administrative assistant's position with Watauga County's planning department, and she later took the same position with the town of Boone's Planning and Inspections Department in 1985. She became deputy town clerk at Boone Town Hall in 1989 and was promoted to town clerk in July 1993.

As town clerk, Van Allen has been responsible for giving public notices of town council and other board meetings, preparing meeting agendas, recording meeting minutes, serving as custodian of all town records, attesting all town documents, updating the town code, keeping records of committee appointments and terms and issuing special events permits.

For many citizens, whether they were applying for water service, requesting records or making a complaint, Van Allen has been their first point of contact with the town.

"My favorite part is helping the citizens," Van Allen said. 

And she isn't shy about divulging her least favored task over the years: keeping the minutes."Truthfully, the meetings have been hard on me lately," Van Allen said. "The volume and the number of the meetings have increased dramatically during 27 years."

Van Allen has been a member of the N.C. Association of Municipal Clerks for 23 years, serving terms as the Region IV, District 10 director and as chairwoman of several committees. She has been a member of the International Institute of Municipal Clerks for 21 years and was awarded the master municipal clerk designation in 2007.

Boone Mayor Loretta Clawson, who called Van Allen, "a wonderful, wonderful person," read the resolution honoring the retiring clerk at the Feb. 23 council meeting.

"Freida Van Allen has served the citizens of Boone for 27 years in an exemplary manner, has maintained a high degree of professionalism and dedication throughout her career and has earned the admiration and high regard of those with whom she has come into contact and the affection of her fellow public servants," Clawson said.

Van Allen thanked the town and said she would miss working with everyone, especially Young, town attorney Sam Furgiuele, special assistant to the town manager Jim Byrne and Deputy Town Clerk Kim Brown, with whom she has worked many years.

Brown has been promoted to the town clerk position.

Van Allen lives in the Matney and Rominger area of the county with her husband of 32 years, Greg. She has two children: Parker, 23, and Warren, 20. She said she'd like to spend her retirement remodeling her home and gardening, and she may even find a part-time job.

"I've enjoyed my time here. It's a really good place to work," said Van Allen.

WSOC