Tarbox ends her 24-year clerical reign

Groton government without Barbara Tarbox is going to be like cereal without milk. Things will be a bit dry and it will take some getting used to.

The long-presiding queen of the town clerk's office is not seeking re-election, effectively ending her 24-year reign on Jan. 4th with the swearing in of her replacement.

Obviously Tarbox isn't a real queen, but she has held the town clerk's position so long (yes, we know Esther Williams in East Lyme is the queen mother of clerks in southeastern Connecticut) that she's a sovereign ruler of sorts on Groton matters such as vital statistics, land records, permits and licenses, and election law.

Anyone who spends any time at all in municipal government knows the town clerk is the go-to person for every need. The clerk may not have the information a person wants, but they always know who to send them to.

And that's the case with Tarbox, whose official titles include town clerk, registrar of vital statistics, clerk of the Town Council, and clerk of the Representative Town Meeting.

In addition to running the day-to-day business of the clerk's office, she or someone on her staff has been attending every council and RTM meeting for the past quarter century.

That's not just a lot of meetings; it's also a good way to stay informed.

A former RTM moderator and director of the Bill Memorial Library, Democrat Tarbox replaced another venerable lady, the late Republican Sally Sawyer, in 1986. The town clerk's job is a perfect fit for Tarbox's librarian skills (she has a bachelor's in mathematics from Boston College and a master's degree in library science from the University of Rhode Island) and her keen interest in Groton government.

A transplant from Newburyport, Mass., Groton has been her home since 1968 when her husband, Harold "Bus" Tarbox, transferred here with the Navy. He's retired now and she is ready to join him, taking trips, working on family genealogies, spending time with grandchildren, and volunteering.

Tarbox has worked with three town managers (C. Richard Foote, Ron LeBlanc and current manager Mark Oefinger) and too many mayors, councilors and RTM members to count. But the biggest change in her tenure has been the advancements brought by technology. Virtually everything that was once paper is electronic now: meeting minutes, mortgage deeds, death certificates, even hunting and fishing licenses. And in Groton, that means scanning voluminous records dating back to the late 1600s, transferring them to CDs, then re-indexing them.

From Tarbox's perch in the clerk's office, she has her eye on the daily ritual of people searching for, requesting, or filing records. The town clerk issues cremation permits, handles armed forces discharge papers, files trade names and liquor permits, keeps track of notary publics, and makes sure local boards and agencies abide with state laws for posting meeting notices and agendas. Title searchers and genealogists are regular visitors.

The office is a treasure trove of local history: birth, marriage, and death records, burial permits and adoption papers. It's the place where mortgage, deed, lien, and sadly too often these days, foreclosure papers are filed. And it is where sports enthusiasts buy fishing, hunting and shellfishing licenses - less so, Tarbox says, since the state recently doubled its fees.

The clerk also sets up ballots for town elections, certifies local candidates and handles absentee ballots. Town clerks' offices seem to do just about everything. And once elected or appointed, the good clerks are nonpartisan.

Tarbox is a Democrat but she was unopposed or cross-endorsed every time she was up for re-election. She has good things to say about both candidates vying to fill her seat on Tuesday.

What will she miss when she finally retires? The friendship and support of the state's other 168 clerks and the daily interchange with the public and Town Hall staff.

But Tarbox plans to stay active. She will continue to teach parliamentary procedure and meeting management and wants to volunteer.

And she's looking forward to sleeping in mornings. She deserves it.

Ann Baldelli is associate editorial page editor.