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Prescott Valley town clerk outlines duties, local roots and push for more digital transparency
Summary
Town Clerk Fatima Fernandez described her decade in local government, the clerk's core duties—elections, business licensing, records and open meetings—and plans to expand self-service portals and revamp records software to boost public access.
Fatima Fernandez, who began in Prescott Valley’s courts in 2015 and advanced into the deputy town clerk role in 2018, described her responsibilities and goals as town clerk. "That was a very tough year... because of COVID... I only had a records specialist. So there were only 2 staff members in my office during that time," Fernandez said, recounting staffing challenges early in her tenure.
Fernandez said the clerk’s office has four core functions: administering elections, running the business-license program, managing records, and supporting the town council with open-meeting compliance. "A lot of people don't know that the role of the clerk is one of the oldest professions in local government," she said.
She described the agenda-preparation process—collecting staff reports from multiple departments, following a review process and publishing an agenda packet for public inspection—and highlighted the use of an interactive agenda platform with timestamps so viewers can jump to specific items after a meeting.
Looking ahead, Fernandez said her priorities include expanding self-service options and revamping the town’s records-management system (referred to in the interview as a records platform) so residents can search databases directly for development agreements, ordinances and resolutions. "If we can share whatever database we have with the citizens so that they can go and do their own research," she said, "things that should be accessible to anyone."
Fernandez also provided practical contact information for the clerk’s office: the town’s website departments page, an email listed in the interview as clerk@prescovalley-hc.gov, a phone extension given in the interview and the clerk's office location on the second floor of the Civic Center next to the building-permits department.
