Photograph by Moryt Milo
Paper Chase: Anne Bybee has been elected to the postion of City Clerk twice, most recently in 1992.
The Gal in Charge of the Numbers
Anne Bybee, a longtime Campbellite and two-time City Clerk, ditched the big city to return to her old job on Orchard City Green
By Moryt Milo
Anne Bybee's job has such a full range of responsibilities, the Campbell City Clerk has to take a deep breath before she explains it: "The City Clerk is responsible for recording all the actions taken at city council meetings, following up with all resolutions and ordinances; maintaining and updating codes; doing all the publications for public hearings; sending notices to the public about what's taking place and running the elections for the city. We also handle the business licensing program and do all the cashiering for the city."
Barbara Lee, Administrative Services Director and Anne's supervisor, sums up Bybee's qualifications more succinctly: "We all really depend on Anne and the city clerk offices. Anne is a great manager and well organized. She is very bright and has a great amount of integrity."
Bybee's constituents must have seen the same qualities when she hit the campaign trail in 1992.
"Running for office was a real family event," Bybee says. "My husband [Kelly Bybee, a Campbell police officer] took off five weeks to run my campaign. We walked the precincts and met the people. I would educate them about me, the position, and what I can do for the city. And, let them know I'd been the City Clerk before."
Shortly after this process, Bybee came full circle and returned to the town of her youth. Bybee had originally moved to Campbell from Philadelphia when she was 10. Then, in 1981, she saw an ad in the paper for a secretarial position in the City of Campbell and applied. She didn't get that job but was later called and asked if she would be interested in a city clerk position. She was, and the then City Clerk Phyllis Acker hired her.
As Bybee tells it, "Phyllis took me under her wing. She was at a point in her life where she would be retiring. She trained me and showed me what I needed to know.
In 1986 Bybee, received a job offer from the City of San Francisco and also became engaged to Kelly Bybee. After the wedding, she and her new hubby planned to move to San Jose, which meant Anne would no longer meet the residency requirements as an elected official in Campbell. Bybee resigned, and between 1986 and 1992, she raised her family and worked for the City of San Francisco, and later the city of San Jose.
But Bybee discovered over time that these jobs weren't as satisfying as her old job here. So Kelly suggested that they move back to Campbell so she could run for City Clerk again. And Anne said, "Oh, I don't know if I can do that."
Obviously, she won the election. Since 1992 Anne has been Campbell's City Clerk--again. She was recently awarded her Certified Municipal Clerk designation (CMC) from the International Association of Municipal Clerks.
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Campbell, California
