City Clerk Eileen Gomez Bids Tearful Goodbye as she Takes City Clerk Position in Orange County

Colton City Clerk Eileen Gomez bid a tearful goodbye to her community during a special recognition presented to her by the Colton City Council just before the regular city hall meeting Thursday evening, May 22. After six years of service as the city clerk, Gomez began her duties as the city clerk with the City of Laguna Niguel the very next day, Friday, May 23. “I wanted to start right away,” she told the City News by phone last week. “There is a lot to get ready for with the election coming up. Everything that Colton is dealing with now is also what Laguna Niguel is dealing with.” Surrounded by family, friends, colleagues and other community members, Gomez was honored during her last City Council meeting Thursday evening, May 22, where she was presented with several plaques and certificates of recognition, and celebrated with cake and balloons. Gomez was raised in Colton and got her start at City Hall in 2008 after she ran a successful campaign that saw her elected to the open position of city clerk; she was re-elected in 2012. Her win in 2008 was the first time she’d run for office. “That was something I never thought I would [get to] do, but it was an awesome experience,” Gomez said. Her start at Colton City Hall, as the city clerk was, at the time of her election, one of ceremonial matters, Gomez explained, and while performing her duties part-time in Colton, simultaneously she continued to hold a full-time job in the city clerk’s office in nearby San Bernardino, where she’d been introduced to a career in civic service. Gomez had interned with the City of San Bernardino before, and knew former San Bernardino City Clerk Rachel Clark since her teenage years. “I’d met Rachel when I was 16 years old and was interning when she was working then as the assistant for former (San Bernardino) Mayor Bob Holcomb. For six years I worked in San Bernardino as a city employee, and had two years of experience there before that,” Gomez said. All this prepared her to run for the city clerk position in Colton in 2008, amidst changes in the city’s political climate at the time. “In 2008 it seemed like Colton was in a transitional period, and there were changes in the City Council. I figured that there were going to be some challenges for me, but I knew that I was mentored by the best and that I would be able to handle anything that came my way,” Gomez said. Gomez holds a bachelor’s degree in business management from the University of Phoenix; she also holds a Certified Municipal Clerk designation (CMC) from the International Institute for Municipal Clerks, certificates of completion from Cal State San Bernardino, and is a graduate of the Management Development Program coordinated by the Succession Planning Committee. It wasn’t until 2010 when a full-time position as a Records Manager opened up in Colton that Gomez began working full-time for the City of Colton after spending 15 years with the City of San Bernardino. This time she held duel positions as the Colton City records manager and the city clerk. Gomez said, “It’s common for city clerks to have dual roles. Sometimes they work as human resource managers or as assistant city managers.” As the City Clerk, Gomez has maintained and recorded the proceedings of the council, provided accessibility to official records, and has also held key positions in community organizations like the Colton Core Volunteer Internship Program, the Colton Community Coalition for Change, and on the Hometown Heroes Military Banner Program, which saw the first military banner honoring military service members raised in the city’s civic district in November 2012. She’s also participated as a city representative in various special workshops, at Parks and Recreation Foundation meetings, advised the council ad hoc committees and acted as a Colton Chamber of Commerce ambassador. “I’m very blessed that I was able to be a part of those groups,” Gomez said. “I grew up in Colton so being the City Clerk wasn’t just about working at City Hall. It was about helping my community.” It was also about being a neutral kind of support for all city council members, she explained. “That is something I am very proud of, that I and my staff were able to stay out of whatever was going on politically. It was clear that we were a neutral office and that we were there to assist all the council members as a whole,” Gomez said. Gomez credited her work ethic and her success to her mother, Mary Lou Hernandez, who passed away when Gomez was 27. “She inspired me,” Gomez said. “When she found out I had my first interview she made me dress the part, sit across from the table, and she asked me questions. She taught me how to sit up and not to say ‘Um.’ She taught me how to type. She told me that no matter what I do, I should do it with dignity and grace, and that anything I couldn’t handle myself I would give to God, pray about it, and that tomorrow is a new day. I’ll never forget those words. Those things you learn from your mother stay with you forever.” She said though she will miss her hometown, where her family members and her son—Brandon Ortega, the head junior varsity baseball coach at Grand Terrace High School, will stay—she looks forward to her new role in Laguna Niguel. “This is a great position in a beach city. It’s a dream job. I really am excited to become familiarized with this beautiful city and also with this new council. Because of my experience in San Bernardino and Colton I’m prepared for this job. I will miss Colton; I have so many good memories and experiences, and I have no regrets here.”