Changes in probate, tag office staff
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Food for Thought
Judge of Probate Richard Dean
Yesterday was the official first day of summer. It was the summer solstice and longest daylight day of the year. Now the daylight will get shorter until we come to the shortest day of the year, the winter solstice, on December 21.
Yesterday also marked the appearance of the full moon, known by the Native Americans as the Strawberry Moon. So called because it is the time that wild strawberries (haven’t had one of those in years) are ready for picking.
June’s first full moon is normally known as the last full moon of spring or first full moon of summer depending if it is before or after the summer solstice. This year, it is known as both! It occurred on the summer solstice day. This event occurs rarely, about every 20 years depending upon the time (Coordinated Universal Time – UCT, or Eastern Daylight Time – EDT) referenced.
If using UCT, this event occurred last on June 27, 1967; EDT declares 2010. Either way, it is a neat event. I hope you had the opportunity to view last night’s full moon on our 2024 Summer Solstice.
Last month I told you about Elizabeth’s retirement. To fill the huge void Elizabeth left, we selected Rebecca Lewis from the tag office to be our licensing administrator. You probably know Rebecca who has worked in our tag office for four years, but I want to give you a little background about her.
Rebecca is married to Randall Lewis of Rockford. She has a wonderful family and is proud of her children. She describes them as “three wonderful children and one awesome stepdaughter; however, I am most blessed to be the meme of two beautiful grandchildren.” She is originally from Childersburg, but became a resident of Coosa County 28 years ago. We can officially classify her as Coosa Countian. She is a member of Sardis Baptist Church.
Working in the tag office Rebecca was responsible for renewing motor vehicle and/or water vessel licenses, registering new motor vehicles and water vessels, processing Alabama title applications, renewing or issuing conservation licenses and business licenses, collecting mandatory liability insurance (MLI) fees or often cleaning up MLI issues, and inventorying motor vehicle tags and boat decals.
In addition to all the work and her responsibilities in the tag office, Rebecca willingly volunteered to cross train and learn some key functions in the probate and recording offices. As you know, the Coosa County probate offices have a small staff, and we make every effort not to close the offices to customers. Therefore, it is critical for our staff to cross train to learn duties throughout the offices, especially for occasions when staff members have emergencies or must attend mandatory state or federal training.
Those additional duties Rebecca learned to ensure our citizens are properly served include renewing driver licenses, pulling records from the records room or the database, accepting records for filing, answering phones and taking messages, and assisting with elections.
Assisting with the elections takes a lot of time during election years. Rebecca helps the probate election manager and the Board of Registrars load elections into our poll pads. She assists the Sheriff’s Office, emergency management director and me setting up and testing the vote tabulating machines.
Rebecca also assists with organizing and conducting election polling officials’ mandatory election training. And finally, on election night she helps with collecting and publishing election results and whatever other duties might arise.
When asked to describe what she thinks about working the probate offices, Rebecca says, “I love helping our citizens and other customers with whatever they need. I strive to make sure we have done everything we can do to help them. Often our hands are tied because of state or federal law, regulations and so forth; I feel so bad when that happens. However, I try my best to ensure the customers know what they must do and leave knowing we did all we could to assist them.”
In her spare time, Rebecca enjoys crocheting, making candles and canning fresh vegetables from their garden. But most of all, she enjoys every minute she gets to spend with her grandchildren and family.
In addition to Rebecca’s promotion, we have added a new member, Latashiana (Tasha) Lee, to our team. I am happy to report Tasha fits right in and is a great addition to our team.
For some background, Tasha was born and grew up in Alexander City, but is now a loyal Coosa County citizen. She is married to Desmond Lee, a Coosa County native. They have three beautiful children and two dogs. For those of you who know the Coosa County Probate Office staff, you know the dogs were instrumental in winning over the probate staff.
Tasha prides herself for being a self-starter and having a heart for serving others. As you know, the “serving others” is an absolute necessity to be successful in our office. She said she strives for perfection and gives her very best in all she does, for self and others.
Tasha said she believes in fighting for what you desire and for what you believe in; but, doing so through God because nothing great comes easy. However, she believes with God everything is possible.
Her motivation is driven by a desire for learning and succeeding. She strives to do an outstanding job and be successful in whatever she undertakes. When not working, she has a passion for nature and reading. She enjoys playing and watching sports, riding 4-wheelers and listening to music. However, spending time with her family provides her the most enjoyment.
When asked to sum up her beliefs, Tasha said, “I believe in using my God-given abilities for what the world needs, and I am most happy when I am doing that. I am filled with gratitude for the experiences that have shaped me into the person I am. I believe in the end it is not the years that we live that matters, but instead, it is the life we live in those years. That is what truly matters.”
When you are in the courthouse, stop to meet and welcome Tasha and to congratulate Rebecca on her promotion. In addition to Rebecca and Tasha, I am so blessed to have a fantastic and dedicated probate office staff to include Pam, Beth and Sheila. They are more like a family than coworkers. Until next month, stay safe and God bless.
