After 20 years on the job, Garland’s village clerk has retired and the village has welcomed a new clerk to the position.
Myrna Kirkland
Myrna Kirkland first began working for the Village of Garland in 1995, after she retired from teaching.
Kirkland moved to Garland in 1967 and started teaching in Seward later that year.
She taught in Seward for 28 years, mostly in fifth-grade classrooms.
Kirkland said before she became a teacher, she worked as a secretary for State Farm Insurance and had experience working with finances.
“Really, I have always liked book work,” she said.
After her retirement from teaching, Kirkland said she wanted something to do to fill her time and she heard village board was looking for someone to fill the village clerk position.
“I went to the meeting and they hired me,” Kirkland said.
While working as a secretary helped her with the business side of things, Kirkland said being a teacher helped her work with people.
But the village clerk has a long list of duties, Kirkland said, including putting together reports throughout the year, managing bills, writing agendas and minutes for the village board meetings, attending the meetings and dealing with correspondence.
Though Kirkland is now officially retired, she said she still volunteers as the treasurer at her church, Zion Lutheran, in Garland. She also helped train the new village clerk, Salene Ulrich, and said she is still available to help Ulrich, if she needs it.
“I enjoyed it while I was doing it,” Kirkland said of the village clerk position.
Salene Ulrich
Ulrich was officially sworn in as Garland’s new village clerk during the board’s December 2015 meeting.
Ulrich and her family moved to Garland 10 years ago to be closer to Duncan Aviation in Lincoln, where her husband Chris works.
Since that move, Ulrich and her husband have found many ways to volunteer in the community.
Ulrich is a part of Garland’s American Legion Auxiliary and she is on the playground committee, which works to raise money to improve Garland’s playground and baseball fields.
“We enjoy living in Garland,” Ulrich said.
While working with the playground committee, Ulrich said the group has raised money for new equipment and now aims to raise funds to improve the park’s picnic area and put lights at the ball field.
As a fundraiser the committee gathered recipes from Garland residents and turned them into a cook book called “Garland Goodies.”
“It’s neat to see an idea a year ago come to fruition,” Ulrich said.
She said she saw the village clerk position as another way to get involved in the community.
“I thought it’d be a great opportunity to help the community more,” Ulrich said.
Ulrich has a bachelor’s degree in interior design, minors in both architecture and dance and an associate’s degree in business. While working as the village clerk, Ulrich also homeschools her two daughters, Taylan, 12, and Shaeden, 10.
Ulrich said her business degree has been helpful in her new position.
“I am enjoying it a lot,” Ulrich said.
Though with the end-of-year duties like filing taxes and W-2 forms on top of training, Ulrich said January has been a busy month, but Kirkland has been a great teacher.
“I do appreciate all of Myrna’s help,” Ulrich said. “She’s been great at helping me out.”
Ulrich said Garland residents can reach her on her home phone at 402-588-2457. She added that if she does not answer, residents should leave a message and she will call them back.
