It’s hard to give an exact job description for city clerk, but people who know Ginny Petrea say the dictionary definition would carry a picture of her right beside it.
“She’s sort of like the point guard for the city,” City Manager David Treme says. “When things come in from the public, they’ll generally come in through her.”
Treme adds that the city clerk’s position is the kind of job, that if done well, hardly ever attracts attention. Petrea has worked behind the scenes, in virtual anonymity, for 30 years, the last 13 as city clerk.
“If I had to use an example of a prototypical city clerk — the one that people should model themselves after — I would say come see and watch Ginny Petrea,” says Vernon Sherrill, the city’s public services director.
Petrea’s strongest trait has been the ability to adjust through the changing faces, technology and shape of city government over three decades. Now, maybe the biggest change is happening. Virginia P. “Ginny” Petrea has retired.
“I think it’s time to move on and let someone else move in,” says Petrea, who officially retired Dec. 22, but plans to help her successor in coming weeks. Treme has hired Faith Town Clerk Swannetta Fink as Petrea’s replacement.
Treme considered Petrea his right-hand person, an indispensable colleague who had the difficult job of answering to him, the mayor, City Council and assistant city manager.
Petrea provided what Treme calls the “communication support” for his entire management team, scheduling meetings and contacting other government officials.
When the public called City Hall, they often dealt with Petrea first before she determined how their requests should be handled.
She also was the gatekeeper of city records — the ready reference person on statutes, ordinances, resolutions, legal documents and public notices. She prepared the council agendas and edited the final copies of the council minutes with the help of her two senior office assistants, Vicky Jordan and Traci Tipton.
Petrea says she never has been a clock-watcher. She stayed until the job was done.
“She is totally dedicated to the city of Salisbury,” Treme says. “If there needed to be something done at 3 a.m. in the morning, you could call her and it would be done.”
Sherrill describes Petrea as a subtle, professional woman who “brings great dignity to the job.” “Her word is her bond,” he adds.
Born Virginia Parker in Conway, S.C., Petrea was the youngest in a family of five girls and a boy.
Her father, a World War I veteran, died in an automobile accident in 1937 when she was just 9 months old.
The family stayed on its tobacco farm, and her mother raised and educated the large brood.
She relied on a small amount of war benefits paid to the children and rented out the farm’s acreage, which also provided the children jobs as they grew up.
Though young Ginny developed a strong working knowledge of tobacco, she eventually graduated from a business school in Conway and moved to Charlotte, where she had two married sisters.
Petrea lived in a dormitory at the YWCA in Charlotte and worked during the day for an insurance company. On occasion, she accompanied a couple of girlfriends from the YWCA on their visits to Salisbury, where she first met Pete Petrea.
After he graduated from barber school, Pete Petrea served an apprenticeship in Charlotte. His relationship with Virginia Parker bloomed, leading to marriage in 1958.
That same year, they returned to Salisbury, where Pete Petrea went to work for Harviel’s Barbershop. He would barber there for the next 40 years, eventually buying the business at 132 N. Green St.
The couple had two girls, Beverly and Gwen, who remain in Rowan County today. On the recommendation of an insurance adjuster, City Clerk Frances Beaver asked Petrea to begin working for Salisbury part-time in 1970.
Charlie Lineback served as city manager then. By the time Petrea started full-time, Francis Luther had become city manager.
The city manager and city clerk’s office used to take care of things such as insurance, finance, purchasing, fleet operations, building inspections and retirement.
Today, those duties belong to various other departments or agencies.
“I look back and wonder how we did it all,” says Petrea, who served initially as a secretary and administrative assistant to Beaver and the city managers.
In all, Petrea worked for nine mayors and four city managers. She has a spot in her heart for all of them.
Petrea loved and respected Francis Luther’s knowledge of history.
She likes to think of the late Mayor John Wear Sr. as a big teddy bear and refers to former Mayor Margaret Kluttz as “a jewel to work for.”
Petrea considers Treme, who appointed her city clerk in 1987, as a good friend. She especially came to admire his goal-oriented approach to government. In 1996, Petrea completed studies and became a certified municipal clerk — the first city clerk in Salisbury to earn that designation.
Her once cherished IBM typewriter became obsolete long ago. Petrea adapted, as always.
“I love my computer,” she says today.
Over the years, Pete and Ginny Petrea became summer fixtures at Newman Park for Rowan County American Legion baseball games. They had reserved seats in the grandstand, owing to Pete’s long love of the game.
After battling cancer for many months, Pete Petrea died in 1999. Ginny Petrea acknowledges that it took her about a year-and-a-half to come to peace with his death. She considered him her best friend, besides a husband, father and grandfather.
Today, Ginny Petrea looks forward to spending more time with her six grandchildren, ages 4 to 17, whose photographs filled the shelves in her office. She also wants to volunteer some hours in her two youngest grandchildren’s schools and visit her two sisters in Charlotte.
Petrea curiously eyes retirement and the idea of days with no particular deadlines or obligations.
Bets are, she finds a way to adjust.
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