Longtime Greene County clerk retiring after 33 years
Marshall accepts business manager role at Central Greene
In some Pennsylvania counties, the clerk just manages the meeting minutes and other items for the commissioners.
But in others, including Greene County, the job entails much more.
Jeff Marshall, who’s held the job for more than 15 years, said he essentially serves both as chief of staff for the commissioners and the administrator of county functions.
“You have to know a little bit about everything, and know where to go and get the answer,” he said. “Insurance, budgets, human resources — all of those come into play.”
Now it’ll be time for him to pass that knowledge on. Jeff Marshall’s 33-year career with Greene County ends this month, as the county clerk and administrator is leaving to take a new position with the Central Greene School District.
Marshall joined the county in June 1993, in the emergency management department, where he spent 17 years.
He’d just graduated from Waynesburg University with a teaching degree, “and I needed a job and health insurance,” Marshall said. As a firefighter with the Waynesburg Fire Department, where he’s now chief, he also brought a background as a first responder.
“My original job in emergency management was tied to the training of first responders, and so it was still kind of the ability of me to use my degree in training others,” he said.
By 1996, he’d moved up to become the county’s emergency management director.
The switch in positions came in 2010, when his predecessor, Gene Lee, was planning on retiring. Marshall started working with Lee to learn the rope in September 2010, a training period that continued until Lee retired in January.
Lee had already been a longtime family friend, said Marshall, who grew up a couple of houses down from Lee’s family.
He always kept the door open if Marshall needed anything. And as recently as a few months ago, Marshall reached out to Lee with a couple of questions about the past.
“He was always there to take a phone call, to answer a question if he knew what was going on, or generally just give me advice on on a certain situation … he also had worked through a bunch of boards of commissioners, played the political game, and so on, so I cherished what he had to tell me,” Marshall said.
Marshall said the most noteworthy part of his time in the job has been his ability to work well with a rotating group of commissioners. He’s had eight boards over the years, with a Democratic majority for the first 10 years, and a Republican majority for the past six.
When each new board comes in, Marshall has a frank discussion with them behind closed doors.
He makes clear that he’s going to provide them with his honest opinions on the issues. But he also recognizes that as the elected officials, the final say rests with them.
Even if he disagrees, he tells them, “Whatever you say you want to do, it’s my job to go out and sell it and do it.”
“I think that’s maybe why I’ve been able to go and have the longevity that I’ve had, working with the different boards to let alone making the major political change in the office from the D to the R, is just that openness and frankness with them,” he said.
Commissioners from both parties said Marshall had been a great help to them and the county.
“Jeff is an incredible wealth of knowledge,” said board Chairman Jared Edgreen. “We are losing a true asset.”
Vice Chair Betsy McClure said Marshall is “just a really great person,” and she’ll miss working with him.”
“I’m sure we’ll have some adjustments to make, but you won’t be too far away, you know. And he said that anything, anything we need, he’ll help us. So we’re very appreciative of that.”
Commissioner Blair Zimmerman had known Marshall even before joining the board from his years as a firefighter with Waynesburg.
The longest-tenured member of the board, Zimmerman said Marshall cared deeply about the county, and it showed in the way he did his job.
“He singularly has more knowledge than any of the commissioners, including myself, that I’ve worked with,” he said. “He’s absorbed a lot of knowledge over all his years at the county, and he knew a little bit about everything, and he was an unbelievable asset for Greene County.”
Marshall’s proud of the way the county offices were able to function after a fire in the office building meant the government had to operate amid extensive remodeling.
“Whether it’s floods, whether it’s disasters, whether it’s some sort of turmoil, the Greene County community has always sort of just rallied around and persevered and moved forward,” he said.
Starting this week, Marshall is moving on to a new job as business manager for the Central Greene School District.
It’s similar to what he’s doing now. But the new environment and new set of regulations will make for a challenge he’s excited about.
But like Gene Lee, he’ll always be available for whoever needs his advice.
“I don’t plan on burning bridges and having a negative atmosphere with the county,” he said. “If they need help with something, feel free to call. Same thing with the person who replaces me. If there’s a question, they need something, call, and I’ll try to help any way that I can.”