Auburn Hills Council Expected to Formally Appoint Shelby's Kowal as New Clerk

Veteran Shelby Township Clerk Terri Kowal may be working for the City of Auburn Hills as soon as the first of the New Year.

At an Oct. 24 meeting, the Auburn Hills City Council unanimously voted to extend Kowal a conditional offer.

Assistant City Manager and Director of Human Resources and Labor Relations Thomas Tanghe told Patch Kowal has met all the conditions, and the Auburn Hills council is expected to formally appoint Kowal as the clerk at the next city hall meeting Nov. 14.

“The council is excited to have her,” Tanghe said.

Kowal’s appointment would not go into effect until after Jan. 1, 2012, so she can help Shelby Township transition into a new clerk, Tanghe said.

Kowal told Patch she has been in talks with Auburn Hills about the clerk position, but she would not confirm that an offer had been extended.

Kowal was first elected the Shelby Township clerk in 1996 and has won re-election ever since. Kowal said clerks are elected to the position in townships, but they are appointed in cities.

In recent months, the City of Auburn Hills Clerk Department has gone from three full-time employees to one with the retirement of the Clerk and the Deputy Clerk.

Tanghe, a Shelby Township resident himself, said he has worked with Kowal before and he’s excited to have her join the city's ranks and bring her expertise to the understaffed department.

“She is infinitely qualified,” said Tanghe, adding that Kowal, who is a member of the International Institute of Municipal Clerks, was just elected as the director of a clerk’s association of five states within IIMC.

Tange said Kowal’s exact salary with Auburn Hills has not yet been determined, but he confirmed it would be in the $70,000-plus range, along with the typical benefits of a city worker.

Kowal has recently come under fire in Shelby Township after she was accused of

At an Oct. 4 meeting, the Shelby Township Board of Trustees voted to transfer FOIA duties from the clerk to the Human Resources Department. At the following board meeting, Kowal told residents she had filed a verbal police report in August after she realized

Kowal has taught a FOIA procedures class for 15 years as part of her duties with the Michigan Association of Municipal Clerks and for the Michigan Townships Association.