BY DAN HILDEBRAN
The City of Keystone Heights’s new clerk said she loves the city’s friendliness and that its neighborly culture more closely resembles that of her childhood home in Arkansas.
Stephanie Silva told the Keystone Heights Rotary Club during its Wednesday, October 30 meeting that she felt out of place living in Gainesville while working for the Alachua County Clerk’s Office.
“My first day in Gainesville, I said hi to somebody, and they said, ‘Who are you talking to?’” Silva recalled. “It was very scary.”
“I was not a fan of Gainesville,” the city clerk continued. “I’m sorry for anybody who comes from there. It was a lot for me, coming from Arkansas. It was very busy.”
Silva added that after moving to the Lake Region in 2019, she applied for the city clerk’s job four years later to work closer to home,
The 10-month city employee said that of the dozen people the municipality employs, only four have been there longer than her.
Silva also recounted her work in Alachua County, which included stints in file retention, library billing, facilities contracts, minutes, child support auditing, jury management, probate court, and mental health court.
The clerk told the Rotarians about the local government’s renewed efforts in events, highlighting two events that were previously produced by nonprofits but are now managed by the city: Boo on the Boulevard and Our Country Day.
She added that upcoming events include a Veterans’ breakfast on November 1, the Veterans Day ceremony on November 11, the Parade of Trees Lighting on November 30, and a Christmas Market on December 14.
Lake Region Kiwanis will produce its Christmas parade and After Glow Party on December 14.
