“I’ve Loved Every Second of it”: After a 37-Year Career, Laguna Beach City Clerk Retires

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Former Laguna Beach City Clerk Lisette Chel-Walker outside Laguna Beach City Hall before her final council meeting on Dec. 9. Photo by Daniel Langhorne

City Clerk Lisette Chel-Walker, the most senior employee at Laguna Beach City Hall, retired Tuesday after 37 years of service.

Councilmembers, city staffers, and residents unanimously shared their love and appreciation for Chel-Walker during her final City Council meeting. In her role as the clerk, she hasn’t missed a single council meeting over the last eight years.

The Independent asked Chel-Walker if she had any advice for fellow city employees who interact with a demanding constituency.

“You make them feel like they’re being listened to,” she said. “People will get upset if they don’t get a call back. People just want to be listened to and feel special.”

Chel-Walker moved to Laguna Beach after graduating from Cal State Long Beach. She was working three jobs, including as an aerobics teacher at the Laguna Beach Health Club, when her father encouraged her to get a government job. He served as a state assemblyman.

In 1983, Chel-Walker started at city hall as a cashier in the police department, handling all parking complaints and fines. Her job application was an index card with her name, address, and phone number.

She later moved on to oversee the department’s parking system

In 2008, Chel-Walker was appointed deputy city clerk and in 2012 was elected to replace retiring city clerk Martha Anderson.

The city clerk oversees municipal elections, acts as the custodian for city documents and meeting videos, tracks actions taken by the city council and commissions, manages public records requests, and often liaisons between community members and city staffers. Meanwhile, state law mandates local agencies respond to every record request within 10 days. Those who don’t adequately respond risk being sued.

During this litigious era and in a city where residents often have resources to hire their own attorneys and consultants, a slight procedural misstep at city hall can potentially cost the taxpayers thousands if not millions of dollars.

City leaders have nicknamed Chel-Walker “the Reverend” because she’s officiated more than 300 marriage ceremonies as city clerk; those haven’t stopped because of the pandemic.

“Anybody who wants to know what good customer service looks like, you’re the prototype model for customer service,” Mayor Pro Tem Sue Kempf said. “You treat everyone the same. It’s got to be difficult at times but you’re just fantastic.”

Laguna Beach resident Alan Boinus characterized the outgoing clerk as an utmost professional who worked hard to satisfy people with different opinions.

“You’re on everyone’s side and we’re on your side. And we’re happy for you for the future, Lisette,” Boinus said.

Since assuming the city clerk job, Chel-Walker hasn’t taken a vacation longer than 10 days so she could return to Laguna Beach in time for the next city council meeting. She’s managed to squeeze a vacation to Thailand into one of these breaks. Once it’s safe to travel again following the pandemic, Chel-Walker wants to finally take an extended retreat.

Chel-Walker identifies herself as Elton John’s number one fan, paying for pricey backstage passes to take a photo with his piano. Even though it’s doubtful another meeting with Elton will happen anytime soon, she plans to adopt a French Bulldog puppy in the coming weeks and name it after her beloved singer.

Her last act as city clerk was to swear-in her successor Ann Marie McKay during Tuesday’s city council meeting. The two did not meet beforehand for an orientation.

Chel-Walker endorsed McKay’s campaign opponent Mariann Tracy, executive assistant to City Manager John Pietig. Laguna Beach is one of three Orange County cities that elect a city clerk instead of an appointed position like vast most city employees.

McKay hasn’t served as a deputy city clerk and isn’t certified by the International Institute of Municipal Clerks. She plans to pursue the certificate, which typically is a two-year process.

“This kind of transition has never happened so I don’t know what’s going to happen,” Chel-Walker said. “I think the deputy city clerk will have to hold down the fort for a while.”

Politics aside, Chel-Walker vowed to volunteer her institutional knowledge if called upon by the new city clerk, city manager, or councilmembers.

“It’s been an amazing road and I’ve loved every second of it,” she said.

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1 COMMENT

  1. For many of us over the years, the City Clerk’s office was the one place that the dictatorial, oppresive hand of City Manager’s couldn’t influence. We felt welcomed and appreciated as community actionists (I hate the niche stereotype word “activist”), we were all treated in a civil, respectful and professional manner.
    Full disclosure, I’ve known Lisette since around 1980 when she was dating friend of mine yet she treated everyone equally……. Back around that time we met , we had a great time watching the Holmes vs. Cooney fight out at El Torito (??) in Fake Forest. We both discovered that we liked to people watch, it was a pretty outrageously and crazy, raucus crowd….so of course we huddled and made fun of their foibles and quirks.
    One night at Dizz’s a few years ago , I think a Thursday when locals pack the bar during happy hour, the group of us discovered that maybe 4 or 5 of us went to Woodrow Wilson High School in Long Beach, as had Lisette. I transferred there in my junior year from Banning High (Wilmington).
    Lisette and & I confabbed over a simple fact: Wilson was all white bread, middle upper class demographics during my watch (1962–1964). By her time there, it was becoming racially mixed.
    I had grown up on the mean streets of the LA Harbor area…yet here we both were, landing in laguna.
    Then we discovered that we were both Cal-State LB grads.
    Yes, Forrest Gump, life IS like a box of chocolates!
    Happiest of retirements, Lisette, you deserve the best……time for more than a 10 day vacay too.
    See you at Dizz’s once we’re reopened fully.

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