NATCHEZ &045; Helping people has been at the center of Kay Patt’s 25 years at City Hall. She will miss that when she retires at the end of December, she said earlier this week.

Through five mayors and three city clerks, Patt has risen to become personnel director for the city, a position created by former City Clerk Frances Trosclair in 1993.

&uot;She appointed me to that position,&uot; Patt said. &uot;She moved me to an office across the hall from the city clerk, and she was my supervisor. We established all the job descriptions and classifications, the job scales and steps; and we kept the personnel policy up to date.&uot;

Patt has continued to work under the supervision of the city clerk’s office, but the position will change when a new personnel director is appointed in the next few weeks.

City aldermen voted Tuesday to amend personnel policies to create a personnel director who reports directly to the mayor and board of aldermen instead of to the city clerk.

The duties and responsibilities of the personnel director lend themselves to that kind of structure, said Walter Brown, city attorney.

Some of the duties of the personnel directors are:

4To confer with departmental officials to establish or interpret intra-departmental personnel policies and procedures.

4To administer grievance arbitration and appeals processes.

4To act as equal employment opportunity officer for the city.

4To administer a computerized payroll, including municipal pension systems.

4To maintain records on all payroll transactions.

4To act as liaison between employees and Public Employees Retirement System.

4To maintain data for medical, dental and other insurances for employees.

4To maintain and record all workers’ compensation claims.

4To serve as drug and alcohol coordinator.

4To assist with election work.

Anyone interested in the job should have course work in bookkeeping, accounting procedures, personnel, public or business administration and

considerable experience in account clerk work, according to the job description.

Patt said she told City Clerk Donnie Holloway four years ago that she would retire this year.

&uot;It’s not something I just thought of,&uot; she said.

&uot;I’ve joked that I turned in the longest notice of anyone on record when I told Donnie four years ago I was going to retire this year.&uot;

One of the highlights of her time at City Hall was her part in establishing a special leave policy.

&uot;I was instrumental in getting the donated leave policy in place. Under that policy, we can donate leave to someone else in case of a catastrophic illness,&uot; she said.

Patt said she will enjoy living at a slower pace but will miss her co-workers and the people who come into City Hall. &uot;I love all the people and have enjoyed working with them so much,&uot; she said.