WARREN For clerk, it's an ending, a beginning

Commissioners have praised her for her neutral loyalty and dedication.
By STEPHEN SIFF
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- Roselyn Ferris, clerk for Trumbull County commissioners the past 24 years, never has any trouble deciding who she'll vote for on election day.
"I always support the current commissioners who are in office," said Ferris, who has worked under 17 of them over the years. "You should always be loyal to your bosses."
That attitude, along with a firm grasp of details, has served Ferris for 37 years working for county commissioners.
"I think the commissioners have the most difficult job in the county," Ferris said. "Road vacations, annexation, finances ... they have to know about so many things."
She would never admit it, but as often as not, Ferris is the one who explains things to them.
Earlier this month, she announced that she will retire as clerk to take a job as executive secretary for Michael O'Brien, who steps down as county commissioner to become Warren's mayor next month.
Neutral loyalty
Over the years, Ferris, 58, became the memory bank and central computer for the county commissioners and county government as a whole. Meticulous, honest and accessible, she was the go-to person for information on just about anything, as long as the person asking was willing to keep her name out and give her bosses credit.
"It is fascinating, really, how much she had learned by digging into details on everything and retaining it," said Ed Bush, county auditor from 1983 to 1995. "Just like an Encyclopedia Britannica, she is, as far as county work."
Ferris paid an employment agency for her first county job, as a clerk in the commissioners office. At the time, she was four years out of Warren G. Harding High School with vague plans to perhaps become a kindergarten teacher.
She has been in the commissioners' office ever since, one of the few constants amid the changing cast of commissioners. When they bickered she remained neutral, and she has outlasted them all.
"Roselyn was very, very professional and whatever her opinion was, she did not get involved politically," said Art Magee, county commissioner from 1982 to 1998. "Whether the commissioners were Democrats or Republicans, good or bad, they were her bosses, and she respected that."
Intense dedication
Her dedication was also extraordinary, Magee said. Ferris routinely works 10 and 11 hour days. She took a voluntary $12,000 pay cut this year to help commissioners meet their 2003 budget.
Over the years, she went from earning $350 a month to more than $71,000 a year. Ferris' salary was nearly doubled in 1996, and she was given the additional title of administrator after a study of county workers' jobs concluded her job responsibilities went beyond her pay.
She said she began thinking about leaving the job this year after her father, John, died. She said that missing work because of his illness made her realize she was ready to do something different.
"Every time I came back, I thought, 'did I want to come back to all that work and responsibility,'" she said. "They say you know when it is time to leave, and this is time."
Ferris lives with her older sister, Evelyn and her mother, Matilda, in the home in which she was reared. In what spare time she has, she watches "CNN Headline News" and tries to keep up with popular books.
The new job at city hall will be only eight hours a day and will have less responsibility, Ferris said. The salary, $39,000 a year, is also less, although Ferris can begin drawing retirement from the county job.
The secret to getting along so well with the changing boards of commissioners was in being forthright, Ferris said.
"They know I will treat them equally, and I will always be honest," she said.
siff@vindy.com