TownTalk Community Spotlight

by Eric

A City Secretary is defined as a person who performs professional administrative responsibilities defined by state statutes and city charter (if applicable), including serving as an officer to the city and an election official. Provides legal and proper notifications of all official meetings. Serves as director and registrar for all official city records and documents. Serves as
records manager including administration and records management. Provides information and assistance to
city employees and the public concerning the interpretation of city ordinances and regulations.

Kelly Buris, the City of Brownfield City’s Secretary does what is described above and much more. TownTalk caught up with Kelly to find out a bit more about her.

When visiting with Kelly, we asked several questions, and of course, we had a round of fast questions and answers. The first is If you had only these three to drink which would it be, Dr. Pepper, Coke, or Big Red? Kelly without skipping a beat, said, “Dr. Pepper”. The next question was who is your favorite sports team, of course, it was the Red Raiders, and although there was no explaining which sport, Kelly simply said, “Red Raiders.” The next question was easy for Kelly: What is your favorite color? Her answer wasn’t what we expected, but it was green. “Green… always”, Kelly said.

Most people have a favorite food, and Kelly’s is any kind of Mexican Food. Kelly said, “Well, any type of Mexican food. You put a bowl of chips and salsa in front of me… I’m in it to win it!” She went on to say also, “I’ll eat Italian food, sure… it’s usually Mexican food. We moved on to find out what her favorite social media platform she likes, and many people will be happy to know it is Instagram. When it comes to TV shows, movies, etc., Kelly and her husband are more inclined to watch what their children are watching.

During our conversation, we took a turn more serious discussion. Obviously, we see a lot of issues plaguing our world, so we asked, “What do you believe is the greatest challenge people are faced with today?” Kelly was really quick to say happiness. “I would say happiness… I think people are always trying to search for something that will bring them happiness instead of just trying to find happiness where they’re at right now. I think they are always on the search for that.” said Kelly. She went on talk about how people are looking for the next best thing, “I don’t think nobody just waits a minute just to see if they have right now.”

One of her achievements thus far in her life is becoming City Secretary, however, Kelly feels like there is also more that she has already achieved, which is being a mother and she ran a half marathon last year. Talking about the half marathon, the said, “It’s a lot easier than you think.”

Outside of her work, Kelly says she is an avid reader, “I love to read almost anything, I don’t have a specific genre that I love.” Reading is not the only thing she enjoys, Kelly tells us as a family they are “lake people”. “We like going to the lake as often as we can,” Kelly said. There is a specific lake the family goes to, and it is Hubbard Creek Lake outside of Breckinridge TX. Of course, she likes to do what her children want to do as well, such as riding bikes, playing basketball,

Kelly is originally from a town not too far from Brownfield which is Muleshoe Texas. Kelly said, “I am lucky enough to be from Muleshoe Texas… I’m a huge momma girl so I couldn’t be too far from her, so luckily we are 95 miles down the road. Kelly mentioned that she loved growing up in Muleshoe, it was a “fantastic place to grow up” and she feels fortunate that there were not many incidents in Muleshoe, “You know it almost just like being in Brownfield.” One thing Kelly pointed out is that Muleshoe has Leal’s Mexican Restaurant. A lot of people in the region know about Leal’s and their great food.

Moving on from her hometown, Kelly talked about her family. Kelly met her husband Dustin through her brother who was going to school at West Texas A&M with Dustin. “He (her brother) brought him home to go dove hunting and I met him then… and you know, we just kept in contact,” said Kelly. According to Kelly, they moved to Brownfield in 2009 so Dustin could continue to farm. Also, she and Dustin will have been married for 14 years this year and they have two sons named Cooper (6) and Brodey (4). Kelly was proud to mention that this past Christmas, they put Christmas lights on the house, however, Cooper made sure they were “Wildcat Blue” in honor of the school he attends which is Wellman-Union Elementary.

Since Dustin is a farmer, we asked the question, “What is it like to be a farmer’s wife?” Kelly answered with a chuckle, “Well, I’m probably not your best farmers wife… but you know, it’s really a faithful task because there are some really great times and there are some not really great times and you have to be able to stick it out through any of the times.” Kelly made mentioned that it is great, the kids love it out on the farm and they love to ride the tractors, she’ll bring lunch to Dustin if needed. She summed it up by saying, “You know we love it… it’s just a way of life.”

We then turned the focus on Kelly’s occupation, which is the City of Brownfield City Secretary. Kelly began her employment with the City of Brownfield in 2009 where she started out in utilities, went to accounts payable, then utility supervisor, and then moved on to City Secretary after Mary Jo Collins left. To be registered in as a City Secretary in the State of Texas, Kelly had to have two years of training prior to being able to take the job and continuing education throughout your tenure.

Leading into the question of what the City Secretary does, Kelly said, we are a lot more than an office manager. “The City Secretary in the State of Texas is known as the official records keeper for the city. So we are in charge of your retention schedules, we are in charge of the records of your meetings, anything in executive session, really anything in general… your ordinances, resolutions, proclamations… we are in charge of making sure that is taken care of and recorded properly.”

We finished our conversation with a question and that was, “What are you most passionate about?” Kelly answered saying, “Really community… I feel like I have a public servant’s heart, that’s in this office and outside this office. I’m really passionate about helping people. I want people to be happy, I’m a people pleaser, so ill do my absolute best.” She continued saying, “I think I’m really passionate about serving and I hope that really shines through!”

YOU CAN LISTEN TO THE ON-DEMAND VERSION HERE:

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