TORRINGTON – Entering the County Clerk’s office of Cynthia Kenyon, she is talking on the phone to someone about business. Her caring personality is heard in the conversation and very helpful to the person on the other end. They are looking for information on a person’s property that has passed away.
“When someone has lost someone we try to be as caring as possible,” Kenyon said.
Kenyon grew up in Lander, attended college in California and graduated with an education in business and held a certificate as a paralegal in the state of California. She went to work in Las Vegas, but wanted to come back to Wyoming, the place she loves and where her family dates back to the 1860’s.
Wyoming is the true reason she came back.
“There is just no better place.”
The big city was not the place she wanted to live. She is a small-town girl, she said.
Kenyon was married to a man who had four children and was working for a management company who worked with low income housing. Working for the Management company for six years, she wanted a better fit for her education.
Kenyon went to the Goshen County Courthouse in 2003, on the hunt for a new job. She was hired by then-County Clerk Connie Addy. And, after working every other position in the office, Kenyon was appointed Chief Deputy County Clerk.
“When I started here I thought, my goodness this fits my education and what I love. This office protects property rights for people and for the institutions that loan money,” Kenyon said. “We are the Swiss Army Knife of the count. We do many, many different tasks here.”
Kenyon refers to the clerk’s office as a document filing and storage place, where people in the county file car loans, real estate documents, car titles. Elections are run from this office, all under the management of the County Clerk Cynthia Kenyon.
Kenyon is the chief election officer and the chief budget officer for the county.
“We pay all the accounts payable, we do a great deal of the human resources and we do all the payroll for the county,” Kenyon said.
The Clerk’s responsibilities are large, making sure everything is filed and legal. But the work going on behind the scenes to keep the county running is done because of her love for the people of this county. Finding and writing grants is one of the things Kenyon takes on herself.
This is a local office where people can file their deeds and get information about everything from marriage licenses to probate problems. Kenyon has had all the older books and information digitized.
“With books over 100 years old that are crumbling and falling part, we have them digitized now,” she said. “Which was done with grant money.”
Kenyon loves to work for and with people to help them understand the process, both in the office or at the schools with the elections process. Her favorite is with the junior high and high school students, talking to them about property rights and the importance of having proper records to prove ownership.
Kenyon’s role as clerk to the county commissioners is as a support person and by state statue the county clerk keeps their records for them. Kenyon also keeps their schedule and notices and records their actions in performing their duties. The public can see the actions commissioners have taken on a web site Kenyon started. The information available includes meeting minutes, resolutions and reports from the different departments. All this information is made public on the web site.
Working in the office, waiting on people who come in looking for help, is what Kenyon likes to do.
“I really enjoy the face to face, I enjoy learning about the county and hearing all the reports from department heads and knowing what’s going on,” Kenyon said. “We operate at a level that gets the services done in an appropriate manner. We don’t have a lot of luxuries in our county government here.”
When Kenyon first took over the County Clerk Office she had a window put into office so she could see what was happening in the outer office. Kenyon wanted to be able to see when she was needed to help at the counter or to answer telephones. She has high respect for those who work with her in the clerk’s office and wants to work by their side.
“Wyoming is a close-knit family and community. People that live here are very proud of being in Wyoming and being part of Wyoming. We are generally kind, caring people (who) are accountable to the people around us,” Kenyon said. “We’re not afraid of hard work and we know our rights. We like to lead a quiet life, minding our own business.”
