New Kent city clerk plans to stay for a ‘long time’

Ronald Moore had not yet had a chance to decorate his office walls on his first day as the new Kent city clerk.

But as Moore eyed the bare walls it didn’t take him long to think of something extremely popular to decorate with these days around Seattle, Kent and beyond.

“I am a Seahawks fanatic,” Moore said about the team headed Sunday to Atlanta for an NFL playoff showdown. “I have hats, banners and all kinds of stuff. I am bringing that stuff in to decorate this office.”

Moore, 44, a former Shoreline deputy city clerk, started Jan. 7. He succeeded Brenda Jacober who retired last month after 37 years with the city, the last 21 as city clerk.

“Mr. Moore’s experience, education and focus on civic engagement are strengths that will allow him to serve the Kent community with distinction,” said Kent Mayor Suzette Cooke in a media release. “He impressed me with his dedication to customer service and use of innovative technology to make government transparent for the community. The depth of his background in records management makes him well qualified on all fronts.”

As city clerk, Moore will keep track of all of the city records, send out public notices about meetings, hearings and bids and work closely with the council to provide agendas, minutes of meetings and other information. He will receive an annual salary of $74,268.

In 2005, Moore was named deputy city clerk of Shoreline, where he provided clerk services for council meetings and work sessions. He also administered records management and oversaw archival storage of city documents. Prior to Shoreline, Moore was the Normandy Park city clerk from 2001 to 2005.

Moore is well aware of Jacober’s longtime service to the city.

“I think this is going to be it for me,” he said. “This will be the position that I do the same thing that Brenda has done and that’s retire from. I’m planning on staying here for a long time.”

Moore, who has two children and resides in Tacoma with his girlfriend and five rescued pets (three dogs and two cats), lived in Kent in the late 1990s.

“I thought about those good old days when I used to be on the Riverbend Golf Course and I still play softball at Russell Road Park with different teams,” he said.

After working at the small city of Normandy Park, population 6,300, Moore knew he wanted to stay in the public sector. But he wanted to work for a larger city. He switched to Shoreline, with a population of about 53,000 and now is ready to work in Kent, a city of more than 119,100.

“I always wanted to know about the internal workings of a city and it’s been a goal of mine to work for a larger city and Kent provided that for me,” he said. “I’ve heard outstanding things about the staff to the council and its residents.”

Moore, who grew up in New Haven, Conn., joined the Army after more than a year of college and became an administrative assistant in Germany. He attended the Army’s executive administrative assistant school at Fort Jackson S.C. That led to a position as an executive assistant to the post commander at Fort Lewis for four years.

Moore decided to stay in Washington, but left the military and pursued a career in the private sector, working for several Internet firms that didn’t survive. He wanted a more stable job and a friend recommended going after a public sector job. He eventually was hired at Normandy Park as a city clerk, where his job duties included a bit of everything.

“It was a fast-track learning experience,” he said.

He later applied to be the Shoreline city clerk, didn’t get that job, but took the deputy city clerk job when that person received a promotion. When the clerk position opened in Kent, he went for the job to complete his plan of working as a city clerk at a larger city.

“I’m excited to be here, happy to be here and feel very blessed with this opportunity,” Moore said.