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After July 1, 1998, a municipality that employs an officer or employee responsible for exercising any of the duties of municipal clerk or municipal recorder, as specified in the municipal charter, or any of the duties listed in subdivision (a)(1), shall have one (1) such person obtain certification upon meeting the qualifications for certification established by the secretary of state; provided, that a municipality shall have four (4) years to ensure that any officer or employee responsible for exercising any of the duties of municipal clerk or recorder and who was hired after July 1, 1994, meets those qualifications.
Examples of duties commonly exercised by municipal recorders and clerks include, but are not limited to:
Taking the minutes and keeping a record of business transacted at meetings of the legislative body;
Preserving the minutes in permanent form;
Acting as custodian of and preserving the public records of the city, including original copies of ordinances, minutes of the legislative body, contracts, bonds, title deeds, and other official papers, records and documents; and
Providing copies and certifying copies of official records, papers and documents.
In municipalities where more than one (1) person is responsible for exercising the duties listed in subdivision (a)(1), one (1) person in each municipality shall obtain certification. More than one (1) municipal employee or officer may become certified.
Any person who is licensed to practice law in the state of Tennessee and who satisfies the continuing legal education requirement in Supreme Court Rule 21 is exempt from the certification requirements of this section. Any person who is a certified public accountant holding a certificate as provided in § 62-1-106 or § 62-1-107 is exempt from the certification requirements of this section. Any person who has been appointed or is acting in the capacity of a city manager or administrator and who possesses a Masters of Arts degree in public administration shall also be exempt from the certification requirements of this section. In addition, any person is exempt from initial certification if such person has served as both a city judge and city recorder for at least twenty-five (25) years.
The secretary of state shall establish the qualifications for certification in rules and regulations in accordance with the Uniform Administrative Procedures Act, compiled in title 4, chapter 5, and in consultation with the Tennessee association of municipal clerks and recorders. Certification requires at least one hundred (100) hours of education courses.
The required education hours may include a credit of twenty-five (25) hours for an Associate of Arts or Science degree and a credit of fifty (50) hours for a Bachelor of Arts or Science degree; provided, that such credit is given for only one (1) degree.
In addition, completion of any course approved for continuing education credit may be applied to satisfy the required education hours.
The secretary of state shall recognize and accept certification from the International Institute of Municipal Clerks as satisfying the certification requirements of this part.
To retain certification, a certified officer or employee shall be required to attend a minimum of eighteen (18) hours of continuing education courses every three (3) years.
Any courses offered in conjunction with the University of Tennessee municipal technical advisory service and center for government training shall be offered in each grand division of the state.
Hours of training may be earned toward certification by using self-teaching computer programs as approved by the secretary of state.
This section shall be optional for any municipality having a population of less than one thousand five hundred (1,500), according to the 1990 federal census or any subsequent federal census. Any such municipality may by ordinance require its recorder or clerk, or both, to obtain certification as required by this section.