by J. Brooks Terry
Staff Writer
Before you ever make it to Mayor John Peyton’s office, you’ll have to go through Pat Carter first.
“And if you go there first, they’ll send you back to me,” said Carter, an employee in the Mayor’s Action Office for over 19 years. “That’s the way it’s been since the day I arrived.”
Carter, a Jacksonville native and graduate of Andrew Jackson High School, calls her job “unique.”
“I say unique because I do a little of everything,” she said. “It’s even different from day to day.”
Among her many duties, Carter monitors the status of customer complaints filed through a computer database.
“It’s called the Care System,” said Carter. “If you file a complaint there and nothing has happened, it’s basically it’s my job to find out why.
“It’s a checks and balances thing, just a way to make sure everything is getting done that needs to be done.”
Carter also answers a variety of questions that arrive by telephone, e-mail and fax.
“You would never believe the kinds of questions that I get asked,” she said. “The other day, someone wanted to know how many feet above sea level Jacksonville was. How am I supposed to know that?
“Until you hear it for yourself, you’ll never truly appreciate it.”
But it’s those kinds of odd questions and comments that has kept Carter at the helm for so long.
“No, I don’t mind at all because I’ve managed to learn a lot in the process,” she said. “It gets pretty outrageous, but it’s almost never boring.
“I promise you that.”
Now just a few months shy of her 20th anniversary with the City, Carter said she expects to answer the phone for the last time before the end of the summer.
“This job is very rewarding because I feel like I’ve helped a lot of people over the years and I’ve experienced and interacted with so many different personalities,” she said. “But once I get to 20 years, I’m gone.”