Susan Stewart is a key part of the Duval Delegation but, to her, Tallahassee is just a long drive away. While everyone worries about the capital work, she holds down the home front.
Stewart is delegation coordinator Darla Wilson’s righthand woman and the two coexist in a first-floor City Hall office 10 moinths a year. But, when Wilson is gone for the 60-day legislative session in Tallahassee, Stewart stays behind to run the office.
Stewart’s official title is secretary but the two women are nearly equal in workload and responsibilities. And that includes the ever-present sound of a ringing telephone.
The women usually share the sometimes overwhelming volume of calls, but now Stewart is on her own.
“It’s OK, it comes in spurts,” Stewart said of the call volume. She just tries to handle one thing at a time.
Stewart and Wilson technically work for the Office of General Counsel and that relationship comes in handy when dealing with constituents. Although Stewart can’t give legal advice, her ability to navigate the sometimes confusing legal nature of politics and legislative bills allows her to provide customer service that goes beyond simply referring a caller to a website or someone else.
“I get to help people that need it,” said Stewart, who has been with the City for 18 years. She started with the delegation office and spent 14 months in the procurement office before returning to her current job.
Stewart admits the job gets hectic and the easy thing sometimes would be to tell someone where they can find the answer themselves. However, most of the time, the answer is in her office, and she just needs to explain it to the caller. Because virtually everyone falls on one side of an issue or the other, Stewart is careful to address a caller’s question or concern without injecting her own politics.
“I think you should treat people with respect no matter what position you take on an issue,” said Stewart, adding she really enjoys the research facet of her job. “I like to help people and I am a public servant. There are some issues I can’t help people with, but I will put them in touch with the right person.”
When the phone is not ringing, she works on other things like referendums or returning phone calls to people who had questions on bills.
“I take care of anything that comes up like tracking local bills and informing people who request bills,” she said. Her duties include checking for proper documentation on the local bills per mandate of the State Constitution.
The day’s volume of calls depends on the day or what is going on in Tallahassee.
“Sometimes there is a bill or topic on the news or radio that interest people and they’re not sure who to call and they call here,” said Stewart. “Right now, it’s at a pretty even keel.”
Stewart’s other duty includes maintaining the delegation website. With no formal training on the task, she said it has been a “learn as you go” experience. The website can be found on the city’s website, (www.coj.net), search by department and click on legislative delegation.
Stewart will join Wilson in Tallahassee for Jacksonville Day on Thursday, April 21 and will be back in the office on Monday the 25th. And, it won’t be her first trip to Tallahassee. Before Wilson joined the delegation office, Stewart was a fixture in the capital.
“The first 14 or 15 years I was with the office I went to Tallahassee,” said Stewart, who has a 5-year-old and only goes now for Jacksonville Day. “The first couple of years, it was exciting and new. After a while, it became a habit.”
Things will calm down in a few weeks. The Duval Delegation will return home to their families and take some time off. Wilson will return and the office will regain a semblance of normalcy. Then, June will roll around.
“We will start to get a lot of calls from people about what went on in Tallahassee,” said Stewart, who has been with the delegation since 1987. “People want to know what passed and what didn’t pass. They will want to know what the governor vetoed and they call to check on budget issues to see which line items passed and which didn’t.”
The Duval Delegation office will be shut down Thursday and Friday next week, but e-mail and phone messages will be checked.
Right now, Wilson is in constant contact with Stewart via e-mail or phone calls to check up on her partner and longtime friend, but with Stewart’s 18 years of experience, she should have no problem holding down the office until Wilson’s return.
— Carrie Resch