Hamilton city clerk leaves position with an exclamation point ending

That task often drew laughter from the council and audience, and sometimes applause for his diligence.

At least once during his tenure as the city clerk, he kiddingly announced: “I resign.”

During a meeting this summer, he told council, while discussing the 14 charter amendments that will go before city voters in November: “At the last Charter Review Commission meeting, there was a failed motion, from 2-8, of renaming the city ‘the city of Hamilton!’ with an exclamation point.”

“I’m not saying who proposed that,” he continued, “but if you reconsidered that, that would be really cool." He walked away and out the door for comedic effect. He had been the man guilty of the failed suggestion, but it reminded people of the humorous 1986 effort to create “Hamilton!”

Council Member Tim Naab, who also has a dry sense of humor, called after him: “You’re going to like working for the next city you work for,” as the rest of council laughed.

On Wednesday, Mayor Pat Moeller told him: “You did it your way, you did it in a very excellent, professional manner, you made us kinda laugh and smile every once in a while, and your job is so detailed as a clerk."

“I’m sure you had some times when it was a grind, but you kept it moving, you did a great job,” Moeller said.

Also, because of his success in applying for grants, “you have really changed the job of city clerk of the city of Hamilton,” Moeller told him.

Garuckas, who is leaving to be a project manager at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, became slightly choked up.

“Love Hamilton,” he said. “It’d be a little bit cooler if you had that exclamation point, though. But I really appreciate that you guys have given me a long leash on a lot of things. It was a lot of fun to work on the projects I was allowed to work on, and it was really good.”

He didn’t get his punctuation mark, but did get a standing ovation before spewing his final set of numbers, just for fun: “Signing off as your city clerk from 345 High St., Hamilton, Ohio, 45011, from parcel number P6441010000081.”