Tania Wilcox probably knows more about how the City of Hanceville operates, day in and day out, than anyone — including its three-term mayor.

“I’ll be the first to tell you, she’s bailed me out more than once from doing something stupid,” jokes Hanceville Mayor Kenneth Nail. “Seriously, she’s who you turn to if you need to know the right way to do something. If you’ve got a good city clerk, you need to hang on to them — and let me tell you, Tania’s one of the best I’ve ever seen.”

For the past 13 years, Tania’s been Hanceville’s City Clerk, the person who sits at the center of just about every municipal activity authorized by the mayor and council. She’s constantly in contact with elected officials, department heads, employees, citizens and out-of-town vendors looking to do business with the city.

“I’d say the thing about my role is that I kind of have to know something about a lot of different things,” she explains. “Inside the day-to-day running of the city, I have to know something about all the departments and how they operate, whereas a department head knows a whole lot about their department.”

For Tania, that includes police, parks, fire, public works, library, court, and city hall — which itself encompasses the mayor’s office, the business office, and human resources. And all that’s just for starters.

“There’s a lot to it beyond just what goes on inside our departments: new regulations, new laws, money, how you administer the spending of funds. It takes a long time — years — to learn how everything works together for a city; a long time to understand the ins and outs of personnel, funding, rules and regulations, meetings and procedure. One thing that helps me in my job here, though, is that our department heads are really good. They’re really conscious of their budget parameters, and more importantly, they’re willing to work together to do what’s best for Hanceville.”

Are there headaches? Of course. But chances are you’d never know when Tania’s having a bad day, or dealing with the parts of her job she’d love to be able to delegate to someone else.

“Elections — oh, man!” she jokes. “Election year is rough on a city clerk, that’s for sure. Training, absentee balloting, all the rules for candidates, deadlines, and really just the political atmosphere that goes along with it all…ugh. And by the time you get through with one election and into a new cycle, it’s almost time for the whole thing to start over again. It does get easier every time you do it, but it’s always a lot of paperwork and a lot to keep up with.”

If all this talk of administration, policy and procedure sounds dry and boring, then you don’t know Tania. Outgoing, optimistic and often just a hoot to be around, she brings a color and vivacity to city hall, something extra in an environment that could easily be a dry and boring place indeed.

Her desk is usually so organized that it looks more like a prop than a workspace. Something — essential oils? An aromatic diffuser? — keeps the office smelling good when Tania’s at work. Candy and snacks are nearly always within reach. Birds chitter and chirp in the neatly-kept tower of cages she keeps in one corner.

“I love animals,” Tania, who once operated her own pet grooming business, confesses. “It’s the peace: animals are peace to me.” She’s got names for the office birds: Dovie, a miniature dove and Moe and Joe (“Get it?” she says: “‘Mojo?’”), two miniature finches. At home, it’s just dogs and cats. “I have three that are my babies: Willow, my Yorkie; Molly, she’s a Shih Tzu; and Pip, a Pomeranian.”

How can someone with such a big personality hang out in an office looking at spreadsheets; wearing a smile for everyone who comes to her with a question, day by day, year by year?

“I love people, and I love my job; I love what I do. I wouldn’t want to quit. But if I did, I really don’t know…I might just become a greeter at Walmart. I love to meet people and help them,” she says. “And I also like making things organized. I like to get things to a place where they run smoothly. I want things to be done right. Five years from now, if I need something, I wanna be able to know where it’s at and go get it!”

Tania’s a Cullman County girl through and through. A Fairview High School grad, she married Johnny Wilcox, who went to Cold Springs. Now they live at Gold Ridge. The Wilcoxes have four children: Justin, Riley, Jade and 17 year-old Luke, their youngest.

“When I started this job, I didn’t think I was gonna be here for 13 years, and there were times, when things were more turbulent, when it truly seemed like I wouldn’t,” she says. “It’s only by the grace of God that I’ve been in this position for this long. I even left for a brief period and then came back.

“But right now, you’ve got good people who are smart and who want to do a good job and better the city. When you’ve got people like that, who want to work together to make things better, it makes your job easier. It just makes it enjoyable — you know?”