Irvington’s new clerk makes history

Shawna Supel thought she’d be working in the municipal clerk’s office for about a year when she took a job as a “computer operator” in 2001.

“When I started, there was a typewriter on my desk. I was used to using computers,” Supel said. “I was only going to be here for a year but my mom said, ‘you got a good job, you can work your way up the ladder.’”

Supel did work her way up the ladder and was sworn in as the municipal clerk on July 10. She replaces Harold Wiener, who held the position for 35 years before retiring.

Irvington Council President Jamillah Z. Beasley said she believes Supel will do an excellent job.

“She is committed, dedicated, and knowledgeable,” Beasley said. “She had a great teacher in Harold.”

Beasley said she was also happy she could be part of the process of appointing “our first black female to the municipal clerk’s office.”

“She is respected in her office by the staff and that’s a plus,” Beasley said. “The new clerk’s office staff will move that department forward without a hitch.”

Born and raised in Irvington, where her parents still live, Supel attended Berkeley Terrace Elementary School, Myrtle Avenue School, now known as University Middle School, and Frank H. Morrell High School, now known as Irvington High School.

She graduated from high school in 1996 unsure of what she wanted to do next. She had participated in a work study program in high school, doing administrative work using computers, so she decided to study at Union County College.

“I realized I kind of had a knack for computers,” she said. “I graduated with an associates degree in computer science and information systems.”

After that she took a job working for a company that did headhunting for pharmaceutical companies and began taking classes at Kean University.

“I wasn’t happy in my job, it was a small company,” Supel said. “I saw an ad for a computer operator in the township of Irvington. I met with the deputy clerk Sheila Marx and she explained what the job was.”

It was 2001, but most of the work in the office was still done using typewriters although Municipal Clerk Harold Wiener had a vision about computerizing the office.

“I had experience with that so I started in April 2001,” Supel said. “I was thinking it was going to be a one year job.”

One of her early assignments was to create a database to track resolutions, ordinances, and contracts.

“To this day, we still use that database,” she said.

Supel said she enjoyed the work, meeting residents, engaging with the council, the mayor and the administration. She kept going to school too and received her bachelor of science degree in computer science and information systems from Kean in 2005.

“Harold gave me the idea of taking municipal clerk courses,” Supel said. “He said the township would pay for it.”

She took the classes, going to Rutgers for 2 ½ years before taking and passing the notoriously tough state exam, which has a passing rate of only 35 %.

“You have to have a score of 80 to pass,” she said. “I took it in April of 2008 and passed and received my registered municipal clerk license.”

She had previously been promoted from computer operator to senior computer operator and now, in 2010, the deputy clerk, Sheila Marx, retired and another person in the office died unexpectedly, which put her in line to be assistant municipal clerk. A position she was given in 2012.

Municipal clerks are at the center of much of what happens in local government, serving as the custodians of public records, keepers of the corporate seal, overseers of elections and acting as a secretary to the governing body.

There are three full time employees in the Irvington office and one part time person.

“In the clerk’s office, we all work together,” Supel said. “Residents come in with various issues and the people in the clerk’s office try to help them figure out who can help them with their problem whether it’s someone in a township department or an elected official.”

Supel, who is 45, lives in Irvington. She’s not married and does not have children. She loves to travel and spend time with her parents, brother and sister, niece and nephew. She also enjoys working out at the gym and outdoor activities.

With Shonta Watson taking over Supel’s assistant municipal clerk responsibilities, the office is all female.

Going forward, Supel is looking to further digitize the office. “We have a lot of paper and we can reduce the paper. That’s my vision, to not have so much paper around.”

She would like to copy Weiner’s management style. “He was open to suggestions, ideas and then he followed through on them. That’s an excellent leader,” Supel said.

Supel said she is looking forward to continuing to work with the mayor and council, who have been very supportive. She credits Wiener, Beasley and state Sen. Renee Burgess, who was Irvington Council president from 2019 to 2022, with being extra supportive.

Wiener said he is certain Supel will do an excellent job.

“She knows the intricacies of the job, she knows the people in the building, she is well liked by the people in the building,” Wiener said. “I’m sure she will make the town proud and do an excellent job and she is making Irvington history.”

Burgess described Supel as “beautiful inside and out.”

“This young lady did not have anything handed over to her on a silver platter,” Burgess said. “She is an educated, hardworking, respectful, intuitive individual with work ethics that has afforded her this well deserved position as Irvington’s first African American female clerk.”

  Irvington, Irvington Council