Shawn Campbell was preparing to work her second meeting as Auburn’s new city clerk on Monday, a council study session, when councilmembers did something they hadn’t done in her half-dozen years of employment with the city.

That is, they cancelled the meeting because only three of them were there – two of their peers were sick and two were out of town. That left the council one member shy of constituting a quorum, which is necessary to conduct a bona fide meeting, according to City Attorney Stephen Gross.

To a city clerk, that’s heady stuff.

“I had not seen that before,” Campbell said of the cancellation.

The city promoted Campbell to the job upon the retirement of former City Clerk Dani Daskam at the end of August. Campbell, who began her career with the department six years ago as a deputy city clerk, had to apply for the job and best a pool of rival candidates.

Campbell oversees a department of four employees, including herself. The clerk’s office is the custodian of all city records, completes the minutes and agendas for City Council meetings, processes passports and is responsible for dangerous dog registrations, to name a few of its tasks.

“I have a good team, and I think we’re going to do well,” Campbell said. “I am excited for the opportunity. Hopefully, we’ll be able to continue to offer the services we have been able to offer and get people what they need in a timely fashion.

“I enjoy the work, helping people find the records, the different parts and pieces, helping people get what they need. It’s fun,” Campbell said.

Campbell grew up in Morton, a small town in Lewis County, where most of her family still live. She met her husband, Blaine, when she was in school in Yakima. The couple have two grown daughters in college, Kaley and Sidney. They share their Bonney Lake home with two schnauzers, Augie and Missie.

So, is Campbell the latest in a long family line of distinguished city clerks that stretches to the horizon and dips behind it? Nope, her college degree is in chemical dependency counseling, a skill she concedes is tough to integrate into her role today.

“No, it doesn’t correlate,” Campbell said with a laugh.

When she isn’t city clerking, Campbell said, she and her husband, “like to go on adventures, get in the truck and drive to wherever. We really like the coast.”