A La Porte County Life in the Spotlight: Gale Neulieb

gale-neuliebMuch of the behind the scenes work in Michigan City comes through the city clerk’s office. So it works out well that the city has a lifelong resident who not only has a passion for the job, but the city itself in the often under-appreciated City Clerk position.

“I do this job because I love it,” said Gale Neulieb, who was elected to the position in 2011 after eight years serving as a deputy and assistant deputy clerk. “I’m not a politician and do not like being politically involved. I love working with and helping the public.”

Growing up in a home on Mentz Court (which was in the area that is now home to the Blue Chip Casino) and attending Harrison School and later Elston High School, Neulieb has lived in Michigan City her entire life, holding dear memories of city life in decades past.

“I have always loved Michigan City,” Neulieb said. “As children, we would play baseball in sandlots over on Walker Street and go downtown to go shopping at Montgomery Ward’s or Woolworth’s.”

“I was a quiet kid, and could never imagine ever running for City Clerk.”

Neulieb’s grandmother, Irene Berg, owned Berg’s Flower Shop, a popular downtown business that stood at 906 Franklin Street - not far from the famed Spaulding Hotel.

“I worked there for 23 years, doing flower arrangements for several weddings,” Neulieb said, remembering with a smile her family holding Christmas celebrations above the shop.

“We would go out in the country to get our tree and walk to Walgreen’s at Franklin and 7th if we needed more lights and ornaments,” she remembers.

“Grandma taught me everything I know about flowers, she worked real hard,” said Neulieb, who still puts together flower arrangements for friends and family weddings. “It’s fun that even to this day, I will see people who recognize me and than them for doing the flowers at their wedding some 25-30 years ago.”

Quite a bit has changed in Michigan City since Neulieb was growing up. When she was working a part-time job in Washington Park, the park had a beach house, rides and bumper cars. When entering the park from Franklin Street, what is now Matey’s used to be the B&K root beer stand, with a warehouse located on the left side of the street. Her graduating class at Elston High School included 1,000 kids.

“It’s nice to be able to watch my granddaughter play high school softball now,” Neulieb said. “Women have more opportunities now. When I was in school we didn’t have any teams, but I would have loved to have played softball for the school.”

Even at a public school, women “were not allowed to wear pants,” Neulieb said. “We all had to wear skirts - times sure have changed.”

When looking through her records of ordinances and such from the early days of Michigan City, Neulieb is amazed to see that “we still argue about the same things we did 100 years ago. It’s funny, we see records here from years back about the same concepts that are being debated today.”

As City Clerk, Neulieb is in charge of all the records in Michigan City, holding the history of the city in her office.

“We hold deeds, annexations, contracts, ordinances and resolutions,” she said. “The public doesn’t actually get to see all that we do in this office.”

“We do all the paperwork. If a council person wants something, they come to my office to find it.”

Everything that appears on the City Council or Board of Public Works agenda must first go through the clerk’s office. When a resident wants a particular issue brought to a public forum, they need to file it with Neulieb.

“I always try to research and do homework for people so they aren’t being pushed from one city office to another,” she said.

Keeping current on updates in Indiana Code is a challenging and constantly changing part of the job, but Neulieb attacks that with the passion she has for every aspect of the job.

“(Deputy Clerk) Kim (Sliwa) always says that she doesn’t know how I remember all that stuff,” Neulieb said. “I just tell her that I can’t remember much else, but I can remember everything about the job.”

Neulieb was hired as the city’s assistant deputy clerk in 2004 and was promoted to deputy clerk four years later upon the death of Carla Adams. When longtime City Clerk Tom Fedder decided to retire and not run for re-election in 2011, it was time for Neulieb to step in to the top spot.

“I never thought I would run for City Clerk, but I loved the job so much I bought a house in Michigan City and ran. I lived about a half-mile out of city limits, so had to get a home here to be able to run,” she said.

With two challengers in the Democratic primary, Neulieb received the backing of many city notables that already worked with her as deputy clerk. Backed by that and first-hand knowledge of what the job entailed, Neulieb won the Democratic nomination in a somewhat contentious primary and received no opposition from the Republican side in the general election.

While keeping up to date with Indiana Code and holding all the city’s records is an important part of the job, it’s not the best part of the job, she says.

“I love the weddings,” Neulieb said, noting that as City Clerk she is licensed to perform weddings in the city. “That’s my favorite part.”

Popular spots for locals and visitors to get married in Michigan City include Washington Park Beach, Striebel Pond and Millennium Park.

“I want to make everyone’s day special,” she said. “I give them a flower bouquet I made so they have something to hold. We always have a little ceremony, and I’ll take pictures for them,” said Neulieb, who has presided over more than 200 weddings in the last year-and-a-half.

While performing weddings, there is no shortage of feel-good moments. Neulieb remembers one in particular last summer where a couple had been married years back with three children, then got divorced, both married others, outlived their spouses and then re-married each other in their 70s.

“They got re-married in the house their children grew up in. It was so awesome,” Neulieb said.

There is still a year-and-a-half to go for Neulieb to hear more great wedding stories, but her time in the City Clerk’s office will come to an end after 12 years in January, 2016. Neulieb has made the decision not to run for re-election in 2015.

“I ‘ll be at the age to retire at the end of the term, so I don’t see myself running again,” she said.

When that time comes, Neulieb will enjoy a less busy lifestyle, focusing on caregiving for her parents, spending more time with family, traveling and doing some volunteer work in the city she loves.

“Michigan City is an awesome community,” she said. “I never thought about leaving and never will.”

She says she is “blessed” to still have her mother and father, who are both in their late 80s. In three years, they will be celebrating their 70th wedding anniversary.

“A lot of people don't realize how much time and love it takes to be a caregiver,” she said. “I am blessed to have both my mom and dad still around.”

Neulieb's son, Brent, owns Maple City Concrete  in La Porte with his wife, Jennifer. Neulieb has two grandchildren, Alexis, 17, who plays on the La Porte High School softball team and Mason, 9.

“They are now the love of my life,” she said.