This column is now a regular feature of The Maintainer. If you have someone in your chapter who does amazing, unique, unusual things or who used to be a celebrity, please send the information to Mike Brooks, Inland Empire/Desert Chapter, mbrooks@murrieta.org Don’t feel intimidated, you won’t have to do any work. Just give him the basic story and contact information and he’ll take it from there.

A Little Help from my Friends ...

Yes, we stole the headline from the old Beatles song! But how better to describe the way we all get through the daily events we call life? Most, if not all, MSA members rely on many resources to juggle the responsibilities of their job, family & friends, obligations, hobbies and volunteers activities.

It was once said that “no man is an island” and when it comes to accomplishing things in a group, such as the MSA, nothing could be closer to the truth. With all that said, the focus of this article is to shine a small spotlight upon a person who is a true friend of the MSA. For many years she has toiled away, avoiding recognition as much as possible, while keeping the Inland Empire/Desert Chapter on the straight & narrow. Who is this person, you ask? None other than the City of Temecula’s own Maria Hilton.

Maria is currently the only member of the Chapter from the city, as all the people who got her involved with the MSA have moved on to retirement. She enjoys the title of Chapter Administrative Assistant. Her membership began in 2003. When the Chapter started having diffi culty getting people to take on the numerous tasks of Chapter Secretary, she voluntarily took it upon herself to handle all the paperwork and record keeping for the Chapter. Her attention to detail has given the chapter board a confi dence that all the administrative duties involved in the functioning of the Chapter are in good hands.

Maria began working for the Temecula Public Works Dept following many years working for three different Police and Sheriff’s departments. She worked in the mental health area, which gave her an appreciation for the challenges of dealing with diffi cult people. She has now been with the City for almost 19 years!

In her younger days (she won’t divulge her age) she was a bit of a vagabond, living in 10 different cities in California, including the Bay area and So Cal. She now enjoys the good life as a resident of Temecula.

Her MSA involvement started when her former boss, Brad Buron, a longtime MSA member and former Chapter President, had her help him with MSA business. Brad has long since retired, yet Maria enjoyed the MSA so much she agreed to continue helping the Chapter. She puts in many of her “off-duty” hours keeping track of our membership, processing paperwork, sending out correspondence to our members and most importantly, keeping the Chapter in the good graces of Bev!

Maria is the type of person you can count on when you need to make sure something gets done on time and correctly. When she is not busy doing her Administrative duties for the City, she enjoys old black & white movies and she is an accomplished dancer. In her youth she regularly performed in a dance troupe and once danced Flamenco for an audience that included Bob Hope.

Not satisfi ed with just doing her regular duties, Maria is always happy to take on “special assignments”. In 2009 she wrote her fi rst grant application for the City. The grant was approved and her agency was awarded $75,000.00, which is being used to plant over 700 trees in the right-of-way over the next two years. The program is very popular with residents and will help make Temecula a little “greener”.

Maria is a vital part of the team and although she can only come to a couple of MSA functions per year, she always has a smile on her face, a positive attitude and a willingness to serve. When asked about Maria, the most common statement made about her is “You’re so funny!”

I guess that’s why she fits in so well and allows the MSA to “get by with a little help from our friend”……..

Ed Note: This is “Bev” speaking. As a long time agency employee myself and former City Clerk, I can tell you that the past 18 years of working with Maria and other MSA “Administrative Professionals” out there (Jan Wange, Susie Evans, and Diana Gonzales to mention a few) have made my life so much more pleasurable. Having been in a position of hiring these professionals at my previous positions I know fi rst hand just what it takes to “rise” above and beyond the call of duty. As a former General Manager once told me in 1979, “When you have risen to this level it is a given that you can type, answer the telephone, handle the radio and take shorthand (remember that one?) but here is where you prove your Executive abilities.” Many MSA Administrative Professionals have defi nitely risen to that level. I salute you!!!!