MOULTRIE, Ga. – The new year not only signifies a new calendar page, but also a time of new beginnings as the City of Moultrie names Bonnie Kudela as the city clerk.
Moultrie City Manager Pete Dillard introduced Kudela to the Moultrie City Council during its Jan. 3 meeting.
Her addition to the city staff follows previous City Clerk Tina Coleman’s promotion to director of finance in October. Coleman has been a Moultrie city employee for 20 years at the time of her promotion.
Kudela is a Moultrie native, she said in an interview Monday. She graduated from Colquitt County High School in 2003 and obtained a business degree from Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College three years later. She pursued a double-major bachelor’s degree in marketing and finance from Valdosta State University in 2009.
“My family has always been here and this has always been home,” Kudela shared. “I knew that Moultrie is a place where I would want to raise my children.”
She has been married to Geoffrey Kudela for 13 years and is the mother of two children, Noah and Colton.
Kudela worked at Ameris Bank for 13 years and later filled the finance director position for the City of Doerun. She would have celebrated two years with Doerun in March. As Doerun’s finance director, Kudela managed payroll, accounts payable and accounts receivable including all other city financials.
She said she learned about Moultrie’s opening through her close friend Melissa Lawson, who is the Colquitt County clerk. Her inspiration for applying stems from her love of relationship-building and wanting to interact with more community members.
“My wheel-house is customer service and just serving the community. As far as the city clerk’s position, no day is ever the same,” she explained.
As city clerk her duties include documenting city council meetings, documenting and publishing ordinances and resolutions, public records management and record retention management. A major part of the position is customer service, which is Kudela’s favorite aspect of the job. She dedicated her love for customer service to her previous job experiences.
“I hope to really stay and develop the relationships for years to come,” she said.
Kudela wants to develop and hone the skills that will allow her to become the person community members recognize when they are in need of help with the city as they did with Coleman as the city clerk, she concluded.