Two unsung, smart and strong women in our midst are encountering important milestones in their lives and are going in different directions as a result.

Michelle Herman, Wayland City Clerk for the last 11 years, and Lori Castello, zoning enforcement administrator for Professional Code Inspections, are experiencing very different tasks ahead.

Herman on Dec. 13 will retire and she hopes to ride into the sunset to live blissfully and happily ever after. She represents the quality of professionalism that this area has been blessed with from its clerks.

Herman has done her job well and relatively quietly as an unelected public servant. Her performance prompts me to wonder if it’s a better idea for clerks and treasurers for townships to be appointed rather than elected, subject to the too often fickle whims of the electorate, regardless of her abilities to do the job. In nearly all cases involving clerks in northeastern Allegan County, I find they perform their duties admirably, but their politics suck.

Castello’s story is very different in that she suffered a surprising heart attack Nov. 4 and now is recovering at home. It is my fervent wish, and I suspect the wish of many others in local government, that she enjoys a speedy and successful convalescence and that she starts living right.

Castello has proven herself to be a real find for Kirk Scharphorn Jr. and PCI. Many local officials have had nothing but praise for her knowledgeable and calm presentation of the just the facts, m’am, during meetings. She’s even demonstrated an ability to thwart efforts by the torches and pitchforks crowds by carefully and respectfully explaining what can and can’t be done according to the law.

Castello once served as chairwoman of the Hopkins Township Planning Commission and she apparently took her duties very seriously. She has become to the go-to person for those who want to know what can or can’t be done and to make things happen.

I have often teased her by declaring every time she appears at a meeting that there must be trouble afoot that evening with her presence. What it actually means is that something important is occurring and somebody wants to make sure they get things right.

My personal best wishes go out to Herman, an incorrigible Notre Dame football fan. And I am begging Ms. Castello to get well soon and get back to work. Your communities need you.