Profile: Amy Hayward
Profile: Amy Hayward
New Village Clerk Happy to Finally Call Ellicottville “Home”
She followed her heart. Amy’s long-time partner, Bill Rosenberry, Marketing and Corporate Events Manager at HoliMont, was not going to be convinced to leave Ellicottville, and dilemma! She loved Ellicottville, too. For those of us who are under Ellicottville’s spell, that’s easy to understand.
Two years ago, Amy made her move, still commuting to Buffalo for her full-time job. She went to Emerson College in Boston for journalism, yet much of her career involved health care; she served as health care administrator for Senior Assisted Living/Memory Care for the NYS Department of Health. She loved working with people in clinical trials, and she also handled company operations, serving as VP for a multiple acquisitions company. Amy wore many hats before coming here. She loved her job; she hated the three hours on the road. She started thinking about what she would like to do before she retired when Bill showed her an ad which appeared in the local paper. Could this be the answer to her dilemma?
After interviewing for the Village Clerk job to replace the irreplaceable Mary Klahn, she realized that this position was her answer. The thought of no longer being on call after twenty years was reason enough, but living in the Ellicottville community sealed the deal. Having grown up in Grand Island, Amy loved small community living, and according to her, that is quickly becoming quite elusive. Perhaps not as elusive as The Lake Erie Monster “Bessie” first spotted in 1793 and last seen in 1993, but you get the point. Granted, Ellicottville is no longer the “Mayberry” it was when I moved here in 1974, but back then we did know practically every person walking up the road, had a personal relation with shop/restaurant owners and folks at the post office (for years I received mail simply addressed, Carol Fisher, Ellicottville, NY), and like me, Amy immediately realized this wide-opened-armed community was “home.”
A great proponent of workplace balance, the job is ideal, cutting out commute time and adding the more personalized aspect to her employment. She is enjoying getting to know the people who make up Ellicottville, so do stop and introduce yourself. Although we had a phone conversation, I could easily envision the smile on her face when she spoke about the warm welcome she has received by the community and by Mayor John Burrell and Mary Klahn, who has graciously been training Amy. She laughed when she spoke of the like-mindedness she shares with Mary, especially noting the color coding of files and the everything-in-its-place modus operandi.
Since a Deputy Clerk, Erica Linderman from Franklinville, is part of the new staffing, Amy will be able to do many of Mary’s tasks plus she will eventually be taking the budget tasks off our Mayor Burrell’s shoulders. Amy also feels confident in the team she and Erica make, as they share the same work ethic and outside interests.
A history buff, she was delighted to discover that Mayor Burrell was a walking history book, having spent his entire life here and comes from a long line of settlers all the way back to the Mayflower and the Anne. Incidentally, since she is becoming aware that in Ellicottville there is no such thing as six levels of separation - more like two - she is hoping she will find that she is connected to someone in the area. Her family is Welsh, others are from Massachusetts, and her grandfather worked on the Manhattan Project. Hey, you never know!
Amy and her crew love the outdoors so you might just catch her taking a walk during lunchtime. She says she has been very blessed because in her previous jobs she traveled all over the world giving presentations and seeing the sights of places like Dublin and Prague, so called the “Cinderella City” because it survived the bombings of WWII. “The churches are breathtaking,” says she, “and the holiday market fabulous!” The one thing she learned about the Europeans that she greatly admired was they work to live; they don’t live to work. Which fits nicely into her workplace/family balance theory. Amy works hard and plays hard, especially loving and excelling in swimming.
Amy says that she is blessed to have the job she has, to work with the people who have welcomed her, and the community she can’t wait to get to know better. Please join our family at ellicottvilleNOW in welcoming this new member of our community. Welcome, Amy!