Profile: Erica Linderman
Profile: Erica Linderman
It Takes Two: Village of Ellicottville Adds Deputy Clerk to Its Team
There’s a whole lot of shaking going on at the Village Hall. Our Mayor, John Burrell, has relocated his office to the Village DPW Building. Mary Klahn, Village Clerk extraordinaire for 17 years, has retired and has been replaced by Amy Hayward. An assessment of the tasks and extras Mary has juggled for these past years indicates that it would take two people to replace her. No surprise there!
Erica Linderman, our new Deputy Clerk, hails from Franklinville but is no stranger to Ellicottville. A lifelong resident of Franklinville, she had her share of visits to Ellicottville when she would help her grandmother, Ann Oyler, who faithfully served breakfasts and lunches to Ellicottville’s hungry at DJ’s Diner long before other restaurants caught on to the morning need.
Erica started taking courses at BOCES for medical assisting, then moved on to JCC to receive her Associate’s degree. She went on to serve as a Medical Services Clerk for Cattaraugus County for eight years at The Pines in Machias and Olean. More recently, she worked for WellNow in their billing department with most of her experience in the health field. A change was being considered when serendipity stepped in while she was having her hair cut by her childhood friend, Trina Phillippi, owner of EVL Hair Lounge in Ellicottville. While browsing through the local paper, Erica spotted an ad for a part-time Deputy Clerk for the Village of Ellicottville. The ad was for a part-time employee, but Erica reasoned that perhaps it might start that way and then grow into full-time because, after all, it’s Ellicottville - where nothing stays still. Erica was chosen from a number of applicants and when she was contacted about being chosen for the position, the next good news was that the position was full-time. Win-win!
One of Erica’s biggest responsibilities will be taking on the water and sewer billing and being an extra pair of hands and eyes for Amy as they both learn the ropes about their respective jobs, made easier by the orderly, color-coded manner Mary Klahn has left her position. Erica is very excited to learn all the ropes and to learn new ways of doing things. Erica and Amy will be a great team, as they share many of the same interests both in and out of the office.
When I called Erica, she was just returning from a long hike with her 10-year-old son, Maddoxx. Not much of a cold weather fan, she does not ski but they are both looking forward to spending some happy, fun times at the Holiday Valley Tubing Park next winter. Summertime will find her possibly fly fishing or kayaking at Case Lake or camping and four wheeling or riding her dirt bike.
The love of the outdoors sometimes has its downsides. In Erica’s case, she got bitten by a tick four years ago and ended up with a serious case of Lyme Disease which she says changed the trajectory of her life. The experience and the lifestyle change has made her well-versed in the medicinal properties of herbs and natural healing foods.
Another of Erica’s favorite things to do is to go to outdoor festivals. It was through this experience that she and her sister, Abby Linderman, realized that one can find a variety of foods to nosh on at these fairs, but they could rarely find a good cup of coffee to accompany their festival foods. This gave rise to a plan for the sisters to purchase a trailer and turn it into a food truck - or a coffee truck, to be more precise. The “Sip Sisters” will serve a variety of brews and teas, muffins, scones, and the like. Look for them in the future (spring ‘25) when they get it off the ground. There is obviously no grass growing under this ambitious lady’s feet.
It's hard to miss the excitement in Erica’s voice when she speaks about the fun working with Amy, Mary and John and about meeting the people in Ellicottville as they wander into the office. She admitted that she didn’t know what kind of reception she would receive but, says Erica, “It’s all been positive.” Erica is looking forward to becoming acquainted with the good people of Ellicottville. Stop in and say hello and join our team here at ellicottvilleNOW in welcoming Erica to the Ellicottville family.