TOLEDO, Ohio — A piece of the Glass City bridge and a photo of a city council long gone are just a few of the keepsakes collected by Gerald Dendinger over his decades of city service.
While often just visible in the fringes of our cameras, Dendinger's enjoyed hundreds of brushes with Toledo history ever since becoming clerk of council in 2003, and keeping track of it all is just part of the job.
"I like to say I'm the scorekeeper for city council," said Dendinger. "My main responsibility is keeping the record, the record for city council."
That means reading all the various proclamations that came before council after all these years, writing it all down and making sure it's stored for future reference.
After hundreds of trips in and out of those chambers, Dendinger has a difficult time deciding which highlight stands above the others.
Luckily for Dendinger, he doesn't need to remember. As clerk, he also doubles as the city historian.
He and all the clerks before him have been keeping every resolution and ordinance ever passed in Toledo since 1837 preserved in storage. It's a duty Dendinger puts lots of pride in.
"I have to say, my predecessors did an outstanding job and I've tried to maintain the practice they set forth," said Dendinger. "I've found every ordinance ever asked of us."
After a few decades of maintaining the room, it's no wonder he's never lost anything.
When WTOL 11's cameras joined him inside the room, he navigated it like a pro. He opened one of the various file cabinets contained within the room, declaring it contained documents from 1984, despite it having no labels. He soon proved himself right as he pulled the document out, demonstrating the date on the page to be July of that year.
Now with only a few days left before retirement, this might be one of the last times Dendinger holds those documents.
Looking back on his career, his coworkers have nothing but compliments.
"He's one of a kind and we definitely need more Gerry Dendinger's in the world and in city government," said Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz.
But after 46 years of recording the city's history, Dendinger is a little nervous to start writing his own.
"I was told for years, don't retire without a plan, and here I am retiring without a plan," said Dendinger with a smile.
When Dendinger officially retires on Dec. 28, he will be replaced by Julie Gibbons, the current assistant clerk, whom Jerry has personally trained for the last 25 years.
Dendinger will go down as the second longest-serving city employee since 1837, according to an ordinance read by council president Matt Cherry on Tuesday.
MORE LOCAL HEADLINES FROM WTOL: