Town Clerk Mary Ann Silva has held the office for nearly 12 years.

"I have always worked in the human services field, and this is my way of giving back to the community that I was raised in all my life," Silva said.

Silva said that the department's biggest challenge is "providing efficient services on a limited budget."

Silva said the Assistant Town Clerk is on medical leave, and there is no money in the budget to pay overtime for the staff. She is currently performing the duties of the assistant "so that people are not feeling that, because I am short-staffed, they are not able to obtain vital records or any type of information they need," she said. "We just try to keep service flowing smoothly."

Silva said she would like to upgrade the technology in the department with software programs to improve record-keeping, but, "there is just no money in the budget to purchase such programs."

Silva said she is working on getting the department a climate-controlled safe to preserve historical records. "That is something that I will be looking forward to and [am] also working with the CPC [Community Preservation Committee] ... in finding the funds to preserve those records," she said.

Before becoming Town Clerk, Silva was the secretary to the Zoning Enforcement Officer and Building Inspector in Wareham. She also held clerical positions with the Massachusetts Department of Public Welfare, the Massachusetts Department of Social Services, Roland Thatcher Nursing Home and Sassaquin Nursing Home.

Silva has been a notary public for 21 years. She is a Commissioner to Qualify Public Officers, appointed by the governor, which means she can administer oaths of office. Silva became a Justice of the Peace shortly after she was elected Town Clerk for her first term.

Silva is a 1972 graduate of Wareham High School and received an executive secretary certificate in 1982 from Kinyon-Campbell Business School, formally located in New Bedford. She graduated from Quincy College in 1998 with an associate's degree in business administration. She also completed a number of courses at UMASS Boston's College of Public and Community Service.

A member of the Massachusetts Town Clerk's Association, Silva passed an exam and completed the requirements to obtain the "Certified Massachusetts Municipal Clerk" designation. She is also a member of the New England Association of City and Town Clerks, Tri-County Clerks' Association, Cape and Islands Clerks' Association, City and Town Clerks of Bristol, Plymouth, and Norfolk Counties, and the International Institute of Municipal Clerks.

Outside of work, Silva is married to her "high school sweetheart" and has three sons. She serves as the clerk for the Charter Review Committee, is a member and current president of the Dudley L. Brown VFW Ladies Auxiliary, was on the Oak Grove Revitalization Committee, and worked with the Wareham Tigers Athletic Association for three years.

"I would just like to be the type of Town Clerk that people have respected because I have compassion and service the people that put me in office in the way that they feel they should be serviced and treated," Silva said.