A Day in the Life of Jefferson City Mayor Carrie Tergin
Tue, 14 Jul 2015 05:10:41 GMT — Carrie Tergin has worn many hats in Jefferson City. Many know her as a business owner and a woman who stays active in the community.
Tergin is also the Mayor of Jefferson City and she let KRCG 13 follow her as we went a day inside the life of Mayor Tergin.
â??Itâ??s so varied every day, itâ??s so different,â?? said Mayor Tergin as she explained thereâ??s not a â??typical dayâ?? in her busy life.
"Every day I have a different person to meet with, a different group of citizens, a different phone call,â?? she added.
Mayor Tergin said getting into politics was an unexpected, but natural move for her.
"Being a business owner for so many years, I found myself in front of the council. I was always at the podium talking about what we needed to be successful and too grow," she said.
In the fall of 2007 Tergin made a decision to run for city council. She was eventually elected as the councilwoman for the 4th ward. She served six years before being voted out of office.
Despite being voted off the city council, Tergin still felt the need to serve her community.
"I really re-evaluated things and found there were new and better opportunities and decided at that time that it was time to run for mayor," Tergin said.
When Mayor Tergin isnâ??t running the city from city hall, she spends a lot of her time at her shop on High Street: Carrieâ??s Hallmark.
Owning a small business runs in Terginâ??s family. Both her parents and grandparents owned business in Jefferson City. Her parents opened up Carrieâ??s Hallmark in 1976.
This life-long Jefferson City Jay is now the owner of the store her parents named after her. Tergin said there are some struggles that come with running both a small business and a city of nearly 44,000 people. However, she says there's one thing she relies on heavily to make both the city and Carrie's Hallmark operate successfully: The people around her.
"Everybody has to find their own way. For me, I really felt like I had to learn to trust in my employees that they would run [Carrie's Hallmark] as I would," she said.
That trust Tergin puts into her employees is the same trust she puts into her co-workers at city hall.
Mayor Tergin has a list of items on her agenda she would like to accomplish during her term as mayor. The biggest of those items on her list is at the Missouri State Penitentiary. She wants to see renovations and upgrades that will help to attract more tourism and tourism dollars to the city.
"That piece of property, aside from the fact of having history and tours and the amount of people coming in, it generates revenue. It's the fact of where it's located in the heart of our city,â?? the mayor said.
She said there is so much potential for development and she wants to see the city as well as the state of Missouri capitalize on it. Tergin also wants to see the revitalization of the areas around the state penitentiary including streets like Capitol Avenue.
This mayor and business owner admits between her two jobs she doesnâ??t get much free time. However, when she does, she loves to take and paint pictures.
"I love to create. That creative side is very important to me. We're in such a beautiful city that I just love painting and re-creating our beautiful landmarks," she said.
A few of her pictures are hanging up in various buildings in Jefferson City. One of those buildings includes Senator Mike Kehoeâ??s wall in the State Capitol.
The night Tergin was elected she did something special to her office door in city hall.
"During the campaign I said this office is going to be the people's office. That was so important to me that people know they can visit with me, come to city hall, come to my office and have a place that they know what's going on in the community,â?? Mayor Tergin said.
Mayor Tergin said when her first term as mayor ends in 2019 she wants to continue improving Jefferson City, whether that be by running for a second term as mayor or in a different capacity.
