April 22, 2015 at 2:17 p.m.
Someone You Should Know
Val Foley, city clerk and Zumba instructor
Someone You Should Know
By Kayla Thomason-
RN: Please explain your job?
Foley: We take in all of the money for the city of Rhinelander into our office. We do the property tax collection, we do elections, any of the licensing that goes through the city comes through our office. We take care of park shelter reservations, golf course memberships, we're the office that everybody calls for questions and answers, so we get a big variety of that type of thing going on. We keep all of the records for the city - the ordinances, the resolutions, the contracts, the agreements, all of the minutes for the committee - so we have to have all of the knowledge for that type of thing in this office.
RN: Please explain your volunteer work as a Zumba instructor?
Foley: Zumba is a Latin-inspired dance exercise-type class. It can be very high heart rate, it can become very intense, but it can also be something that anybody at any degree of fitness can do. Moves can be modified so that you can do what you want, it doesn't have to be exactly what the instructor is doing so you can take any high impact out of it, any quick moves out of it and make it into your own - which is the fun of it, it's a big dance party.
RN: How long have you been city clerk?
Foley: I was the deputy clerk until 2012 and I've been the clerk since probably August of 2012.
RN: How long have you been involved in Zumba?
Foley: I'd say we're going on four years, maybe, now. It has to be at least four years now.
RN: What is your favorite part of being clerk?
Foley: Meeting the people. I like the people, the public. They're my favorite.
RN: What is your favorite part of Zumba?
Foley: My favorite part of the activity is the people that come to class. Watching them have fun is what it's all about.
RN: What is the biggest misconception about your job?
Foley: The biggest misconception about our job is probably that we do things that the county does, like court violation payments and marriage licenses, things that are on the county level, and also that we know the answers to when the DOT is open and when the DNR is open, where the best hotels are in the area. We can find those (answers), but those aren't our main things. We get a lot of chamber questions and they in turn get a lot of ours.
RN: What is the biggest misconception about Zumba?
Foley: People think that they're not coordinated enough to do it when actually anybody can do Zumba. They think that they won't be able to keep up, which they definitely can. A lot of men don't want to try Zumba because they think it's too dancy. They don't think they can do it. We've got a couple of brave souls, but not too many.
What do you like to do in your spare time?
Foley: I love to be outside, I love to mountain bike, I like to snowshoe, road bike, I do running, triathlons. My fun things, those are the stress relief in my life. Hanging out with friends and doing events with friends. I like to hang out with my grandchildren too and do Zumba with them. The ones that like to do Zumba are 5 and 7 (years old) and they love it.
Kayla Breese may be reached at kayla@ rivernewsonline.com.
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