Cambridge’s city clerk, Diane LeBlanc, gave notice Tuesday to city councillors that she would be leaving May 31, the end of her three-year contract.
“It has been a privilege to serve as the city clerk and I look forward to working with you to ensure a smooth transition,” LeBlanc said in an email. “I do not wish to be considered for another term.”
There will be some time to relax this summer, LeBlanc said Wednesday, mentioning time with family, her dog and doing home improvement projects, gardening and volunteer work. But then she anticipates “reconnecting in my home community. We’ll see if, after a few weeks or a few months, I’m bored and I will pursue other stewardship opportunities.”
“Maybe the next chapter might look a little bit different. I do miss some of the more direct connection that I had as a city councilor working with various constituency groups,” she said, referring to her 10 years as an elected official in Waltham after 37 years with the National Archives. “My connections with seniors, veterans, the underserved, that was a big part of who I was. So I probably will be doing more of that.”
LeBlanc said Cambridge has been “a wonderful employer, and I feel so blessed to have ended up here. It’s been a wonderful opportunity, and the best part about it has been my staff. They’re absolutely amazing, and we’ve done some incredible work”
Shortly after seeing LeBlanc’s notice, city manager Yi-An Huang thanked her for her service. “I have deeply appreciated Diane for her leadership, professionalism and expertise as cit.y clerk. She has a genuine passion for providing high-quality customer service and has spearheaded critical work that has preserved and protected important historical documentation across the city. We are grateful to clerk LeBlanc for the transformative work and impact she has made throughout her time in the city.”
City clerks are one of only three roles the City Council hires, with city auditor and city manager being the others.
LeBlanc’s sole three-year term follows that of Anthony Wilson. After fulfilling his contract, Wilson went to the Edward J. Collins Jr. Center for Public Management at the University of Massachusetts at Boston. There he has worked on an app called Seriatim intended to help people follow sometimes confusing parliamentary procedure as governments go through the steps of enacting policy.
Wilson gave councillors notice Sept. 13, 2021, that he would leave May 31, 2022. Councillors E. Denise Simmons (now mayor) and Paul Toner were in charge of finding a new clerk within that nine months. Wilson had arrived as one of four finalists; Simmons and Toner presented LeBlanc, then city clerk in Lawrence, as their sole candidate.
The council now has nearly three months to find their next city clerk, though deputy Paula Crane has stepped in as interim clerk twice, before Wilson and LeBlanc began serving their successive terms. Crane has been with the city since 2001.
Before Wilson came Donna Lopez, who served as clerk for seven years starting in 2012, according to Robert Winters’ Cambridge Civic Journal website. Before Lopez was Margaret Drury, who served for 20 years and later joined the Cambridge Redevelopment Authority board.
This post was updated March 5, 2025, with comment from Diane LeBlanc.
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I am sorry to see Ms. LeBlanc go. In my experience she has been unfailingly kind, polite, truthful, unflappable and focused on doing her job as well as possible.
well-said. She understands and unfailingly adheres to the rules and wasn’t afraid to correct councilors procedures. I will miss her as a principled constant on the dais.
This is surprising. I’ve always had a great deal of empathy for the clerks office. They’re great people who take a ton of abuse from would be citizen reporters to the Council. Diane is a very competent and kind person though there remains a Donna Lopez sized hole in my heart.