STARKVILLE – Starkville City Clerk Markeeta Outlaw will retire on June 1.
No, seriously, because this time the date is non-negotiable.
“That’s it, June the first,” Outlaw said, laughing as she drummed her fingers on her desk in the office she has occupied since 2004. “That’s my drum-roll.”
June 1 is the third date Outlaw has circled on the calendar for her retirement, and she has been giving the matter some thought for quite a while. Her husband, John, retired in 2010 from his position as Assistant Chief with the Starkville Police Department.
“I started contemplating this probably about a year-and-a-half ago,” Outlaw said. “Actually, my plan was to go out on Jan. 15, but the new software for our department was coming in and I felt bad leaving the ladies in that situation. So I said, “Ok, y’all, I’m going to make it to May 1. Then, they asked me if I could go one more month…”
It’s easy to see why the city would be reluctant to see her go.
“She’s just a very competent person,” said Vivian Collier, Outlaw’s predecessor in the city clerk’s position. “Very grounded. Very good at what she does.”
Outlaw’s tenure as city clerk covers almost eight years, but her ties with the city go back 27 years. She began working for the city in 1985 as a cashier in the Starkville Electric Department and moved to the city clerk’s office in 1992. There is scarcely a job in the city clerk’s office she hasn’t performed – with what became predictable prowess – during the intervening years.
It was that adaptability that made Outlaw one of Collier’s most reliable workers.
“Markeeta was just one of those people that did any job well,” said Collier, took over the city clerk job in 1992, the same year that Outlaw joined the office. “I found out very early that you could rely on her for any job.”
And that’s exactly what Collier did.
“I started out in accounts receivable,” Outlaw said. “Then, I became sort of a utility person. Someone would leave and I would do that job – accounts payable, payroll, whatever needed to be done. Then the administrative assistant to the city clerk position came open, and I applied for that and got that job in 1978”
Along the way she picked up her state certification (1997), then finished the international certification she would need to qualify for the city clerk’s position a year later.
Although she had positioned herself for the city clerk job, she was not eager to move into the position. Even though Collier’s retirement in 2004 created an opportunity for her, Outlaw was in no hurry to see Collier go.
“I tried to advise her to just stay on,” Outlaw said. “I guess, maybe, she felt kind of the way I feel right now. Now, I understand.”
That Outlaw was even working in 2004 might be viewed as a surprise in some circles.
In 2003, her second son, Travis, became the 23rd player chosen in the NBA draft at just 17 years of age. But anyone who might have assumed that Outlaw would leave the often tedious, thankless job of a city employee, didn’t know her very well. Becoming a “professional NBA mom,” was never a thought.
“Actually, I think some people expected me to be different,” she said. “And they realized pretty quick that wasn’t the case. ”
Outlaw said neither she nor her husband – though proud of their children – live vicariously through them, not even when one of them is in the NBA.
“I tell people all the time that we all do our best for our children,” she said. “We introduced our children to God early on and let them know that that’s where their help comes from. Momma and daddy can do a whole lot of things, but they can’t do near what God can do.”
Travis Outlaw just finished his 10th season in the NBA. After seven years with the Portland Trailblazers, he spent a year with the Los Angeles Clippers, the New Jersey Nets and the Sacramento Kings. It’s really “Team Outlaw” in Sacramento – brothers John, Jr. (33) and Derrick (26) help manage their brother’s affairs. The Outlaw’s “baby” – 15-year old Kaehla – is a sophomore at Starkville High.
Markeeta’s retirement will clear the way for her to join the team, too, although in a different capacity.
“I’m not going to the house to sit around,” she said. “That’s not the plan. Travis is starting to get some things started outside of basketball, something for after he retires. That’s the main reason for my retiring. I want to go ahead and start getting some of those things prepared so that when he retires every thing is ready.”
Given her track record, Travis Outlaw’s post-basketball career is already in good hands.
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