John Merrill took office as the secretary of state in 2015, and when he did so, he quickly made one of his top priorities to completely eradicate any waiting period for Alabama citizens when it came to filing forms to create, amend or dissolve new business entities.
Merrill came in at a time when the waiting period for paperwork and payments to create a new business was seven to nine months behind. On Sept. 26, Merrill gave recognition to the employees of the Business Entities and Uniform Commercial Code Divisions for two years and three months of continuous, same-day processing of those requests.
The secretary of state's office now operates with 25 percent fewer employees but at a much higher efficiency rate.
Merrill celebrated those employees for their service by awarding them a National Association of Secretaries of State Medallion, which is the highest honor his office can award.
The employees so honored included Renae Barron, Jim Brasher, Lovetta Churchill, Melissa Giddens, Stephanie Keithahn, Monica Messer, Tamara Moore, MeMe Mulcahy, Brianna Smith, Diane Starks, Elaine Swearengin, Christina Vandiver, Sharranda Emmerson, Beth Hall, Beth Jensen, Shirleen Moncrief and Alfreda Watts.