Kathleen Buda was elected to her third consecutive term as City Clerk in the November 2005 general election. She received close to 71% of the votes. She first became City Clerk in 1997, when in her first attempt at running for public office, she went on to win with 56 percent of the total vote. A lifelong resident of Dearborn, Buda graduated from Sacred Heart High School in 1969. She graduated Summa Cum Laude in 1977 from Mercy College where she earned a bachelor's degree, majoring in sociology and law enforcement. Buda was one of the first female cadets hired by the Dearborn Police Department in 1977. She left the City in 1981 to become more actively involved in the family's catering business, Buda Catering. She returned to the City in 1995 as a typist clerk in the City Clerk's office. Buda is a member of the State Committee of Vital Records Service, whose purpose is to resolve birth and death record issues statewide. She has been honored to sit on the committee's Communications Committee, which consists of 11 counties and two cities, Detroit and Dearborn. Buda also belongs to the Michigan Association of Clerks and Wayne County Clerk's Association. Buda attended the International Institute of Municipal Clerks for three one week sessions. That training, along with attending meetings & conferences and several years as Clerk culminated in Buda receiving her designation as a Certified Municipal Clerk. In April 2007 she was sworn in as president of the Association of Wayne County Clerks. The organization meets quarterly and deals with elections and other issues facing clerks.