Loretta Reams has been hired by the Town of Dillwyn as clerk/treasurer and says she is working to help serve the community.

Reams was officially hired April 7 and her first day was April 11.

Reams succeeds longtime clerk/treasurer Peggy Johnson, who retired recently.

Reams was born on the west coast and raised in Southern California. As an adult, she lived in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, before coming to Virginia in 1997 and to Buckingham in 2000 — moving to Dillwyn in 2006.

Reams has worked as a legal assistant with America Law Group Inc. in Blackstone.

In noting some of the differences between Southern California and Dillwyn, Reams said she has experienced a much friendlier community in Buckingham.

“I lived in Southern California, where you could walk pretty much everywhere you want to go and there is a lot of traffic, a lot of people,” Reams said. “And here it’s just so quiet … and the people are much nicer here than they are in California.”

Reams facilitates communication and community services for Dillwyn residents and said she has been learning the ins and outs of the town process over the past few weeks.

Mayor Linda Paige said the town is excited to have Reams’ range of experience to help her serve in her new position.

“We are very pleased to have Loretta work for us,” Paige said. “She comes to us as a paralegal, and with her background, it will help us to make the town run more efficiently.”

Reams wants the community to know that there have been changes made to the town’s office hours, now operating Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 8:30 a.m.-4 p.m. in place of its previous hours of Monday, Wednesday and Fridays from 8:30 a.m.-4 p.m.

Reams said she’s looking forward to learning more as clerk and further engaging with others in Dillwyn.

“We’re here to help them any way we can,” Reams said. “We have a lot of wonderful projects and improvement projects we’re looking forward to and very excited about, and I am so excited to be a part of that and watch our town grow.”