The people need to know who will hold this position prior to having some one take over. If these individuals are required to be elected, then they will owe their allegience to the people and not to an individual politican who is making a payback for services rendered.
Clerks should be elected on the performance provided by the job qualifications of the company
I was fortunate enough to be appointed Town Clerk. Will be running in the November election to be the Elected Town Clerk. As I am new (June 1, 2001) in fact, I do not know enough to comment intelligently, however, I feel if elected, the term should be 4 years instead of every 2. I really, really enjoy the work for the people. Running in an election every 2 years feels unproductive - gets in the way of working for the people.
Thank you for the opportunity to comment.
Terry Sloan
Town Clerk
Town of Manlius
New York
No continuity in election; can vote out an experienced clerk if they do not like the individual
A tremendous amount of knowledge is required to handle the duties of a municipal clerk. Unfortunatly establishing the position as "political" will not allow a stream of experience and know-how to adequatly perform their job of City Clerk.
Appointments help to keep "politics" out of the Clerk's Office. Being a City Clerk in New York State, I am appointed. And, I have the advantage of working for a "non-partisian" council - something quite unusual in many municipalities.
Appointing a clerk aids in keeping politics out of government and assures continuity.
Since a clerk's job takes approximately one year just to go through everything and takes a couple years to learn it the right way, a municipality could be in big trouble if a new clerk came in every two years.
The Municipal Clerk is a highly specialized position. Clerk is definitely a misnomer. Local elections are based on popularity more than qualifications. You elect your local officials to operate the municipality as a business and therefore should trust them to appoint/hire the appropriate people to perform the job functions.
A municipal clerk should be hired based on his or her qualifications not political affliation. The office of Municipal Clerk should be a non-political office. The individual filling the positions needs to be well educated in the responsibilities of the position. It is the duty of the Clerk to see that current state statutes are being complied with. Sometimes it's difficult to keep up with the changes.
