Evanston City Clerk Mary Morris will retire May 15, and Mayor Lorraine Morton is seeking candidates for appointment as a replacement.
Any Evanston resident interested in serving as city clerk for a one-year term, expiring in May 2009, should fax or email a resume and cover letter to Mayor Morton’s office, (847) 866-2978 or lmorton@cityofevanston.org.
For more information on the duties of the city clerk, contact Darlene Francellno, mayoral aldermanic secretary, (847) 448-8268. The mayor can be reached by phone, (847) 866-2979.
The city clerk is the only full-time elected official for Evanston municipal government and holds office hours from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., Mondays through Fridays, at the Evanston Civic Center, 2100 Ridge Ave. The clerk’s salary is set at $49,000.
The clerk has many responsibilities in city government and has a deputy clerk to assist. The city clerk is the corporate secretary; she receives communications, summons, warrants, notifications of foreclosures, and actions that legally affect the city or someone who is employed by the city.
The clerk signs all bonds, attests on contracts requiring the signature of the manager and signs street obstruction bonds using a rating guide to rate the insurance company.
The clerk attends all meetings, open and closed, of the city council and takes the minutes; writes the minutes and oversees their production and distribution. The clerk signs and oversees the signing of all ordinances and resolutions, publication of ordinances and their permanent filing and distribution.
Other duties of the city clerk include coordinating all Freedom of Information requests and preparing the annual budgets for the clerk’s office and the city council.
In addition, the clerk is the local election official, designated by state law, and is a deputy registrar who registers voters and trains others how to register voters. She is responsible for sending to Cook County the list of individuals running for office in municipal elections held every four years.
The clerk is also the town clerk for the Town of the City of Evanston. By law, the town clerk is in charge of the annual township meeting held annually in April. The clerk and her deputy are notaries.