City Clerk of Chicago

Last updated
City Clerk of Chicago
Seal of Chicago, Illinois.svg
Seal of the City of Chicago
Anna Valencia (40688407).jpg
Incumbent
Anna M. Valencia
since January 25, 2017
Term length 4 years
Salary$136,393
Website Office of the City Clerk of Chicago

The City Clerk of Chicago is in charge of record-keeping for Chicago, including for its elections, permits, licenses, and laws. When the Chicago City Council is in session, the City Clerk also serves as council secretary. The clerk is a citywide elected office, and is one of three city-wide elected officials in the City of Chicago, along with the Mayor and the Treasurer.

Contents

The current city clerk is Anna Valencia.

One former city clerk is more famous for his non-political activities: The late Baseball Hall of Famer Cap Anson served one term from 1905-1907.

Duties

The City Clerk's office is responsible for maintaining official city government record (such as the Municipal Code of Chicago), distributing approximately 1.3 million vehicle stickers and residential parking permits, and issuing city business licenses.

Significant City Council transparency efforts have included posting nearly 700,000 pages of searchable City Council records to the City Clerk website, ChiCityClerk.com. This includes every ordinance passed since 1981, as well as city budgets and mayoral executive orders going back nearly 30 years. In addition, City Council meetings can be watched live or on demand via a City Council video archive on the City Clerk's website.

List of City Clerks

City ClerksTermNotes
Anna Valencia 2017-Appointed in 2017, and elected in 2019.
Susana Mendoza 2011-2016Elected in 2011 and 2015. Resigned in 2016 to become the Illinois Comptroller.
Miguel del Valle 2006-2011Appointed in 2006, and elected in 2007. Resigned in 2011 to run for Mayor of Chicago.
James Laski 1995-2006Elected in 1995, and re-elected in 1999 and 2003. Resigned in 2006 after his indictment for corruption. [1] [2]
Ernest Wish1993-1995Appointed in 1993, and did not seek election to a full term. [3]
Walter Kozubowski 1979-1993Elected in 1979, and re-elected in 1983, 1987, and 1991. Resigned in 1993 after pleading guilty to corruption. [4] [5] [6]
John C. Marcin 1955-1979Elected in 1955, and re-elected in 1959, 1963, 1967, 1971, and 1975. In 1979, became alderman for the 35th Ward. [4] [7] [8]
Ludwig D. Schreiber 1939-1955Elected in 1939, and re-elected in 1943, 1947, and 1951. [4] [9]
Peter J. Brady1931-1937 [4]
Patrick S. Smith1927-1931 [4]
Al F. Gorman1923-1927 [4]
James T. Igoe1917-1923 [4]
Joseph Siman1917 [4]
John Siman1915-1917 [4]
Francis D. Connery1909-1915He was elected in 1909. His term may have ended in 1915. [4] [10]
John R. McCabe1907-1909 [4]
Cap Anson 1905-1907 [4]
Fred C. Bender1903-1905 [4]
William Loeffler1897-1903 [4]
Charles A. Gastfield1893-1895 [4]
James R.B. Van Cleave1891-1893 [4]
Franz Amberg1889-1891 [4]
D.W. Nickerson1887-1889 [4]
C. Herman Plautz 1885-1887 [4]
John G. Neumeister1883-1885 [4]
Patrick J. Howard 1879-1883 [4]
Caspar Butz 1876-1879 [4]
Joseph K.C. Forrest 1873-1875 [4]
Charles T. Hotchkiss1869-1873 [4]
Albert H. Bodman1865-1869 [4]
A.J. Marble1861-1863 [4]
Abraham Kohn1860-1861 [4]
H. Kreismann1857-1860 [4]
Henry W. Zimmerman1851-1857 [4]
Sidney Aboll1848-1851 [4]
Henry B. Clarke1846-1848 [4]
William S. Brown1845-1846 [4]
Edward Rucker1844-1845 [4]
James M. Lowe1843-1844 [4]
James Curtiss 1842-1843 [4]
Thomas Hoyne 1840-1842 [4]
William H. Brackett1839-1840 [4]
George Davis1837-1839 [4]
Isaac N. Arnold1837Inaugural City Clerk [4] [11]

Town Clerks

The position of City Clerk was preceded by the position of Town Clerk, which existed after Chicago had been incorporated as a town and before Chicago was incorporated as a city.

City ClerksTermNotes
James Curtiss 1836-1837Became Clerk in September 1836 [12]
Ebenezer Peck 1836 [12]
Charles V. Dyer 1836Resigned immediately after being elected at the June 6, 1936 town election (held at the Tremont House) [12]
Ebenezer Peck 1835Coincidingly served as the town's Counsel [12]
Alexander N. Fullerton1835Elected in July 1835 town election [12]
Edwards W. Casey1834-1835Became Clerk in November 1834. Coincidingly served as Corporation Counsel. [12]
Isaac Harmon1834Elected clerk in August 11, 1834 town election. Coincidingly served as Town Collector. [12]
H. J. Hamilton1833-1834 [12]
E. S. Kimberly1833Inaugural Town Clerk [11]

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References

  1. "City Clerk Laski resigns after indictment". Crain's Chicago Business. 2006-02-06. Retrieved 2020-11-19.
  2. http://chicagodemocracy.org/ElectionResults.jsp?election=crdd_general%2Cgis_entity_crdd_1995_General_Election%2Cil_chi_clerk
  3. "Daley Has A Team All His Own - tribunedigital-chicagotribune". articles.chicagotribune.com. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 "Centennial List of Mayors, City Clerks, City Attorneys, City Treasurers, and Aldermen, elected by the people of the city of Chicago, from the incorporation of the city on March 4, 1837 to March 4, 1937, arranged in alphabetical order, showing the years during which each official held office". Archived from the original on September 4, 2018. Retrieved December 24, 2018.
  5. http://chicagodemocracy.org/ElectionResults.jsp?election=crdd_general%2Ccrdd_1979_general_election%2Cil_chi_clerk
  6. "Photography - Chicago Tribune". Chicago Tribune . 23 August 2023.
  7. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-07-01. Retrieved 2015-06-30.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  8. "Proceedings of the City Council of the City of Chicago". 1955.
  9. "Our Campaigns - Candidate - Ludwig D. Schreiber".
  10. http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~mckinley/Connerys%20in%20Chicago.htm [ user-generated source ]
  11. 1 2 List of Settlers of Chicago Who Came Between January, 1831 and December, 1836. prepared by Col. Adolphus S. Hubbard (found on pages 424-433 of "Discovery and Conquests of the North-west, with the History of Chicago, Part 6" by Rufus Blanchard)
  12. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 History of Chicago, Volume 1 By Alfred Theodore Andreas (page 175-176)