ALTON - As Alton’s consolidated election approaches, City Clerk Cheryl L. Ingle explains why she decided to run for reelection.
The election on April 1, 2025, will ask voters to choose between two candidates for the City Clerk position. Ingle, the incumbent, shared that she has accomplished a lot in the four years since she took office, and she has almost 30 years of experience at City Hall. She hopes voters recognize her commitment to the city and allow her to serve for another four years.
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“I love my job, and I am pretty darn good at it,” Ingle said. “When the opportunity came up, I decided that I would run for clerk because I love working for the city, obviously; I’ve been here 29 years. I just felt it was a way to connect more with the people and help people, help the citizens of Alton.”
Twenty-nine years ago, Ingle left her job at McDonnell Douglas to take a position in the Alton City Clerk’s office as a typist. She then transitioned to the Department of Development and Housing, where she collaborated with the director to do “everything to do with community development.” In this job, Ingle worked closely with the Alton Police Department to acquire the land and building that is now the site of the APD station.
Following this, Ingle took a lateral move to the Building and Zoning Department. She then split her time between the Comptroller’s Office and the Treasurer’s Office. For the next ten years, she served in the payroll position.
When Mary Boulds, the retiring City Clerk, endorsed Ingle for the City Clerk role in 2021, Ingle was more certain than ever that this was the right move. In the past four years, she said she has worked hard to help Alton residents, digitalize processes, maintain City Hall’s building, and support the City Council.
“There’s several things that I’ve accomplished and updated,” Ingle said. “There’s just a myriad of little things that we do. As it comes up, we do it to help take care of people.”
Assisting people is an important part of the job for Ingle. She worked with APD and the Township General Assistance program to help people more easily obtain their birth certificates.
“I created those processes to be able to help people, especially underprivileged, low-income and homeless people. I mean, they need the most help, so I’m trying to help them as much as I can,” she explained. “Getting their birth certificate is like the start of anything to start getting their identity built back up.”
She has also kickstarted the process of digitalizing years’ worth of birth and death certificates, city ordinances, and resolutions. She worked with the City Hall IT department to convert online forms to fillable PDFs, which allows people to electronically request birth and death certificates.
As City Clerk, Ingle also oversees maintenance projects at City Hall. She said she has improved the safety of all Alton citizens and employees by installing a new water system and water fountains, as well as a railing between the parking lot and the front door to prevent falls.
In addition to these duties, the City Clerk's Office is “a hub” for people, and Ingle and her team regularly help community members connect to resources. The office also acts as “keeper of the records,” making sure the City Council and committee meetings are organized and all ordinances and resolutions are accounted for.
“The mayor and the chairman of the meetings, they basically run it, but it’s up to me to make sure everything runs smoothly,” Ingle said. “My main thing is to take care of the council and committee meetings. I keep all that running smoothly, to scheduling the meetings, getting the right information onto the agendas and making sure people are getting stuff to me so I can get it on the agenda and get it out to everybody that needs it so they know what’s going on.”
Outside of work, Ingle has been married for 32 years and has two daughters. As she gears up for the election, she relies on her experience in every department at City Hall and her accomplishments in the City Clerk position. She noted that helping others is most important to her, and she believes the City Clerk role allows her to do that. She hopes to continue this work.
“[My experience] makes me be able to help people better,” she added. “I do know what these departments do and I know better how to direct them and to answer questions because I do have that experience. I love helping people. I go to every length I can to help people. Know that I’m here every day and I will help anybody. I just feel like I know what needs to be done because I’ve done this job for four years now. I’ve been in this job and I know how to do things and I want to still improve upon the processes and how the clerk’s office does things to make everything better.”
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