After 36 years and more than 1,200 meetings, Palatine village clerk retires

Monday nights won’t be the same for Palatine Village Clerk Marg Duer, who swore in her successor, Maureen Pasqualucci, at Monday’s village council meeting.

It would be difficult to count up the hours she has spent taking the minutes during her 36 years on the job. She said she has presided over more than 1,200 meetings,

“I enjoyed writing minutes that were succinct, that were clear, concise and accurate,” the former Northwestern University English major said. “Don't waste anybody's time reading through mumbo jumbo.”

The job, however, goes way beyond taking the minutes. As village clerk, Duer was responsible for overseeing elections, including establishing early voting sites, recommending election judges and ensuring proper signage and nonpartisan administration of polling places.

A native of Moline, Duer's first elective office came at age 14 when she was chosen secretary of her student council at Calvin Coolidge Junior High.

Duer moved to Palatine in 1972 to teach English and art at Fremd High School, where she worked until retiring in 2005. Her path to becoming village clerk began when she joined the League of Women Voters to meet people outside the teaching profession.

“I started observing the village council,” Duer explained. “You get hooked because something comes up and it'll come up the next meeting, so you go back to the next meeting.”

After six years of attending meetings as an observer, she ran for village clerk. Then-Village Clerk Rita Mullins had decided to run for mayor and encouraged Duer to seek the clerk’s spot.

Duer lives just a block and a half from the village hall, making for an easy commute throughout her decades of service to the community

Beyond her clerk duties, Duer initiated and has managed the Palatine Farmers Market since 1991. She assists with the village’s Sister Cities Association. She was the first Palatine recipient of the Studs Terkel Humanities Award for promoting the arts in Palatine and was also named Community Volunteer of the Year by the Palatine Chamber of Commerce in 2018.

Duer did not run for reelection this year, and no one ran for the post. Pasqualucci was appointed by Mayor Jim Schwantz and approved by the village council Monday. She will need to run in two years and again two years after that.

Pasqualucci, who has a background in financial services and logistics, is on the sister cities board as well.