Thank you for the opportunity to comment. Being a City Clerk in New York State, I am appointed. 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. 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.