Submitted
Westfield Deputy Clerk-Treasurer Marla Ailor is running to replace retiring Clerk-Treasurer Cindy Gossard.
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Ailor has proudly called Westfield home for more than 23 years. She has been committed to the community through various volunteer positions and associations including past PTO President at Monon Trail Elementary, Westfield Preservation Alliance Board Member, President of the Fiscal Conservatives of Hamilton County, and co-founder of the Central Indiana Coalition of Conservatives.
Ailor has worked for the City of Westfield in the Clerk-Treasurer’s office since May 2022 and worked previously for the city on the 2016 Westfield special census. She is a member of Accelerate Indiana Municipalities and the Indiana League of Municipal Clerks and Treasurers.
Working alongside the current clerk-treasurer as a deputy clerk charged with project research analysis, Ailor has already been able to establish a new capital asset policy, formulate a more easily readable quarterly report, and initiate the purchase of a new software solution that will help streamline the publication of records for the public.
Among her latest projects, she has been tasked with helping identify the terms of the appointments for the many boards and commissions of the city. She will fulfill the duties of the clerk-treasurer, who is retiring, for which bookkeeping is only one of many. She brings a new voice that is already making a positive impact on leadership in Westfield. She says she believes it’s time to develop meaningful, intentional partnerships that will allow Westfield to grow and prosper.
Ailor says she thinks most people don’t know what the role of the Clerk-Treasurer is, and she believes that it’s truly a role for a public administrator. The elements of the job require an understanding of basic accounting principles, receiving city revenues, prescribing invoicing and payroll, and managing the city’s investments and internal controls; however, the office is also charged with maintaining the records of the city which includes attending its meetings and recording the proceedings as part of the official record.
The Clerk-Treasurer manages a staff of six full-time employees, and Ailor says her degree in business administration, concentrated in public administration, is a great fit for her in the elected position. She is committed to collaboration, transparency, and fiscal responsibility. She has met with all three of the Westfield mayoral candidates, and she says she can work with whomever the voters elect.
Ailor says Westfield is on an incredible growth track, but as a government, she has witnessed a lack of organization and implementation of certain policies and procedures that she says she believes the city needs to help it function more efficiently and effectively. She is tasked, by the Clerk-Treasurer, with identifying these weaknesses in her current role.
More about the candidate
Marla Ailor and her husband Kurt first met in the sixth grade at Northwestern School Corporation in Kokomo. They are raising their 16-year-old son in a large lot home that was formerly in unincorporated Westfield-Washington Township and built by her grandparents in 1965. The Ailors voluntarily annexed their property into the city by way of the Chatham Hills Development adjoining their property on three sides.
The Ailor family attends Life Church in Noblesville and enjoys spending time with their extended family and friends on the weekends and during vacations. Currently, they are hosting an exchange student from Brazil. Marla enjoys an annual salmon fishing trip with her husband and friends and relishes opportunities to attend events and presentations with her dad. Her parents, originally from Sheridan, live in Zionsville. Her father, a retired Delphi executive, teaches government and U.S. Constitution classes locally.
From 1993 to 2003, Ailor managed three offices for the optometry practices of Dr. Steve Loman. She stopped working to begin a family and attend to their home. Marla graduated summa cum laude from Southern New Hampshire University in May 2022 and is a 2021 graduate of the Hoosier Leadership Series sponsored by the Indiana Family Institute.
She is a lifetime auxiliary member of VFW Post 10003, where she is a past volunteer of the year and past trustee, a member of American Legion Post 155, and has twice been elected state delegate to the Republican Party convention. She has attended meetings of the Hamilton County GOP and Westfield GOP clubs since 2017.
Learn more at MarlaForClerkTreasurer.com or by emailing info@marlaforclerktreasurer.com.
Marla is great for the job. She is always committed in what ever she does. She especially committed to the citizens of Westfield.