Mobile City Clerk Lisa Lambert, recently recognized as one of the hardest-working officials in city government, says she plans to retire from her post in December after more than three decades of service to the city.
A native of Mobile, Lambert made history in 1994 when she joined the city clerk’s office, becoming the first Black woman to serve as Mobile’s assistant city clerk. She made history again in 2008, when she was sworn in as the city’s first Black female city clerk.
Lambert said she originally studied political science at Southern University and A&M College in Louisiana with plans to attend law school. She later changed course and pursued a master’s degree in public administration instead. Lambert worked for a health care company in New Orleans before returning to Mobile to be closer to her aging parents, and it was that homecoming that led her to apply for an opening as assistant city clerk.
City clerks are responsible for maintaining a municipality’s public records, supporting the work of city councilors and overseeing local elections. Lambert said her office’s workload follows the City Council’s agenda, and that organizing and executing Mobile’s municipal elections remains the most demanding part of the job, requiring roughly a year of advance preparation.
Lambert credited her staff of about a dozen employees with helping the clerk’s office run smoothly through its busiest stretches. Beyond her historic firsts, she is credited with digitizing and preserving roughly two centuries of the city’s municipal records, work she said has made public information more accessible to city employees and residents alike.
Lambert said she has taken the greatest satisfaction in knowing her work has helped the city function at its best, and she encouraged whoever succeeds her to always follow the law above all else.