Louisa Ingrassia has been Wallkill town clerk for the past 20 years and is seeking another two-year term to continue serving the town that generations of her family have called home.
She has worked in the town government for nearly three decades and plans to serve as long as she can, as it’s in the “Ingrassia blood” to work hard, get involved, and help people, she said.
Her late mother, Dorothy Ingrassia, retired at the age of 80 as the town tax receiver.
Her father, Louis Ingrassia Sr., who had a career as a produce farmer, served the community as a volunteer firefighter, school board member, and state assemblyman before passing away in 2007.
The couple raised five children on the family farm on Ingrassia Road, named after Ms. Ingrassia’s farmer grandfather, and taught them “to be there for everyone and never ask for anything in return,” according to Ms. Ingrassia.
“You help, and you don’t worry about getting paid or being known,” she said.
That spirit serves Ms. Ingrassia well in her role as a town clerk, she said.
As a frontline face for various town services, residents ask her all kinds of questions, many falling outside her job descriptions.
“I can’t tell you how many times we Google and find answers for them,” said Ms. Ingrassia, who has a team of two full-time deputies and one part-time worker.
“Yes, we all are compensated, but there are a lot of things that we do here not because somebody says that is part of your job but because we want to help people.”
She became a marriage officiant a few years ago and has enjoyed performing marriage ceremonies free of charge for Wallkill residents.
Town Clerk Responsibilities
As a town clerk, Ms. Ingrassia’s major responsibility is filing vital records with county and state agencies, a workload that has grown exponentially since the opening of the Orange Regional Medical Center—now known as Garnet Health—in 2011.Last year, her office processed about 2,000 birth certificates and 1,000 death certificates, she said, noting that a new hire is sorely needed to catch up with the mounting workload.
Another responsibility of hers is the recordkeeping of town government documents, such as town board and planning board agendas, minutes, and resolutions.
She sits in on weekly town work sessions with a pad and pen and jots down key points as discussions unfold, although she occasionally brings a recorder.
She said the town was looking into purchasing software to help with meeting minutes and creating an online public portal for accessing town documents.
The latter will greatly reduce the Freedom of Information Law inquiries processed by her office, of which there have been about 600 so far this year, according to Ms. Ingrassia.
Recognition and Next Generation
In 2017, Ms. Ingrassia was named New York State Town Clerk of the Year for her personal and professional commitment to the local government and community.“That was the biggest thrill of my life—out of 932 or so town clerks, they picked me,” she said.
More than 100 letters were sent in support of Ms. Ingrassia to the Clerk of the Year Committee at the New York State Town Clerk Association, including one from a local funeral director who commended her responsive and responsible work attitude.
Ms. Ingrassia was also the president of the Orange Sullivan Town Clerks Association.
Her brother, Louis Ingrassia Jr., works in the town government and rose through the ranks from being a laborer to serving as the public works commissioner and highway superintendent.
Ms. Ingrassia and her siblings tried to pass down the Ingrassia traditions to the next generation; of her nieces and nephews, one is working as a schoolteacher, another is a veterinarian, and a third is planning to teach special education in Middletown, New York.
“Even though only two of them bear the Ingrassia last name, we always say that they all have Ingrassia blood,” Ms. Ingrassia said.
