Hazel Crest swears in Sandra Alexander as first-ever female mayor
The village of Hazel Crest made history Tuesday, swearing in its first-ever female mayor.
Sandra Alexander was elected to lead the village on April1. She began working for the village in 1994 as a 911 dispatcher, then moved up in the local government until she served as executive assistant to four mayors and village managers and then to the role of deputy village clerk.
Village officials said she broke barriers as the first full-time African American to serve in the village's administrative offices, and then as the first registered municipal clerk and first certified municipal clerk in the village's history.
She retired after 24 years, but remained active in the village as president of the Hazel Crest Proper Neighborhood Association and was elected a village trustee in 2023 before being elected mayor earlier this month.
She has lived and worked in Hazel Crest for 26 years.
