Women bring strengths to River Forest governance

For the first time in its history, River Forest is led largely by women. Catherine Adduci is concluding her first year as village president; Sharon Halperin is finishing up her first year as clerk. And now women form the majority of trustees on the village board.

This is great, said Roma Colwell-Steinke, who is winding up her first year as trustee after serving as village clerk for four. Women bring a different perspective to government, she observed. They bring collaboration to the table, a clear sense of working together for the common good.

“We’ve had for quite a few years, a male-dominated board where they were not listening to each other,” Colwell-Steinke said. “Here everyone listens to what you have to say. There’s space to give an opinion whether they agree or not. No one shuts anyone out here. It’s not necessary that you have to agree, but everyone around us is listening.”

Adduci is a good leader in that regard, she noted. “Cathy appreciates everyone’s opinion. She wants to hear what everyone has to say.”

Colwell-Steinke cited the formation of the economic development commission. In preparation for the meeting in October where it was to be approved, she went through the packet and read material on all of the people Adduci nominated. What disturbed her was that three of the seven lived outside of River Forest. After discussion, the motion was tabled and the commission reconstituted when the matter came back to the board for consideration — and approval — the following month.

Colwell-Steinke said she ran for trustee because River Forest has the potential to do some wonderful things. She wanted to play a role in furthering Adduci’s vision for River Forest. 

After one year, she is getting to know the ropes pretty well and has found it’s a very different role.

“When I was clerk,” Colwell-Steinke said, “I would go through the packet and read something I was interested in. I’m finding there’s a tremendous amount of reading for this job. I work pretty hard, [but] I was surprised about how much work goes into being a trustee.”

She learned that the trustee role is a lot less hands-on than she thought. As a volunteer with District 90 and Oak Park and River Forest High School, she got to plan and do the work. As trustee, she gets materials, comes to a conclusion and votes on it, and Village Administrator Eric Palm takes it to staff to implement. 

“A piece of me was sad,” she said, but acknowledged, “I do not have the expertise to run the village.”

Colwell-Steinke will be working with Village Administrator Eric Palm this year if the village creates a sustainability commission to advise the board on environmental issues. A game plan could soon be in the works. She praised Green4Good, a District 90-based group of volunteers who focus on green projects throughout the community. 

“They do some fantastic things for the community. We’re so lucky to have them,” she said.