It appears that two incumbents and a former board member were elected River Forest trustees on Tuesday night.
With all eight precincts reporting, Susan Conti looked to be winning a third term as trustee, garnering 1,032 votes, or 19.33 percent. Mike Gibbs, who served one term as trustee, then lost in 2013 when he ran for village president against Catherine Adduci, earned 984 votes (18.43 percent) percent.
Trustee Carmela Corsini appears to have earned a second term with 948 votes (17.6 percent), though her margin over Patty Henek (919 votes), a well-known community activist, was less than 30 votes. Rick Gillis (761 votes), a trustee candidate six years ago who narrowly lost to Gibbs, earned 14.25 percent, and Richard Cooke, a lawyer, received 695 votes (13.02 percent).
Conti was elated. “I’m honored and humbled with the confidence that the voters have shown me,” she said at her small gathering at the Golden Steer in Forest Park.
Gibbs didn’t want to comment, saying that he didn’t want to jinx the outcome with one precinct still not heard from.
Corsini knew it would be a close race. “It’s getting a little exciting over here,” she said at Forest Park’s Old School Tavern where Gibbs was also present.
A newcomer to River Forest politics, Cooke said he had very realistic expectations when he entered the race late.
“The results are not surprising. I congratulate the winners and thank the wonderful neighbors and new friends for voting for me,” he said. “It was a positive experience.”
Henek said earlier in the evening that the results were encouraging. “You do not know who will show up to vote,” she said.
In the election to become board members in Elementary District 90, Community Caucus candidates incumbent Ralph Martire and newcomer Rich Moore, as well as newcomer independent Barbara Hickey, easily won their races. Moore garnered 32.01 percent of the vote, Martire 31.44, and Hickey 29.01 percent. A fourth candidate, Harley Beck, who suspended her campaign in March, still received 7.54 percent of the vote. It is uncertain at this point how many votes Lori Coplan, a write-in candidate, received.
Moore said, “I got a lot of support throughout the village, and I look forward to working with others throughout the community.”
Turnout this year was 25.1 percent with 1,885 ballots cast. Those numbers were higher than in 2011, when the last trustee race was conducted with no village president on the ballot.
This story has been changed to reflect that turnout for the 2015 election was higher than it was in 2011.
