As an elected official, community involvement is something I feel extremely is important. Discovering the issues amongst residents, meeting new members of the community through the local schools, church and community groups comes from the many years I have dedicated as a proud resident of North Riverside. Along with my community involvement, my experience with working with the public for over 30 years of employment has become extremely valuable tool an elected official these past years. 

The use of social media has shed some light on just how many residents are unaware of important topics in our community or many occasions have been given the wrong information. Witnessing misinformation and or complaints has given me the motivation to run as Village Clerk for another term. I believe expanding our upgraded technology to live streaming at meetings will help better inform residents. The excitement I have for our new party and ideas my fellow candidate and I have shared gives me much encouragement that we can and will continue to strive for an even better North Riverside.

The role of Village Clerk is the official keeper of records. The duties also include taking accurate minutes at board meetings and putting together a well informed agenda and agenda packet which I have created during my term as Village Clerk. There are many important roles as Village Clerk, such as working with the Cook County Clerk’s Office. However, getting accurate information out to residents is most important.

It is the Clerk’s responsibility to ensure village information such as meeting dates, times and minutes are not only made available for residents but in a timely matter as well. Since elected, an agenda packet for the Board of Trustees Meetings has been created with full transparency for all residents to see prior to meetings. As Village Clerk, I would like to broaden the scope of the duties of this position by having a more active role with communication amongst residents and look compile an accurate list of residents in need.

As stated, social media has become one of the new ways of retrieving information. Although I’m not typically a fan of social media, it can be a great tool to use to reach members of the community if used properly. The village has a created a Facebook page but what I would like to see is a YouTube site with a monthly Mayoral update. This is something that our Mayoral candidate, Joe Mengoni and myself, have discussed and look forward to developing soon. This will also broaden our communication amongst other municipalities.

As stated above, I would definitely love to see the expansion of the Clerk’s Office with extended services to those in need and seniors. This I have come to realize since the pandemic started. 

I have aggressively been working with the County Clerk’s Office for several years and hopefully getting closer to having our North Riverside Commons Building serve as an early voting site. I feel I have created a relationship with the County Clerk’s office and this will be my continued goal along with working with the mayor and administration to enhance our technology to even better inform our residents.