My destination was a Village Board meeting. At the present time, I am the only woman trustee along with five men and a male Village President in Clarendon Hills, IL, a town of 7,000 in suburban Chicago. The elected officials, eight of us including a Village Clerk, sit at the front of the room along with the Village Manager. In the course of a two- to three-hour meeting twice a month, we discuss community concerns -- from a new ordinance about home occupations to ordering a truck for the public works department -- followed by votes on village business.
Crime, poor schools or racial conflicts are not issues in our town. But that doesn't mean there is no difference of opinion, and local residents feel very free to express their concerns and take issue with the board. Every meeting agenda has a time for residents' comments.
When I was approached to run for office four years ago, I wasn't sure I wanted the job, which pays nothing and often means dealing with residents who are unhappy with what's going on in town.
But I also knew I had the background and time to do the job since I had retired from my job with the local newspaper where I had worked for 18 years, 12 of those years covering the Clarendon Hills Village Board. I knew how the board worked. I knew the local issues. I like meetings, but did I want the aggravation?
Weighing the Choice
Our town operates under a non-partisan caucus system whereby a group of residents solicits names of possible candidates for village office, interviews those who agree to be interviewed and then presents a slate of caucus-endorsed candidates at a Town Meeting.
After the interview, I still didn't know if I would agree to run. I wrote down all the pros and cons. I prayed about it. It would be good to have another woman on the board. In the almost 75 years of incorporation, our town could count only four women who had served as trustees.
What finally did it was looking at my family history and our church history. My grandfather, father and one brother served on their local school boards. Thinking about those in our local church, I can list at least three village presidents, several trustees, at least one library board president, a park board president and several park commissioners and school board members from Community Presbyterian Church. I agreed to run.
I thought I knew a lot about local government when I ran for office 3 1/2 year ago, but it's a different proposition when you are sitting in front of the room. You must make a decision on how to vote on the controversial housing project, the controversial school in the park, the opening of local streets to a busy thoroughfare.
My philosophy has emerged from these important debates. I look at what's best for the town as a whole, not for one section of town or for one interest group. I try to discuss things in a rational manner even though that can be very hard at times. I work with fellow board members to come to a consensus. Sometimes we have to agree to disagree without continuing animosity.
We have been fortunate, I believe, in that this board in the main has worked together well even though there have been times when we haven't all agreed. There should be a healthy dialogue, of course. We should not be in lock step on every issue. What's been hard is listening to those who disagree with how we on the board are doing things and who get angry with us: "Why don't you listen? Doesn't what we say make any difference to you?" they ask us. Often we are coming at the issue from very different points of view. We probably won't ever change each other's minds.
And there are the surprises. Who would have thought sidewalks would be such a volatile issue? Who could have predicted all the issues before us during the last year and the time they would take? In the past year we have addressed intergovernmental agreements related to the proposed school in the park, two plans for condominium projects, an ongoing road program and the beautification of the downtown.
In the summer 1997 issue of this magazine, Betsy Brink and Doug Wysockey-Johnson exchanged ideas about their work. Betsy wrote: "I am encouraged...to think of myself as an intercessor -- one of a long line of people who have entered this institution at a moment in time and held it up in prayer, worked on its behalf." (Check out their article.)
Wish I'd said that.
Ann Hamman has been an active member of Community Presbyterian Church
in Clarendon Hills, Ill., for 26 years. She is in her fourth year in a
four-year term as village trustee.