Village Free Press Candidate Questionnaire

Candidates for Village Clerk

Please submit answers (attached in an MS Word file or in the body of the email) to thevillagefreepress@gmail.com by
no later than March 7).
Name: Readith Ester
Age: N/A
Preferred contact: Email or Telephone 708/674-0455
Previous political experience: Village Clerk, 2005-2009, High School District #209 Board Member
Previous community experience: Member, Strengthening Proviso Youth, Maywood Commerce, Misericordia Family
Association Board Member, Providence Alumnae Board Member,
Occupation: Director of Transportation
Education: St. James Grammar, Providence High School, Malcolm X College, Molar Barber College, Sawyer Secretarial,
Studied at Keller Graduate School of Management.
Please answer the following questions to the best of your ability. Full disclosure: parts, or all, of your answers
are likely be published:

The Village Clerk is

What is your understanding of the role and functions of the position of village clerk?

the Keeper of the Corporate Seal, insuring the custody and control of
all municipal papers. We must attend all municipal meetings, compose
and maintain a full record of their proceedings.

What is your understanding of the Freedom of Information Act? Do you think that it is, overall, an adequate law for
promoting transparency in state government?

Does the village clerk have a role to play in promoting voter turnout in elections?

The primary role of the Clerk during elections is to insure:

- Voter information is readily available to facilitate to process for

residents pertaining to poll locations, registration (forms) and election
dates, deadlines/requirements, etc.

What are your thoughts on the ability of Maywood to keep past records and historical documents?

Unfortunately, I had a negative experience as there were no files/records in the

Clerks office when I took office in 2005. So my immediate goal became to
insure we created relevant files that for both informational and historical
purposes.

Unsure but when I left office, we

Where does the village currently keep archival documents/material?

created files that totally occupied the office behind the cashiers station and had
several cabinets in the Clerks office as well.
 Do you believe that this material should be easily accessible to the
public? While we technology has simplified our ability to access information,
there is a need to insure all information is not readily available. There is a need
to insure the integrity of specific information for the sake of privacy laws.

Should the village clerk be conversant with technologies such as social media? What are your thoughts on Maywood
having a Facebook page to promote weekly board and commission meetings, for instance? Personally, I
think maintaining the Village Website is more than adequate.

Village Free Press Candidate Questionnaire

Candidates for Village Clerk

Page #2

Should the village clerk be in communication with his/her counterparts at other levels of governments, such as the Cook
Most definitely! Interacting with these
County Clerk or the Circuit Court Clerk of Cook County?

and other village clerk officials motivated me to pursue and obtain my

Certification as Village Clerk. Is there space for cooperation? Cooperation is greatly
needed to insure all staff is aware of legal updates and municipal guidelines for
Maywood to maintain compliance.

Do you believe that the clerk's office has any weaknesses? Ive
experienced times when this office
lacked an acceptable responsiveness to my requests. And if so, how can
it/they be improved? Everybody should be treated fairly. It should not matter
how an employee feels about another person; their JOB is to provide service. If
staff needs help and direction they should be open to asking, even if it is not
from a co-worker. Efficiency should be the goal, so if staff does not know
something, they should seek help. It wont mean they are inept, it would
actually show strength, if they utilize the help that is available.

Why are you best suited for this position? I loved being the Clerk and the Residents made me
good at it. Working with them afforded me opportunities to get them involved in
several initiatives. Their participation proved to be most valuable.

Please feel free to include any information you feel these questions did not address.
I highly encouraged and cooperated with the Official Board for liquor
establishments to have square footage requirements by initiating mandatory
Basset Training for owners and staff.

I included HS District #209 students in Village Sticker design competitions

where I awarded the runner ups and winners from my personal stipend.

Established a Meet and Greet initiative where we were able to increase Block
Club participationWe later added a beautification component; awarding
winner residents annually.

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