A River Grove village official will step in to fill a vacant seat on the Village Board.
Michele Obaya, 50, who’s been director of the River Grove Recreation Department for the past two years, will leave the the recreation department and be appointed as a trustee on the River Grove Village Board.
Obaya will finish the remaining two-year term of former trustee Kathryn Bruce, who died unexpectedly in February.
River Grove Mayor Marilynn May said she sought out Obaya to fill the vacancy. She said Obaya has been heavily involved in the village.
“She’s a very humble and very smart and intelligent girl,” she said. “I think she’ll be an asset.”
Obaya said she didn’t immediately say yes to the job.
“Marilynn did approach me and we talked about it,” she said. “I thought about it and I told her that if she thought if I could add or bring something to the board, I would do it.”
But she understands that filling Bruce’s seat isn’t a competition. The former trustee was well-known in the village.
“I definitely couldn’t fill Bruce’s shoes,” Obaya said.
But they do have a lot in common. Like Bruce, Obaya has volunteered in the River Grove School District for many years. She has been a member of the River Grove School Education Foundation, a member of the River Grove School Parent Teacher Association and the River Grove School Athletic Club.
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All of these organizations were made up of parents and volunteers, which help raise money for programs and equipment for enhance classroom instruction and extracurricular activities.
“It’s important to me to give back to the community,” she said.
Obaya said her three sons have come up through the River Grove school system. She always wanted to provide a good example for them by being involved.
“They’ve always seen me active in the community and the school and that’s very important to me,” she said.
She will be giving up her Recreation Department position for the trustee seat and will be sworn in at May 7 board meeting.
As trustee, she hopes to work to continue to improve the village, especially the village’s recreation department.
“We have to work with what we have in the matter of adding new programs,” she said. “We started a flag football program that has been successful and we’d like to start an instructional basketball program. I’d like maybe to start a Saturday bowling league for kids.”
She’s excited to finish out Bruce’s term on the board, but doesn’t know if she’ll run for the seat come election season.
“We all want to say we want to be in there for the long haul, but we don’t know what the future brings,” she said. “It’s more about being a part of the community. That’s the way I look at it.”
Obaya has lived in River Grove since 1993 and is married with three sons.