Esther Steel takes on Blackberry Township Supervisor role upon Domback’s retirement

ELBURN – Blackberry Township resident Esther Steel took over Fred Dornback’s job as Township Supervisor after he retired on March 31. She assumed the position on April 1, and will serve out the remaining two years of his term.

Steel’s interest in the township was initially sparked by the township’s plans to build a number of sports fields on a site along Bateman Road west of Route 47 and Main Street Road. The plan was to develop the site, south of where the previous McNair baseball fields had been located, in coordination with the Kane County Forest Preserve and various local youth sports programs.

However, Steel’s interest in township business continued even as plans for the sports fields appeared to fall apart.

“She’s been very involved,” Township Trustee Harley Veldhuizen said. “She’s showed up for every meeting for the last three years. She’s opened up a good dialog (with the board).”

Veldhuizen said that Steel has a history of working on boards, and he feels that she is knowledgeable about the workings of governmental entities.

“She is sincere in her interest,” he added.

When the township published a request for people interested in filling Dornback’s spot in January 2019, Steel applied along with two other candidates.

“I felt Esther would do the best job for us,” Veldhuizen said.

Steel said that she had been encouraged to run by several people within the township. She said her interest in serving as township supervisor comes from her belief that she has a lot of knowledge she feels would be useful, as well as an understanding about what can benefit a community.

“I felt I could contribute,” she said. “I wanted to help; I wanted to make a difference.”

She said that while some people feel that townships are no longer a necessary layer of government, she believes that township government in areas such as western Kane County where there is no city government is “extremely important,” and “the only mechanism for people to have a voice.”

Steel’s first introduction to local government took place in 1975 when she was a Geneva High School student, and the city was deciding whether or not to allow McDonald’s to come to town.

“It was a big controversy,” she said.

As part of a school social studies project, Steel said she met with the city planner at the time, who explained to her the concept of land use – how a government could plan for development and decide where to locate things where they could benefit the needs of the most residents.

Steel is currently a commissioner on the Kane County Planning Commission, which she said she loves.

She said it gets her involved with planning on a regional basis and exposes her to all of the positive things that Kane County is working on, such as the River Trail project, the Farm to Table program and all the food banks.

Steel also served on the Geneva Library Board for 16 years, 14 of those years as the board president.

“I love libraries,” she said. “Some people don’t understand what a resource the libraries are. So many people have the opportunity to expand their knowledge and their accessibility to information, and their interactions with others.”

The electronic age has opened up so many doors to more and different kinds of information, she added, and libraries are also beginning to function as community meeting spaces.

Steel’s other civic involvement includes serving on the city’s Strategic Plan Advisory Committee and volunteering for the Downtown Beautification Committee, the Long-Range Planning Committee for the city and the parks, assisting with one of the school district referendums, and with Geneva’s Open Space referendum.

She was born in Pittsburgh and her family moved to Geneva in 1971. Her brother and sister all currently live in Blackberry Township, her mom lives in Geneva, two of her children live in Geneva and one in Crystal Lake. She has three grandchildren and one on the way.

She moved out to Blackberry Township, off of Rowe Road, nearly five years ago, where she lives on a small farm with her Scottish terrier dog and her two Clydesdale quarter horses.

Although she has just recently started the job, Steel said she has some thoughts about areas in which she would like to see the township become more involved.

“I’d love to see us do more senior programs,” she said.

She would also like to work more closely with the other local taxing bodies to see where they could collaborate with each other.

She said she strongly believes in transparency and open government. She also believes in being fair, always taking the high road and doing what you really truly believe is the right thing to do.

“I try to put myself into someone else’s shoes,” she said. “If you understand where someone else is coming from, you can work with them on a whole different level. It’s all about communication.”

Trustee Jim Michels said Steel represents change. He said that although she is new to township government, “she’s a smart lady and she can learn things.”

He said Dornback had raised the workings of the township to a level that it hadn’t been before.

“Steel will give it a fresh look and she will do a good job,” he said.