At the Nov. 15 Village of Hinsdale Board of Trustees meeting, the board issued a proclamation honoring village clerk Christine Bruton who is set to retire at the beginning of December after a long and successful career with the village.
Bruton started with the village in 2005 as a utility billing clerk before becoming the village clerk in 2006. She attended at least 340 village meetings and sworn in over 30 village trustees.
“The village of Hinsdale has been a part of my life and my family’s for almost two decades,” Bruton said. “And the stories go both ways. I tell them about all of you. And I know that I’ve blathered endlessly about my kids. So I was trying to think about what I wanted to say. And Hinsdale has been in so many, so many areas of our lives. My daughter worked at the community pool for a couple of summers. My son and his wife were married at KLM. My brother and sister-in-law used to have a booth at the craft fair down the tunnel on 4th of July. My kids were born in Hinsdale Hospital. My mom and I used to come in and go shopping and have lunch. You know, all those things. So, in so many ways, it’s been very reciprocal. And I, at the risk of being a municipal nerd, I think about how in ten, 20, 30, 40, 50 years, people will look up the minutes I wrote that will talk about the work that you’ve done. And while it’s not exactly a great American novel, I feel a little bit published. So I’m proud of that work. And I’m really, really grateful to all of you for this experience in my life.”
Bruton’s family was at the meeting to help celebrate the announcement and witness the proclamation issued by the village, which honored her 16 years of service to the village and the community and thanked her for all the hard work and generosity she has shared with Hinsdale.
Bruton is well known in the village as the face of all village government. She is known for always cheerfully answering the phone and helping with whatever complaint or issue is brought up and dealing with over 5,500 FOIA requests throughout her career.
Assistant village manager Andrea Peterson will step in as the interim clerk until the position is permanently filled.
The board will meet again at 7 p.m. on Dec. 13 at Memory Hall in the Memorial Building on 13 East Chicago Ave.
