Foolishly, I thought the Village of River Forest had an effective Ethics Commission. Sadly, I was wrong.
While attending a recent village board meeting, I noticed Village President [Frank] Paris repeatedly interrupting trustees Dudek, Hoke and Nummer. Also, he regularly debated them–without yielding the chair to another trustee–and he often stopped all debate by declaring a “standstill.”
All those actions seemed to me to be violations of the village code, which requires village board meetings to be conducted in accordance with Robert’s Rules of Order.
Therefore, I sent a letter of complaint to the village administrator, citing those facts, among others, and asked the matter be referred to the Village Ethics Commission. Last Friday I got a reply stating the commission had dismissed my complaint because it “failed to state a violation of the Ethics Ordinance.”
The commission was right–because the village’s ethics ordinance is almost meaningless: It merely bans “political activities” and “gifts.” The net result is that there’s no other written ethical standard for River Forest officials.
Is that the kind of “Proud Heritage” we want for our village?
Not me!
Edward Hanrahan
River Forest
