Oak Park Trustee Geoff Baker will resign by early December, putting his seat on the board up for election next April.
Baker said Monday that resigning in time for his position to be replaced by voters would be “do[ing] it as democratically as possible.”
Baker has said in the past that his schedule as an attorney and father has not left much time for his service on the board. Wednesday Journal reported in August that Baker regularly skips board study sessions because he wants to spend more time with his family and because he feels the board wastes time at the meetings.
Baker was elected on the New Leadership Party slate in April 2005.
Asked what Baker’s resignation means, NLC President Brian Farrar said, “What it means is that it takes too much time to be part of the village board.”
He said the issue will become central in the 2007 campaign.
What responsibility do the NLC and its trustees have in the time consumed at meetings? Farrar said trustees bear some of the blame, however he put most of that blame on Village President David Pope.
“They’re not wasting their time in meetings,” Farrar said. “They’re wasting their time in study sessions,” and Pope is responsible for scheduling the sessions.
Farrar suggested that village meeting transcripts would show that Pope speaks more than any other member of the board, too.
Pope did not return a phone call Tuesday morning, but has expressed a desire previously to shorten meetings.
Farrar said he learned of Baker’s resignation plans when contacted Monday by Wednesday Journal. Farrar said he “bear[s] no ill will toward” Baker for not telling him sooner, and said the decision to send his seat up for election, rather than remain under NLC control, didn’t matter. Farrar said he’s confident the NLC will win the seat back in the spring election.
Bob Kane, president of the Village Manager Association, said it was unfortunate that Baker will not fulfill his term, and acknowledged differences the VMA had with Baker during his tenure.
“We would want our candidates to have as high a respect as possible for all” people who appear before the board, Kane said, referring to things Baker said about him publicly. “Whether you’re elected or just a volunteer, you deserve a certain level of respect.”
Both party heads said they were pleased at the interest they’ve seen in people wanting to be considered for slating for the three open trustees positions on the board. That interest should be sufficient, Farrar and Kane said, to find candidates for the remainder of Baker’s term.
Until the election, the president-subject to the “advice and consent” of the village board-“shall appoint a qualified person” to the vacated position, according to state law. Pope was not available for comment on that process.
CONTACT: dcarter@wjinc.com