Oak Park Village Hall’s search for a new boss began on Monday.
The village board gave the go-ahead earlier this week to send out a “request for qualifications,” looking for search firms to help them find a new chief administrator.
Elected officials hope to set an aggressive timeline for replacing Tom Barwin, who left his post on Feb. 29after five years. If all goes smoothly, they want to hire a search firm by early May, start conducting interviews in mid-July and possibly extend a job offer to a candidate in August. They would like the next manager to start by Sept. 1, meaning a roughly six-month hiring process.
During a meeting earlier this month, Trustee Colette Lueck said she hopes Oak Parkers will take an interest in the effort. Officials said there will be ample time for public input, though no one commented during Monday’s meeting.
“This is the issue people should care about, not something in their backyard,” she said. “This issue, in the end, has more importance for everybody than many of the things we hear about, like the latest parking ticket.”
Meanwhile, the village board was also set to OK a separation agreement with Barwin on Monday. But the item was yanked off the agenda at the last minute, as trustees said they needed more time to work on it. Board members declined to give specifics on the agreement until after it’s approved in the coming weeks.