We are now more than three months beyond the local April election in which a majority voted Yes on the referendum to impose term limits on trustees, the village president and village clerk. A Wednesday Journal June 10 editorial noted that “one of the instigators of the petition that put this issue on the ballot came to the board and asked when the village would incorporate the referendum result into local ordinance. Two sitting trustees asked basically the same thing. Some village officials have said proponents of term limits should go to court to seek clarity. … [Village attorney Lance] Malina … suggested the village itself should do ‘nothing.’”
The village administration has done its best to nullify the ballot referendum question since it first arose. Real questions reside in this resistance: Is it proper for those to whom a referendum and possible ordinance would apply to try to keep it off a ballot and, once it passes, to keep its ramifications from being discussed? Is it even close to appropriate for those affected officials to, in essence, get an attorney to advise them to “do nothing,” then to “do nothing” about the voted-upon wishes of the citizenry?
It seems to be tradition, even a sort of “inside baseball” sport in River Forest government to ignore such conflicts of interest. Why can they do this? Because a coterie of trustees and obedient administrators has been artfully put in place to keep the rest of us out so that any such conflicts can easily be declared non-existent.
Despite the clear conflict, four trustees and the compliant administrators have decided to ignore the voices of 1,222 of their fellow citizens and assume they can get away with it. They even have the chutzpah to say without any compunction that “proponents of term limits should go to court to seek clarity.”
What I’m hoping is that many of us among the 1,222 will not let this issue wither and die of neglect. We need to tell our board that we rightfully expect them to openly and thoughtfully discuss what 1,222 of us told them needs to be done. They must be reminded that we gave them a marching order and that their job is to march, not to stand at parade rest looking pretty. A good way to remind them is to show up at the next board meeting on July 14 and to speak up.
Ed McDevitt
River Forest
