I saw that Village President Vickie Scaman said she “won’t hurry through the process of appointing Susan Buchanan’s successor, and that it’s important to her that all the sitting trustees get to provide feedback and that the person who takes over Buchanan’s seat has similar legislative priorities.” [Buchanan resigns from Oak Park Village Board, WJ News, May 14]
I would like to point out to President Scaman that she has already set a precedent for replacing a trustee who resigns. According to the October 7, 2022, Wednesday Journal, “The Oak Park village board will vote Monday to appoint Cory Wesley to the trustee seat left vacant by Arti Walker-Peddakotla’s resignation. If the board votes in his favor, as Village President Vicki Scaman expects it to, Wesley will finish the remainder of Walker-Peddakotla’s term.”
Oak Park residents may remember Wesley from his 2019 run for village trustee, where he landed fourth out of 10 candidates and placed just behind the person he will likely replace.
Based on President Scaman’s prior precedent of selecting as a replacement trustee the person who finished with the next highest vote total in the prior election, that would mean that Lucia Robinson with 4,452 votes in the most recent election would be appointed to the board.
Of course who is to say that President Scaman, like President Trump, has any concern for precedent following re-election? We can all wait for her revisionist history “process” in selecting our next trustee.
Alan Krause
Oak Park