The River Forest village board Monday tabled the hiring of a new finance director to a special meeting where the appointment will be discussed in executive session. The delay came after some trustees were unsatisfied that the village has been following its own laws governing the swearing in of new officials.
“I really don’t want to be an obstructionist, but I think there is legitimacy to the question,” Trustee Russ Nummer said.
That question was one of a handful trustees raised about appointments.
Some trustees are also concerned about the paucity of information on a candidate the board receives before being asked to vote on a hiring.
“I’d be much more comfortable to meet this person before [voting],” Trustee Stephen Dudek said.
“It would have been appropriate to have some discussion-anything,” Nummer said, noting that his objection was to the process and was in no way a reflection of the candidate, Chris D. Soriano.
“I did ask two meetings ago that we be provided with [an explanation of the] process by which we reach these appointments,” Nummer said, adding that his questions had not been answered.
President Frank Paris-who, along with Village Administrator Steve Gutierrez interviewed the candidate-said he has been the CEO of five “sizable” corporations and that not letting the lead administrator pick the employees who work for him would be highly unusual.
The board does not have another June meeting scheduled, prompting the need for a special meeting. Paris said any discussion of a particular candidate should be private, and the board would discuss the appointment process in general behind closed doors.
The three trustees questioning the procedures also wanted to hear more about appointments to boards and commissions earlier in the meeting.
George Parry, of the 1200 block of Lathrop Avenue, told the board during public comment that 16 of 21 members of the village’s plan commission, zoning board of appeals and development review board (which is composed of members of the other two boards), are “holdovers.” That is, their terms have expired, but they continue to serve.
Parry, a former plan commissioner, produced a 1995 Forest Leaves column that reported he was bumped from his post as a holdover after differing with Paris on whether Keystone Montessori School should have been allowed to open at 412 Thatcher.
Trustee Stephen Hoke said he, too, is concerned.
“When so many people are on holdover status, they can be replaced … they serve at your pleasure,” he told Paris.
Paris said he would talk with held-over commissioners and reappoint them as soon as he could. He said he would appoint a new chair of the development review board, too. That position is supposed to alternate every two years between a member of the plan commission and a member of the zoning board of appeals.
But when Hoke pushed the matter of who the village’s deputy clerk is-a position designated by local laws to swear in new officials-Paris dropped the gavel. “We’re not debating,” he said.
Trustees Susan Conti and Nancy Dillon said they did not like the rancor at the board table. “I’m seeing a lack of respect,” Dillon said.
But Dudek said disagreement is just part of working things out.
“This is a democracy, and we’re not always going to agree,” Dudek said. “If you cut people off, it just gets worse.”
CONTACT: dcarter@wjinc.com