Wheaton`s new mayor and its two other City Council members all were keeping quiet over the weekend about who their favored candidates would be for the two open seats on the council.
However, the three were eager to voice agreement on one thing: They needed to put politics aside and move as quickly as possible to fill at least one of the vacancies so that Wheaton government could begin functioning normally again. Some city business has been on hold because it requires four votes for passage.
”Most other city councils have more than five members,” said Councilman Grant Eckhoff. ”It`s important that we get up to full strength. What`s pretty apparent is that we have to work together, make a decision and go forward. We can`t sit back and wait for the election.”
Eckhoff doesn`t think there will be lengthy delays. ”I don`t know if I`d say we need to compromise. I`d call it consensus building.”
Gwendolyn S. Henry, who was unanimously elected mayor on Saturday morning to replace the late Mayor Robert J. Martin, said she had one candidate she was going to contact Sunday, ”to see whether or not they want to serve.” But she wouldn`t name the person and said she expected more names to be brought up by other council members at a meeting Monday night.
”It`s open,” she said. ”I`d like to hear everyone`s opinions first.”
It will be up to Henry to nominate people to the two seats, and then the two other council members can approve or reject her recommendations.
”Hopefully, she`ll appoint someone we can easily confirm,” said Councilman Donald L. Maxwell.
But not everything has come easily for the Wheaton City Council of late. Wheaton had been operating with four instead of five council members since late last year when Richard L. Anderson moved out of state. The late Mayor Martin`s attempt to fill the vacancy ended in a deadlock, and the position was going to be left open until the 1991 elections.
A second seat became vacant on Saturday when Henry had to give up her council seat to accept the mayor`s post. Martin died on Feb. 22.
On Feb. 26, Henry, Maxwell and Eckhoff met privately for 50 minutes to decide on a new mayor, but were unsuccessful, largely because of Maxwell`s attempt to hold the post for a conservative. Although he didn`t want the job himself, Maxwell was said to be against the more liberal Henry or Eckhoff taking the post.
Maxwell nominated Henry on Saturday, he said, in the interest of
”keeping the ship afloat,” and that sentiment seems to be the mood as the three head into the council member selection process.
”I think we exhibited a solid front (Saturday),” said Maxwell,
”showing that we are here to do business and that this city is not handicapped. I`d like to see someone selected immediately, so we then could handle the things that require four votes.
”We`re in sort of a caretakers position until the voters can elect a new mayor in 1991.”
Henry, a 49-year-old certified public accountant, has been on the council since 1987, and had no prior political experience. Eckhoff, an attorney, is in his first year in office. Maxwell, in his seventh year on the council, is the most experienced of the three but said other commitments made him unable to take the mayor`s post.
The relative lack of experience now on the board makes it more crucial to fill the vacancies with experienced people, Eckhoff and Maxwell said.
”When Mayor Martin was on the council,” said Eckhoff, ”obviously he had a number of years of experience, which made the factor of experience for the fifth council member less critical. But, at least for one of the remaining two spots, it`s more important now to get someone with more experience.”
Some of the names to be considered probably will be the same as those who applied for the fifth council seat last November. Those included Mimi Stewart, owner of a public relations firm in Wheaton who has served on the Plan Commission since 1979 and is vice president of the Du Page County Board of Health; Daniel Fapp, a public affairs executive who was elected to the council in 1979, lost a re-election bid in 1983, was elected again in 1985 and did not run in 1989; and Michael Murphy, who has served on the Plan Commission since 1985.
