Aldermen will not serve on a committee tasked with interviewing residents who are interested in filling a vacancy on the Park Ridge City Council, acting Mayor Marty Maloney said.
Maloney explained that the process for choosing a new alderman to represent the 7th Ward through April 2019 will be the same one that was followed by the city several times before — with just one small change.
Once again, a citizens committee will be formed to interview applicants for the 7th Ward seat and recommend a preferred candidate to the mayor for appointment, Maloney said. That candidate’s name will then be presented to the council for approval.
The difference this time around will be how the committee is organized. According to an announcement from the city, 7th Ward residents will be able to apply to serve on the interview committee. For two previous council appointments, Maloney chose the members of the committee himself.
Residents of the 7th Ward who are interested in serving on the interview committee should email their name, address and phone number to Deputy City Clerk Cheryl Peterson at cpeterso@parkridge.us.
Residents interested in the aldermanic appointment are asked to send a letter of interest and resume to Peterson at the same email address. Candidates must be residents of the 7th Ward and have lived there for at least one full year, according to the city.
The deadline to apply for the aldermanic vacancy has been extended until 5 p.m. on May 15, Maloney announced. The deadline to apply for the committee remained 5 p.m., May 2.
The vacancy in the 7th Ward is the result of Maloney’s election as mayor on April 4. Maloney previously served concurrently as acting mayor and alderman of the 7th Ward.
There are two years left in Maloney’s aldermanic term and under state law, he has 60 days to fill the vacancy, which is created upon his swearing in as mayor. That event was scheduled for May 1.
On April 24, 2nd Ward Ald. Nicholas Milissis, who has called for aldermen to have more involvement in the process of appointing new members of the City Council, suggested allowing the council’s four committee chairmen be added to the interview and selection committee.
Milissis is one of the council’s four committee chairs. The others are aldermen John Moran, Roger Shubert and Marc Mazzuca.
“Instead of having us at the complete tail-end of the process, have us more involved in the selection process,” Milissis said.
But Maloney declined to take up Milissis on his proposal.
“I’m not following that suggestion because I think it’s a bad one,” he said.
Maloney explained that residents of the ward should be the ones making the selection of who represents them on the City Council.
“That is the core of what I feel is the most important thing — that people of the ward have an opportunity to weigh in on who their representation will be,” Maloney said.
The mayor added that elected officials do have input on the appointment process, as they vote on whether to accept the individual who is recommended.
State law says only that a mayor has 60 days to fill a vacancy on a city council and does not set rules for the process of doing so, said City Attorney Adam Simon.
Joan Sandrik, a resident who served on the interview committee that recommended the appointment of Charles Melidosian, a friend of Maloney’s, as 5th Ward alderman in February, agreed that elected officials should not be involved in this part of the process.
“If you want to attend the hearings, that’s fine,” Sandrik said. “I don’t have a problem with that. But I don’t think you sit at the table. I think it’s resident-driven, ward-driven.”
She added that no aldermen had attended the two nights of interviews for eight 5th Ward candidates or the group’s final deliberation meeting, which occurred on a Sunday.
Milissis expressed objections to the times selected for the interviews, as one was on a Monday when the City Council was meeting. He also said the video for the deliberation meeting was not available until the day the council was to vote on Melidosian’s appointment.
Milissis, 3rd Ward Ald. Rick Van Roeyen, and 4th Ward Ald. Roger Shubert, attempted to block the appointment, as Milissis and Shubert objected to the process that had been followed.
Milissis later changed his vote, and Melidosian’s appointment was approved.
Shubert on April 24 said he wished the deadline for appointing a new alderman was greater than 60 days, but said he was “comfortable with the process going forward” and did not feel any changes were needed.
Maloney’s predecessors, David Schmidt and Howard Frimark, also formed citizen committees to interview and recommend applicants to fill aldermanic vacancies.
“I don’t fully understand where the opposition is coming from,” Maloney said.
Twitter: @Jen_Tribune
