Editor’s note: This story has been corrected to focus on the timing of expirations for current library trustees. An earlier version incorrectly referred to a state code for another form of local governance that might have shorter terms for library commissioners.
Forest Park’s village council will consider adjustments to expirations of some Forest Park library commissioners in an effort to clean up timing on those terms. In some cases, expirations seem to have gotten gradually off cycle over past years as appointments were made to the board to replace commissioners who had resigned from the office.
The discrepancies were noted by new Village Administrator Moses Amidei as he reviewed the state code.
In Forest Park, library trustees are appointed by the mayor and approved by the village council, with each trustee serving for six years.
The library board has six seats, one of which is currently vacant. Executive Director Pilar Shaker told the library board Sept. 20 that she hasn’t heard anything about when Mayor Rory Hoskins might fill it. The board had two vacant seats until Aug. 9, when Hoskins appointed former Union Pacific Railroad recruitment manager Eboni Murray to serve until May 2027.
“[Around] 4 to 6 weeks ago, I heard from the village administrator,” she said. “He noticed that the terms our current trustees are serving are not aligned with ILSC requirements for appointed trustees.”
Shaker said she and Amidei both researched the matter and neither were sure how the current terms came to be – but that they had to be brought into compliance with state law. She said the village administrator worked with the village attorney to come up with the ordinance changing the terms, and that they wanted to share the results with Hoskins before bringing the proposed changes to the village council. That could happen as soon as next week.
Three seats – the currently vacant seat and the seats occupied by vice president Keary Bramwell and board secretary James Pekoll – currently have terms that expire in 2024. Board president Brooke Sievers’ term expires in 2026. Treasurer Lynn Beribak said that her term is supposed to expire in 2023, because she was appointed to fill a vacancy before being appointed to a full term on June 16, 2017.
