OK. It is the Forest Park version of obsessive, and not helpful, insider baseball. After all, who cares which elected village commissioner gets to be “in charge” of Public Property or Accounts & Finance? The elected officials aren’t really “in charge” of specific departments anymore. Or are they?
Maria Maxham, former Forest Park Review editor, appointed and now elected a village commissioner, still says she wants a referendum to eliminate the nonsensical commission form of government that Forest Park clings to a century after it became obsolete. But it didn’t stop her on Monday night from benefitting when Mayor Rory Hoskins upended one of the odd traditions of the commissioner form and Maxham stepped ahead of Commissioner Jessica Voogd, the top vote getter on April 4, to become Commissioner of Accounts & Finance.
We admit we did not know that post doubles as vice mayor, standing in the wings if the mayor is unavailable or incapacitated. We also never knew Maxham has an undergraduate degree in accounting, helpful perhaps if the full-time finance director can’t get the books to balance or the village administrator needs advice on how let a bond issue.
This is about nothing but small-town politics and petty grudges. Hoskins, it appears, doesn’t like Voogd. His comments Monday evening criticized her for failing “to build sufficient relationships.” Hoskins appears to like Maxham. After all he appointed her to the council and now has eased her into the top commissioner post.
All of this just confirms our decades-long belief that the commissioner form of government might work in one-stoplight towns south of Springfield. But for an urban suburban village just outside Chicago, it is ridiculous. All of this contentiousness on a night that ought to have been a celebration of a refreshed village council being seated only adds to the murkiness about just who is in charge of what.
Nothing like Starship
If there is a contest to name an iconic Forest Park business, we’d have to nominate Starship Subs. A great launch story dating back 46 years. An outstanding product every single time. Two longtime owners who are present and proud. And now, a happy ending as Henry Laskowski and Paul McKenna have found strong new owners as they move into retirement.
A trio of restaurant entrepreneurs out of Oak Park are the new owners at Starship. They promise to maintain the menu and the support for the staff while modernizing a few aspects of the operation. So long as they don’t mess with the soups!
Thanks to Paul and Henry for their good work and profound commitment to Forest Park.
