Appointing a new police chief, extending bar hours, planning for an O’Hare Flyer station in Forest Park, and extending a PR firm’s contract — these are the conversations Commissioner Maria Maxham says Mayor Rory Hoskins hasn’t involved her in.
“I don’t know why you’re excluding me, and I want you to start including me,” said Maxham during her commissioner’s comment at the Sept. 14 council meeting. Maxham is commissioner of accounts and finance and responsible for all of the village’s fiscal records. In that role, she’s also village council vice president and would preside over meetings if Hoskins were absent.
At the last council meeting, Maxham shared multiple complaints about Hoskins’ lack of communication with her, hoping that her comments would spark some clarity on the questions she’s had in recent weeks.
Hoskins and two other commissioners used their commissioners’ comments at the end of the meeting to respond to Maxham and, in part, defend Hoskins’ approach.
Explaining her concerns, Maxham said, “People sometimes ask me, ‘Why do you share this dirty laundry in public?’ Well, the reason I do it is because we all talk about transparency all the time,” Maxham said.
She started with a complaint that there was not a fair process in the hiring of a new police chief after Ken Gross retires at the end of the month. She said that, when Gross announced his retirement, Village Administrator Rachell Entler told commissioners that the appointment process for hiring the next police chief would be communicated to them. But when Maxham followed up with an email weeks after not hearing anything, 20 minutes later she received a press release that Lt. Daniel Pater would be appointed as the next chief.
“I have every confidence he’s going to do an amazing job and he’s going to serve this village well,” Maxham said about Pater. “I told this to him, that I support the decision, but I don’t support the process that led to the decision.”
Maxham said that, though Hoskins is commissioner of the police department and legally can hire a new police chief without consulting other commissioners, “I think there’s an ethical obligation to involve all the elected officials in the same capacity on a decision that’s being made.” She added that two other commissioners were invited to meet with Pater before his appointment, but she was not.
As commissioner of accounts and finance, Maxham also oversees the fire department. When Phil Chiappetta retired as fire chief in 2024, “We had a very transparent process,” she said. “We interviewed all the people who were interested in the position, which did not happen with the police chief position. There were people interested who did not get an interview.”
During his commissioner’s comment at the end of the council meeting, Hoskins said commissioners will vote on whether to appoint Pater as police chief at the next council meeting.
Extending bar hours
Maxham said she learned through a local business that bar hours have been extended, possibly temporarily, for one hour on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. That business owner forwarded her an email from Hoskins, who is also liquor commissioner, that announced the pilot program to bars.
“I have publicly expressed myself as being in favor of the bar hours being extended, but I was not asked my opinion on what the extension should be. And I wasn’t informed that there was even a pilot program being considered, let alone implemented, until it had already happened,” Maxham said.
Officials have discussed extending bar hours as a way to offset increasing prices if commissioners approve a places-of-eating tax.
“For over a year now, bar owners have been coming to me in my capacity as liquor commissioner asking for extended bar hours,” Hoskins said, addressing the pilot program during his commissioner’s comment. “We’ve talked with the police department to see if they were in a position to better respond to later bar hours. I think most people enjoy a tranquil Madison Street. …Residents who live near certain bars have challenges with certain bars, but we also want to balance the needs of the businesses, and restaurants have been having a hard time. Some of the bars have been having a hard time.”
O’Hare Flyer
The first week of September, Hoskins sent out a press release that outlined the benefits of having a Forest Park station on the proposed O’Hare Flyer express train connecting the airport and downtown Chicago. The statement said the village is engaging a planning agency to explore technical assistance, but Hoskins later told the Review there’s no cost to the village for the services of that agency.
“The mayor sent out a statement to all residents saying, ‘The village is in support of this. The village has expressed their desire to have a stop here in Forest Park,’” Maxham said. “I’m not part of the village being referenced. I didn’t even know the village was having conversations with O’ Hare Flyer. This was the first I had heard about this, and I was completely blindsided.”
Maxham emailed seven questions about the project to Hoskins, who she said gave a brief response because he’d signed a Non-Disclosure Agreement.
“I think it means we can’t be honest with the residents, because if you’ve signed an NDA, how are we going to be transparent like we all talk about?” Maxham said. “It’s also common courtesy to inform me about this. As the commissioner of accounts and finance, economic development falls under what I work on and what I’m interested in. You not telling me about this and not involving me in the conversations actively prevents me from fulfilling my statutory responsibilities, and I find that completely unethical.”
During her commissioner’s comment, Michelle Melin-Rogovin, commissioner of streets and public improvement, said she also learned about Hoskins’ conversations with O’Hare Flyer through his press release, but trusts she’ll be brought into the discussion when necessary.
“There’s a lot of things that happen for the village that are fast-moving when we work in departments and we are also subject by the Open Meetings Act,” Melin-Rogovin said. “I trust that the folks that are fielding preliminary questions about the O’Hare Flyer — and other areas of concern and ideas that are being proposed — will bring me in when I am needed. That’s how a big village works. And we are not small. We are $50 million big.”
Jessica Voogd, commissioner of public property, said during her commissioner’s comment that she was invited in April to a meeting with O’Hare Flyer representatives and told them that, once they’re ready to release their plan to the public, Forest Park residents must be involved in discussions.
“I’ve spent the past couple of weeks working to get as much information as I can about the project, sharing what I know and listening to questions, concerns and support from residents,” Voogd said. “If anyone, including my fellow commissioners, has questions or wants to discuss anything, you’re welcome to contact me directly.”
During his commissioner’s comment, Hoskins said he is working on scheduling a public meeting with O’Hare Flyer, and that it will likely take place within the next three weeks.
Jasculca Terman
Finally, Maxham questioned a potential extended contract with Jasculca Terman Strategic Communications, a public affairs and crisis communications firm. Maxham said Jasculca was hired after, on April 27, Forest Park police officer Lt. Dan Miller cut off a woman in his personal vehicle and pulled a gun on her while off-duty. When commissioners voted on the village’s contract with Jasculca earlier this year, they ratified it, since Hoskins had already signed a contract with the firm.
“I’ve since learned that Jasculca was a donor to your congressional campaign,” Maxham said to Hoskins. She added that other firms the village contracts, like Christopher B. Burke Engineering, have also contributed to local campaigns and it’s not illegal. “But what I feel like maybe we should put in place is some kind of policy where there is a mandatory disclosure. So if there is someone who has donated to one of our campaigns, before hiring them, the other people should be allowed to know that, especially if no one else is being considered for this contract.”
During his commissioner’s comment, Hoskins said he was in Springfield when the April 27 incident occurred and quickly needed to tap a crisis communications firm.
“I know their expertise, so we asked [Jasculca] to get started to help us kind of control the message,” Hoskins said.
Since April, the Forest Park Police Department has received negative attention after showing an ICE agent out the back of Village Hall in late July.
“Forest Park, unfortunately, was already under a microscope. To have a second encounter that really riled up the immigrant rights community and people who want to see a certain restraint and not just arbitrary law enforcement, it put Forest Park under a spotlight,” Hoskins said. “It added work to the engagement that Jasculca Terman had already begun.”
The village capped Jasculca’s contract at $15,000 and must approve an extension or additional spending. Hoskins said the village has received a bill that puts them over that limit, but that it won’t pay until commissioners approve additional spending authority.
At the Sept. 28 council meeting, Hoskins said commissioners will vote whether to approve an additional $5,000 for Jasculca.
“It’s my sincere hope that this engagement will be brought to an end under that $20,000 scope,” Hoskins said. “Certain imagery can be damaging to Forest Park, due to its reputation for governance. And that can extend to how residents feel about their government, so we want to establish or maintain that level of trust.”