In front of a standing room only crowd at the April 26, 1999 council meeting, Anthony Calderone was sworn in as the 15th person to hold the title of Mayor of Forest Park. Commissioners Timothy Gillian, Laureen Thornton, Mark Hosty and Bryan Walsh were also sworn in that night. Outgoing Mayor Lorraine Popelka gave her farewell address and thanked the people of Forest Park.
Before the oath, Judge James O’Malley, a Bridgeview based judge who lives in Oak Park shared with the audience that he had a special interest in Forest Park, as a parishioner at St. Bernardine Church. Onlookers cheered, whistled, and rose to their feet in honor of the occasion.
Following were Village Commissioners Tim Gillian, Laureen Thornton, Mark Hosty and Brian Walsh who were then sworn into office. Gerald Jacknow, who completed his fourth term as commissioner and did not run for office in this election, said his goodbyes and shared, “It has been my privilege to serve the village of Forest Park.”
Timothy Gillian, a returning commissioner and leading vote-getter, followed the tradition of becoming the commissioner of Accounts and Finance.
Laureen Thornton opted to continue with her post of heading Village Department of Public Health and Safety, which she had previously served in this role for the previous four years. In this election Hosty, Walsh and Thronton had all wanted to be at this post to move plans on renter registration and overcrowding of the Village.
Hosty, the third top vote getter, became the head of Streets and Public Improvements and was ready to take action on his campaign promises for cleaner streets. “I am an anti-litter guy,” and he was interested in seeing street cleaning “stepped up a little.”
Walsh became the Commissioner of Public Property, and said “the first thing I want to do is get the lots back together, especially coming into summer season.”
Calderone shared he wanted to manage the village as a team rather than as individual commissioners with private turfs. “I hope I was able to convince the new commissioners that we aren’t going to conduct business as usual.”
