Des Plaines council tables vote on mayor's nominee
Des Plaines aldermen are split on whether to confirm Mayor Matt Bogusz's appointment of former Alderman Don Smith to the city council's vacant 7th Ward seat.
During a contentious city council meeting Monday, aldermen weighed in on the mayor's selection of Smith to fill the remaining term of Joanna Sojka, a 29-year-old first-term alderman who died unexpectedly Aug. 18 of an apparent stroke.
Aldermen voted 5-2 to table consideration of the mayor's appointment to the next council meeting in three weeks, after a previous motion to table the matter indefinitely failed 4-4, with Bogusz voting "no".
Smith, 56, who owns a Niles law practice, served as 7th Ward alderman from 1997 to 2009. In announcing his decision to appoint Smith, Bogusz said he was looking for someone who is respected by the community and able to dissect and analyze an issue.
Fourth Ward Alderman Dick Sayad, who previously served with Smith on the council, took exception with Smith because he held only one ward meeting with residents during his tenure. Sayad also questioned whether Smith could be impartial on matters involving the city's law firm, Holland & Knight, because Smith is friends with Tom Kinasz, a non-equity partner in the firm.
Smith said his friendship with Kinasz wouldn't be a conflict of interest.
Sayad proposed that others, including former Police Chief Joe Kozenczak, who ran as a write-in candidate in the April 2013 election, be considered.
"I think we want to give the people of the 7th Ward proper representation and quality representation - and it could be Don Smith," Sayad said. "But I just think there's time we (should) have to think about it and evaluate it."
Bogusz and council members have clashed in recent months over other city appointments, including his choice for city hearing officer. Fifth Ward Alderman Jim Brookman has proposed stripping the mayor of the power to appoint the hearing officer, hired to handle local ordinance violations.
Brookman said he couldn't vote to approve Bogusz's appointment because of Bogusz's Facebook post of Sept. 10, in which the mayor, posting a Daily Herald story to his page, commented that Smith "is a true contrast to many of the people he previously served with and is ready to apply lessons learned over his years of service to help Des Plaines to move forward and further away from the politics of the past."
"When I read this, I was rather shocked and disappointed, but not necessarily surprised," said Brookman, whose wife Carla was the 5th Ward alderman prior to his election in 2009. "To endorse your nomination based on your premise, I'm endorsing your premise, and I can't do that, because your premise I find entirely inappropriate."
Sayad told Bogusz that Smith "was not better than all of us. He certainly wasn't better than me."
Bogusz said he could have chosen his words differently, but the sentiment would have been the same.
"I think Alderman Smith was different from a number of people he served with," Bogusz said. "I think that is one of the reasons I was interested in making the appointment."
Third Ward Alderman Denise Rodd said delaying an appointment would hurt the residents of the 7th Ward.
"I know for a fact Alderman Sojka would not want her residents unrepresented for a minute longer," Rodd said.
Smith said if his appointment is confirmed, he could hit the ground running, but it's also the council's prerogative. He said he disagreed with the mayor's Facebook comment and has respect for every alderman and mayor he served with, though they may have had respectful differences of opinion.
If the council rejects Smith, the mayor would have 30 days to make another selection. If the council rejects that person, then Bogusz would be allowed to pick either of the two appointees, without council approval, according to state statute.