Prospect Hts. replaces ousted airport board member
Prospect Heights Mayor Nick Helmer appointed a new member to the Chicago Executive Airport board last week after ousting former Mayor Rodney Pace from the panel because of his support for a plan to eliminate the city.
James Kiefer, a Prospect Heights resident of about six months, was unanimously approved by the city council to fill Pace's seat on the board, effective immediately.
"I think he'll be a great fit," said Helmer, who fired Pace after he and a few fellow residents crafted a proposal to eliminate Prospect Heights by consolidating it into surrounding suburbs.
Helmer has said the plan is far-fetched and it is a conflict of interest for Pace to sit on a Prospect Heights-affiliated board while also exploring a plan to eliminate the city.
Kiefer, a general foreman at an electrical construction company, said he has done a number of projects in the area but is now working on a 33-story building in Chicago's South Loop.
He also was an air traffic management coordinator in the Army, where he served at a base in Saudi Arabia before spending 18 years in the Army Reserve.
"I have a long family background in aviation," he said. "This is something I'm interested in, and I think I can do great things for them."
Kiefer said both his grandfather and uncle ran early aviation schools and his father was an airplane mechanic in the Korean War.
"Based on your background it sounds like you're a perfect fit," said Alderman Scott Williamson.
City council members asked Kiefer how he would work with the politics and personalities that make up the Chicago Executive Airport board, an organization managed by both Prospect Heights and Wheeling.
Kiefer joked that as a father of six children he would be able to handle it.
"I'm fairly good under pressure," he said. "First off, I'll have to listen and learn and then go from there, but I'm a quick study."
Wheeling does not have to approve Helmer's appointment.