Lake in the Hills mayor criticized for board appointments
A former Lake in the Hills mayor is criticizing Village President Paul Mulcahy for only appointing friends and men to the village board.
Mulcahy has made three appointments to the village board during his first term since May 2013.
Last June he appointed Doug Cummings, the former police commission chairman, to fill the seat vacated by trustee Frank Covone, who moved out of the village.
Covone, a U.S. Postal Service employee, was a Mulcahy appointee after serving eight years on the village planning and zoning commission. He first was appointed to the board in May 2013, was defeated in the April 2015 election and was appointed in August 2015 to fill the seat when Trustee Denise Barreto moved.
Mulcahy is set to appoint another male Thursday to the seat left vacant by Trustee Paula Yensen's election to the McHenry County Board in November.
"For him to appoint male acquaintances of his tells me he is really close-minded about who he is willing to work with," said Tina Thornrose, who served one term as village president during the 1990s.
Thornrose compared Mulcahy to former Village President Barbara Key, who "ruled with an iron fist," she said.
She said there is a need for more diversity, especially women, on the village board.
"I don't think his board is representative of our village at all," she added. "The way (Mulcahy) picks his trustees you can tell how closed the system is. He will only pick people who are favorable to him who are already insiders."
Mulcahy said Tuesday five women and four men expressed an interest in the job. After interviewing them all, Mulcahy said he settled on David McPhee, who sits on the Lake in the Hills Sanitary District board.
"It's obvious, if you talk to him, that he's been a good trustee," said Mulcahy, adding that McPhee is a casual acquaintance, not a close friend. "He had expressed to me a couple of years ago that he would be interested in getting involved in the village. He hasn't run for trustee because the timing was never right. He has had a longtime desire to do this, and he'll be good at it. He is a strong candidate."
Mulcahy said "it's ridiculous" to say he is shutting out women from the board, and noted that for his first two appointments his first choice was a woman.
"I don't really care," he said. "I want the best fit, the best person."
McPhee's appointment is expected at 7:30 p.m. Thursday in the village hall board room, 600 Harvest Gate. Yensen's term ends in 2019.