Hayes chooses new Arlington Heights president pro tem
Arlington Heights Mayor Tom Hayes has appointed a new president pro tem to fill in for him at meetings and community events when needed.
Hayes chose Trustee Carol Blackwood for the role - an appointment confirmed by the village board Monday.
She will replace Trustee Tom Glasgow, who Hayes appointed after being elected mayor in April 2013, then reappointed two years later.
Before becoming mayor, Hayes served as president pro tem for former Mayor Arlene Mulder for 14 years.
In appointing Blackwood, he said "I thought it was good to rotate to give someone else an opportunity."
Blackwood, 67, was appointed to the village board in February 2010, elected to a four-year term in 2011, and re-elected in 2015. She spent 17 years on the village's plan commission, is a past president of the Arlington Heights Chamber of Commerce, and is currently the village's representative on Meet Chicago Northwest, a convention and visitors bureau.
Blackwood is a senior vice president for retail banking at Village Bank & Trust in Arlington Heights.
Hayes, who ran unopposed for mayor in April's election, has said he intends this four-year term to be his last. When asked if his appointment was an implicit non-endorsement of Glasgow as a successor, Hayes said he had "no ulterior motives".
Glasgow, 49, elected in 2009 and re-elected in 2013 and 2017, did not attend Monday's board workshop meeting because he's been assisting with the search for 27-year-old Sheila Khalili of Schaumburg, who went missing in Bourbonnais last Friday. Khalili is a relative of an employee at Glasgow's Schaumburg-based law firm Glasgow & Olsson.
"I respect Tom deeply as a leader," Glasgow said of Hayes. "I think he's done a fantastic job as a leader. I have no ill will to say about him. He's exemplified dignity and leadership."
Village code requires appointment of a president pro tem every two years in May following municipal elections.