Ousted ZBA Member: Village President is “stacking the deck”
Hinsdale, IL—A former Zoning Board of Appeals member said this week that she was willing to continue serving, but Village President Mike Woerner never returned a call she made after her term expired in April.
In addition, Woerner passed over 11 citizens who have applied to serve on the ZBA. One of them, who asked that his name not be used for fear of political retribution, said it was “disconcerting” that he had not been contacted by Woerner before he chose two individuals who had not applied for the ZBA.
Those facts seem to conflict with a published report (July 30, Suburban Life) in which Woerner said he “tried looking at everyone I knew in town who expressed interest in being on the board.”
Last month, Woerner catapulted retired attorney Tom Nelson into the ZBA chairman slot. A month earlier, Woerner selected J. Kimberley Angelo and Bob Saigh for the panel. Of the three newcomers to the board, only Saigh had submitted an application, a standard part of the appointment process.
Woerner is not limited to the pool of applicants when choosing an appointee, and he was within his rights to look beyond those citizens. But Richard Gammonley questioned whether Woerner gave them fair consideration before picking Nelson to replace Paul Anglin, who resigned after serving as ZBA chairman for 12 years.
Gammonley said the selection of Nelson was particularly disturbing in light of Nelson’s vocal opposition to Garfield I, a three-story retail, office and residential building to be built on the southwest corner of First and Garfield streets in downtown Hinsdale.
It is being developed by Gammonley’s LaGrange-based company, The Gammonley Group, and Hinsdale-based Revere Midwest Co.
In early 2004, the village board approved the Garfield development by a 4-3 margin. One of the dissenters was Woerner, who at the time was a trustee. Since becoming president in May, Woerner has moved to undo the prior board’s approval, including referring the matter to the ZBA for review.
Gammonley takes aim at Woerner’s comments in the July 30 edition of the Suburban Life in which he said that before he picked Nelson, Woerner “tried looking at everyone I knew in town who expressed interest in being on the board.”
But since 2002, 14 people have filled out applications expressing interest in serving on the ZBA, according to village records. Of that total, three were appointed: current members Bob Saigh and Michael Ripani and former member Kathleen Altman.
Altman served on the ZBA from June 2004 until May 2005, when the term of the person she replaced expired. She said on Monday that she was willing to stay on the panel, and contacted Woerner to convey that interest, but he never returned her call.
“It was kind of a vague ending to serving on the board, which really left me with a bad feeling,” said Altman. “It took him two months to find a replacement when I was happy to stay. It’s clear that he’s stacking the deck.”
On June 13, Woerner appointed Angelo to fill the seat previously occupied by Altman. Angelo had not filled out an application expressing interest in serving on the ZBA. Neither had Nelson, a retired attorney whom Woerner appointed July 13.
Nelson was absent from what would have been his first meeting on July 20.
Beyond Woerner’s decision not to reappoint Altman, the list of citizens who had expressed interest in serving on the unpaid panel, but have not been chosen, numbers 11. That figure includes eight who made the overture in 2005 alone: Virgil Kinder, Timothy O’Neill, Roland Porter, Jim Trauscht, Helen Sulla, John Callahan, Ben Koyl and Marc Connelly.
“I find it incredible that none of these citizens was deemed to have been qualified,” said Gammonley. “Just what are the criteria?”
Woerner was quoted in the Suburban Life as saying that his selection of Nelson was due partly because he “had the time and energy to turn the board into something different.”
“With all due respect to Mr. Nelson, he has already come out against the development,” Gammonley added. “When you couple that fact with his never even filling out an application to serve on the ZBA, you’ve got to wonder just how transparent this administration really is.”
Gammonley also questioned whether all of the sitting ZBA members declined requests to serve as chairman, as Woerner claimed, before he selected Nelson. “At this point, do you think anyone would contradict him publicly?” said Gammonley. “I feel badly for these volunteer citizens who have to serve in the midst of such political shenanigans.”
The ZBA is scheduled to meet Wednesday, Aug. 17, to review the Garfield I plans. The Village Board meets Tuesday, Aug. 16.