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OPPrairiedaily.com sound off
the orland park prairie | October 24, 2019 | 13
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From opprairie.com as of Friday, Oct. 18
1. Orland Park man makes plea to
scrappers to return heirloom tub
2. Home of the Week: 10511 Misty Hill
Road
3. Tinley Park: Developers of racino
address officials, say Tinley is the
‘perfect spot’
4. Hope Covenant Church opens
homeless shelter on Tuesday nights
5. Sandburg girls golfers, Mazzei heading
to state
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The Bridge Teen Center posted the following
note on Oct. 15, “What a fantastic
group of volunteers from NuMark Credit
Union! They sorted 190 donated bags at
The Bridge Thrift Store providing 13 teens
with free programming at The Bridge Teen
Center for 6 months. Thank you for supporting
local teens!”
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“Girls golf is off to State! Huge shout out
to @jltyrrell8 for the #elitedaily t-shirts!
@EaglesAthletics @SandburgHS @
OPPrairie”
@CSGirlsGolf — Sandburg Girls’ Golf, on
Thursday, Oct. 17
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From the Editor
BILL JONES
bill@opprairie.com
Joe La Margo recently
got a job as a City
manager in Portage,
Michigan — for those
of you concerned about
whether or not the former
Orland Park Village
manager would land on his
feet — but that’s not the
story here.
The story is about the
process by which he got
the job, and how I’d love
to see it applied here in
the southwest suburbs —
regardless of the results of
said process.
As I was keeping up on
La Margo’s status through
MLive.com I learned some
interesting things about
laws in that area.
In particular, per the
State’s Open Meetings
Act Handbook, “Michigan’s
Open Meetings Act
specifies that the review
and consideration of the
contents of an application
for employment or
appointment to a public
office can be confidential
if the candidate requests it.
However, all interviews by
a public body for employment
or appointment to a
public office shall be held
in an open meeting pursuant
to this act.”
The emphasis on “if the
candidate requests it” is in
the handbook. In this case,
the City Council continued
some discussion and review
of materials in closed
session, and candidates
were kept confidential in
open meetings by being
discussed as letters,
rather than by names, after
candidates were promised
anonymity.
But, in theory, the law
Making a case for Michigan
in Michigan defaults to
a candidate’s application
being public, and puts the
onus on the candidate to
say they do not want it that
way, which could raise the
eyebrows of an engaged
community that prioritizes
transparency.
The bigger thing to
come of that text is the
insistence that “interviews
by a public body for employment
or appointment
to a public office shall be
held in an open meeting
pursuant to this act.” So,
after the Portage City
Council narrowed down 10
candidates to two finalists,
per MLive, those two candidates
were interviewed,
in public, at a special
meeting, during which the
public was allowed time to
make comment related to
the interviews.
Can you imagine?
Following Orland Park’s
hiring of a new Village
manager, and in the midst
of a hiring process for
superintendent in Orland
School District 135?
I ask this not to question
the Village Board’s
recent decision nor D135’s
process, both of which are
commonplace in Illinois,
where “employment” is a
blanket reason to discuss
the matter in closed session
(though, the votes are
public). Ideally, the Village
Board did its due diligence
in reviewing candidates
and made a decision in
the best interest of its
residents. And D135 is
going above and beyond in
soliciting community input
en route to hiring a new
superintendent.
But the level of transparency
in public, participatory
interviews of candidates
makes a journalist salivate.
And while representative
democracy concedes that
we, the public, choose
people to make some of
our decisions, I think most
people can see the benefit
in a transparent interview
process — especially for
a role that carries so much
weight in day-to-day operations,
as high of a salary
as it does, and the limelight
when a scandal ensues.
That said, it’s not foolproof.
You can argue with
the results of that process.
In fact, a couple of trustees
in Portage did just that,
suggesting they could have
benefitted from a continued
search for stronger
candidates.
Maybe some of those
candidates were scared
away by the threat such
public scrutiny. And I’m
sure some public bodies
around these parts would
argue such laws would
somehow throw a wrench
in the productivity of the
process. Some may try to
find ways around them —
I wouldn’t be surprised to
learn some community,
somewhere in Michigan,
encourages all candidates
on the down-low to ask for
confidentiality.
Maybe scaring off leaders
who can’t stand having
their feet held to the fire
would be a good thing.
Maybe it would hamper
the process.
I just know I’d love to
have a front-row seat for
the interview with the next
guy who is going to face a
lawsuit, go on leave, have
a mayor investigated, be
undone by questionable
content found on a laptop
or reportedly find himself
involved in a hit-and-run
incident with a pedestrian
(that one’s from my old
coverage area of Oak
Lawn). I have a feeling
I’m not alone.