At issue are dozens of appointments made to boards, commissions and committees during the April 22, 2013, Village Board meeting by outgoing lame duck President Bob Abboud. The agenda for that meeting, which can be viewed here, listed only one line item for his appointments – “10.1 [Approval] Appointments.”
OMA rules require the names of appointees and positions to be noted on agendas and that they be posted for public inspection at least 48 hours in advance of meetings.
According to recently released recordings, current board members present at that 2013 meeting were not given advanced notice of which residents were being appointed or reappointed to what Village bodies and neither was the public.
This ruling is expected to have little effect on most appointed bodies since most of them carry only one year terms, and numerous positions were already renewed or appointed last month with little or no debate. However, our Zoning Board of Appeals members are appointed to five year terms, and there lies the problem.
During the April 22, 2013 meeting, Abboud appointed two residents to the ZBA – one to fill a vacancy created by the resignation of a retiring member; the other was a reappointment of a member whose term had actually lapsed in April of 2012.
It’s expected the Village President and Board of Trustees will address filling any vacancies resulting from the recent ruling at their next scheduled meeting on June 23.