Mayor To Appoint Fire & Police Commissioner Monday

MOKENA, IL — Mokena Mayor Frank Fleischer is expected to make his second appointment to the Board of Fire and Police Commissioners during the Village Board of Trustees meeting Monday. The appointment will be the second in as many meetings after all three of the previous were either removed or resigned since July.

The former chair of the Board of Commissioners, Ronald Brannan, was removed after Village trustees unanimously voted him off at a special board meeting held July 14. Village documents show Brannan was accused of "violating [his] oath of office by communicating with an officer prior to a Board of Fire and Police Commission hearing, creating the appearance of impropriety and for providing incomplete or misleading information to the Village during its review of the same."

It remains unclear which officer Brannan was accused of communicating with. Patch has submitted a Freedom of Information Act request for the minutes of the July 14 special board meeting, but was told those minutes "were not ready" in time for the July 26 Board of Trustees meeting. The Village Board of Trustees is expected to approve those special meeting minutes as part of its Monday night's regular meeting consent agenda.

The former secretary of the Board of Commissioners, Christopher Surdel, offered his letter of resignation July 15, just one day after Brannan was removed. No explanation was given by Surdel in his resignation letter.

Fleischer chose not to re-appoint the third member of the Board of Commissioners, Michael Moran, when his term expired this year. The Board of Trustees voted to replace him at its July 26 meeting with Village of Burr Ridge Police Chief John Madden.

Board of Commissioners' members are appointed by the mayor to three-year terms.

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