Tinley Trustees Try To Halt Mayor's Naming Of Interim Agency Head

TINLEY PARK, IL — The appointment of an interim director for Tinley Park's Emergency Management Agency is being challenged by three Village Board trustees who claim Mayor Jacob Vandenberg overstepped his authority in naming local attorney Steve Eberhardt to the post, according to the Daily Southtown. Vandenberg told trustees about the appointment in an Oct. 19 memo, a couple days following the board's approval to appoint Pat Carr, the previous EMA director, to assistant village manager, the report added.

The three trustees opposed to the appointment — Cynthia Berg, Michael Mangin and Michael Pannitto — voted to nullify the move at the board's Administration and Legal committee meeting last week, arguing that the Village Board should have weighed in on the decision, the report stated. Under village ordinance, the mayor could name a new director to the open post if the vacancy had been caused by the previous director's death, resignation or inability to fullfill the position's duties. The circumstances that led to the current vacancy, however, don't meet the criteria allowing for a mayoral appointment, a set up "clearly designed for an emergency," Pannitto, who heads up the committee of three trustees, told the Southtown.

Whether the trustees' vote can stop the appointment is not known, and even if it can, it's not clear if Vandenberg would accept it, the report stated. Before the vote during the Oct. 24 committee meeting, Carr did say he wouldn't be giving up his emergency management duties, but Patrick Connelly, Tinley Park's lawyer, said that's not allowed under the village's personnel manual, the report added. The village's website continues to list Carr as the director.

Pannitto emphasized that the move to quash the appointment has nothing to do with the person who was named and everything to do with the process and its fairness, according to the Southtown. He said the village needs to follow the same procedure it has used to fill past vacancies, and that means posting internal and external ads for the position and interviewing qualified candidates, the report added.

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Before his appointment to assistant village manager, Carr had been serving in that role on an interim basis since May. That's when Steve Tilton left the position to become an assistant city manager in McKinney, Texas. Carr was named EMA director in 2005, and he's also overseen the village's 911 dispatch center since then.

A vocal critic of former Mayor Ed Zabrocki's administration, Eberhardt made an unsuccessful bid for mayor in 2013, and he spearheaded a drive to institute term limits for elected village officials. Recently, he represented Lincoln-Way North High School parents in a lawsuit that tried to keep the school open.

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Pat Carr, newly appointed assistant village manager (left) and Steve Eberhardt, appointed as interim director for Tinley Park's Emergency Management Agency by Mayor Jacob Vandenberg. (Carr photo via Village of Tinley Park; Eberhardt photo via Patch archive)