Fifth Ward Ald. Charlie Melidosian, left, shakes newly sworn in Ald. Martin Joyce’s hand as he makes his way to his seat.
By Igor Studenkov | For the Bugle
Until recently, Mayor Marty Maloney pulled double duty, serving as both an acting mayor and Seventh Ward alderman.
But after he won the April 4 mayoral election, he was sworn in as a full-fledged mayor, giving up his aldermanic seat in the process. Four candidates stepped forward to fill the resulting vacancy, and civil engineer and former Park Ridge Niles District 64 Board of education member Martin Joyce was chosen. He was officially sworn in during the June 6 City Council meeting.
Maloney was first elected Seventh Ward alderman in 2011. In 2015, he ran unopposed. When Mayor David Schmidt suddenly died March 2015, Maloney was appointed acting mayor, he was then re-elected by default a few weeks later.
Under normal circumstances, Park Ridge mayors can only vote in order to break ties. But since he continued serving as alderman, Maloney was able to vote on regular basis.
Under the state law, when a mayoral vacancy is created, it must go up for grabs during the nearest regularly scheduled municipal election. Maloney would up running against Lucas Fuksa and winning.
During the first city council meeting held after the election, he announced he would give up his aldermanic seat once he is sworn in – which he did.
As has traditionally been the case with all Park Ridge aldermenic vacancies, an advisory board made up of registered voters from the ward in question screen the candidates. While the mayor is the one who makes the choice, and the city council must then vote on whether to confirm that choice, the aldermen tend to defer to the advisory board’s suggestion.
According to a resume submitted to the city, Joyce graduated from Niles South High School in 1974, and he attended University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, earning a degree in civil engineering. He currently works at HDR Engineering’s offices in Chicago’s O’Hare area, near the Chicago/Park Ridge border. The resume indicated that he has experience in planning and designing highways, railroads and airports, as well as transit and water systems.
In his application, Joyce said that his job experience made him understand just how important well-maintained infrastructure is to Park Ridge’s functions. He wrote that his time on the District 64 Board of Education gave him understanding of ins and outs of funding and policy, and made him sensitive to the balance between taxes and services.
Other candidates included Michael Malatesta, an attorney, Jon Duddles, the Assistant Director of Public Works at the City of Des Plaines, and Jeremy Lefler, a minister at the Bensenville-based Chicago Church of Christ.
Park Ridge City Clerk Betty Henneman, who administered Joyce’s oath of office, praised the newly minted alderman for, she readily admitted, personal reasons.
“I have a personal privilege of swearing in Marty,” she said. “Marty went to school with my son, so it’s very nice to have you on board.”
Joyce was invited to give a speech, but he wound up keeping his statement short.
“I’m proud to represent the best ward in City of Park Ridge,” he said, earning chuckles and mock indignation from his new colleagues.
Joyce will now serve out the remaining two years of Maloney’s aldermanic term, which will expire in May 2019.
Park Ridge one step away from opting out of Cook County ordinances
The Park Ridge City Council held the first of the two readings required to officially opt out of the Cook County minimum wage increase and sick leave mandate during its June 5 meeting.
Two weeks earlier, during the May 22 meeting of the Park Ridge Finance & Budget Committee of the Whole agreed to proceed with the opt-out. While a survey of the Park Ridge Chamber of Commerce showed that its members were almost evenly divided on the issue, all of the residents and officials that addressed the aldermen urged them to proceed. The second and final reading is expected during the June 19 meeting.
As previously reported by the Bugle in October 2016, the Cook County Board of Commissioners approved an ordinance that would gradually increase the minimum wage over the next three years from the current Illinois minimum wage of $8.25 an hour. On July 1, 2017, it will increase to $10 an hour. It will then increase to $11 an hour in July 2018, $12 an hour in July 2019 and $13 an hour in July 2020.
The county paid sick leave ordinance, which the county board approved on Oct. 5, 2016, requires employers to give any employees that worked at least 80 hours within a 120 day period one hour of paid sick leave for every 40 hours worked. They may not earn more than 40 hours per year. Like the minimum wage ordinance, it will take effect on July 1, 2017 – the same date as a similar City of Chicago ordinance takes effect.
Ald. John Moran (1st Ward) said he got into arguments with some residents over social media, and he wanted to clarify that he wasn’t again minimum wage increases themselves, he was just against raising it on a county level.
“ I don’t believe it’s the county’s job,” he said. “I don’t oppose increases per se, but I think it’s a very choppy job of trying to accomplish something.”
Ald. Mac Mazzuca (6th Ward), who didn’t voice his opinion one way or another during the May 22 meeting, said he agreed with Moran.
“It’s just a very messy implementation of what is reasonable idea,” he said. “And we’ve seen this come through this body a number of times.”
Mazzuca also told the council that, because Park Ridge is close to Chicago, which is increasing its own minimum wage, that wages will go up anyway.
“There’s a sign at McDonald’s that they’re hiring for $10 an hour, so they’re already paying over existing minimum wage,” he said “We’ll get part of the way there without dealing with this very messy implementation.”
When asked after the meeting what he meant by “messy,” Mazzuca told the Bugle that the fact that municipalities can opt out leads to uneven application.
“You see that some cities are opting out, some aren’t, creating a very challenging environment when they do it,” he said.