Politics & Government

Mayor to Make New Board Member Recommendation

Orland Park Mayor Dan McLaughlin will soon be choosing a candidate to fill the seat left vacant by Brad O'Halloran.

Mayor Dan McLaughlin is expected to soon make his pick for a new Orland Park trustee to take Brad O’Halloran’s former spot.

There are 21 people who have expressed interest in the position, McLaughlin said after Tuesday night’s village board meeting. In order to stay within the 60 days required for McLaughlin to choose a replacement with the board’s approval, the full board will have to vote on the new trustee at the Sept. 16 meeting.

“When it comes down to it, they would all be good,” McLaughlin said about those who expressed interest in the trustee seat. “So my dilemma is trying to figure out what will be good long term for the village and who has something different to bring to the board.”

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McLaughlin said he will probably send out his recommendation to the trustees by the end of the week, to leave another week open in case any of the trustees want to meet the candidate and find out more information about him or her.

“I’m considering all of their backgrounds and experiences,” McLaughlin said. “Where they are coming from, what they bring and what would be new. I guess if it’s anything it’d be who brings something new to the village.”

Find out what's happening in Orland Parkwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

O’Halloran won the Orland Park trustee seat for another four years in April. Therefore, the chosen trustee will serve until 2015, and the winner of that municipal election will serve as trustee for another two years, completing what would have been O’Halloran’s term.

O’Halloran resigned from the village board and from the Metra Board of Directors in August. He faced mounting criticism after backing a $718,000 severance package for Metra’s former CEO Alex Clifford, and after it was revealed that he continued to collect compensation for serving as a village trustee while on the Metra board, which was in violation of state law.


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