Tinley Park's Term Limits Commission: What You Need to Know

The first meeting of Tinley Park's newly formed commission to investigate term limits for elected village officials laid the foundation last week for its six-month mission.

About 25 people attended this initial Wednesday, March 27, meeting of the commission, which was created as a response to an advisory referendum on the November 2012 ballot. That referendum posed the question: “Shall the Village Board of the Village of Tinley Park pass an Ordinance imposing term limits on all elected officials?”

READ: Voters Pass Advisory Referendum on Term Limits for Elected Officials

While residents voted yes on the referendum by a 3-to-1 margin, the village board is under no obligation to act on it. But village officials decided to form a commission to look into the issue and its effect on Tinley Park.

"We realize that this is going to be quite a process … and with a great deal of research and background being done," Mayor Ed Zabrocki said during a brief introduction at the meeting.

Although term limits has been examined when it comes to state and national elected officials, the topic hasn't been studied as extensively at the local level, said Village Clerk Patrick Rea.

READ: Tinley Park to Mull Term Limits

"Data was scarce, but there are tons of opinions," he said at last week's meeting.

Because of that, the commission's findings could provide guidance for other municipalities, Rea said.

"What this commission does will have an impact on Tinley Park but will also be of national import. There isn't much doubt in our minds about that," he added.

VOTE: Should Local Elected Officials Have Term Limits?

Patch outlines what happened at the March 27 meeting and breaks down what you need to know about the commission and what's at stake.

What's the Commission's Goal?

"To determine the benefits or detriments of mandatory term limits on Tinley Park's governance and quality of life."

That's the mission statement that the commission voted on and approved at the meeting.

When it comes to specifics, though, the commission's job isn't simply to endorse or reject the idea of term limits. The members will be asked to give the reasoning behind their recommendations, said village attorney Tom Melody, adding that the village officials want to hear the dissenting opinions of commission members, too.

Ultimately, the decision of whether the village will implement term limits for elected officials is up to the Tinley Park Village Board of Trustees, Melody said. The commission has 180 days to research and present its findings, and the board has 60 days after that to act upon the commission's recommendations.

Who's involved?

The commission consists of seven members, gathered from around the area and the state, who Rea described as "honorable, successful, experienced people who stood out in their professions for years."

The members are:

• Kenneth Slater, a former state Appellate Court and Circuit Court judge, is a lawyer in Normal, and is the commission's chairman.
• Blue Island Mayor Donald Peloquin, who ran against and lost to Rep. Bobby Rush in the 1st Congressional District this past November.
• Retired Woodridge village administrator John Perry, retired Woodridge village administrator. Perry also was the commission member who crafted the mission statement during the meeting.
• David Ribbens, athletics director at the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools and a Tinley Park resident.
• Neil Finnerty, also a Tinley Park resident who has served as a labor consultant.
• Rev. Mark Timmer, of Faith Christian Reformed Church, is a representative of the religious community, which was important to the mayor, Rea said during the meeting.
• Former Bremen High School Principal Vita Meyer, who was unable to attend the first meeting.

Douglas Cantor, a graduate student at the University of Chicago, will be heading up the research and data collecting for the panel. He will be helped by two village interns, Rea said.

When will the panel meet?

The commission scheduled the following Wednesday sessions to meet: April 24, May 15, June 5, July 10 and Aug. 14.

There also could be additional meetings in order to accommodate all of the commissioners' schedules. By state law, those meetings and their agendas will need to be announced at least 48 hours in advance.

What rules must it follow?

Because it is a public body, the commission must follow the same rules that any other Tinley Park governmental entity would follow, attorney Melody said.

That means it must adhere to the state's Open Meetings Act, and members must complete economic interest filings by state law, he added.

How will it release its findings?

When and where the commission will hand out its recommendations hasn't been determined, chairman Slater said. It could happen at a final meeting of the commission or at a regular board meeting, he added.

The decision will most likely be made closer to the end of the process, Slater said.

What did the man who started all of this think?

The very reason the subject of term limits is being discussed in Tinley Park is thanks to Steve Eberhardt, a local attorney who also is running against Zabrocki for mayor. In August, and was able to get the term limits referendum on the November ballot.

READ: Petition Filed for Referendum on Term Limits in Tinley Park

Eberhardt attended the commission meeting and gave a prepared, official statement after it adjourned:

"The creation of this commission is either an admission of the incompetence of our elected officials to address the issue or simply a refusal by the elected officials to acknowledge what the voters told them," he told Patch after the meeting.

READ: Tinley Attorney Announces Mayoral Candidacy

When asked if he would attend future commission meetings, Eberhardt said he wasn't sure. Ultimately, he said the panel and the research it would be doing was unnecessary in the face of how residents voted on the referendum.

"I don't think they need to waste the money or the time," Eberhardt said.

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