Village Board Fills Vacancies on Plan Commission

Tinley Park's village board d this week approved the appointment of new plan commission members to replace those who resigned recently.

Seven of the group's nine members stepped down following a meeting last month during which they tabled a vote on heated issue The Reserves, an apartment complex touted as affordable housing, the process for which has ignited the community for the Village's lack of transparency.

The commission ceased meeting following the resignations as it lacked the quorum necessary to make any decisions. Since then, the Cook County Sheriff's Inspector General has stepped in to investigate the review process for the project, which also is back in the hands of the village Planning Department.

Mayor Dave Seaman cast the tie-breaking vote on the appointments, with the recent resignation of Trustee Bernie Brady and absence of Trustee Michael Pannitto altering the balance of the board. Trustees Jacob Vandenberg and Brian Younker abstained from voting, a move Younker attributed to the trustees not having ample time to review the candidates.

Younker also called the candidates "all (Seaman's) hand-picked choices," and that he wished to ensure Seaman would have to cast a vote, reports the Daily Southtown.

Who Joins the Plan Commission Now?

Here's what the Southtown had to say about the appointees:

• Ronald Bazan, a retired pipe insulator. Volunteers with South Suburban PADS.
• Kevin Bergthold, a structural engineer with the Chicago Transit Authority.
• Anthony Janowski, marketing director for the Chicago Regional Council of Carpenters.
• Lori Kappel, project designer for real estate developer Holladay Properties in Portage, Ind.
• Peter Kroner, president and chief executive of Marketing Concepts Group Inc. in Oak Brook.
• Edward Matushek III. Named commission chairman, is a partner in the law firm Matushek, Nilles & Sinars in Chicago. Served as Tinley Park trustee from 1986 until 1992 and served 10 years on the village's Economic Development Commission.
• Ken Shaw, an internal audit consultant who previously served as senior internal audit manager with R.R. Donnelley & Sons.