The Pulaski County Council and Commissioners made appointments to some boards and commissions last week, but no one seemed to be entirely sure who’s currently on many of them. During last Monday’s joint session, the commissioners appointed Ray Franko to the advisory plan commission. He replaces Doug McKinley as one of the board’s Republican members. The commissioners had already appointed Democrat Bob Keller to replace Jim Thompson back in December.
A vacancy on the board of zoning appeals will have to be filled by the county council, but Plan Administrator Doug Hoover said he wasn’t quite ready to recommend someone yet. “I’ve got a person that wants to be on it,” he explained, “but I want to have the last talk to them about that.”
Meanwhile, the commissioners appointed Mike McClure and Nathan Origer to the Kankakee-Iroqois Regional Planning Commission, while the council appointed Mike Tiede.
But council members Kathi Thompson and Brian Young complained that there’s no current list of members for all of the county’s boards and commissions, although Young was apparently able to find one from 2017. Thompson said she’d like to know what positions are available. “I really would like to see a list of all of the things because I might be interested in saying, ‘Hey, I want to do this.'” Thompson said.
Council President Jay Sullivan asked Auditor Laura Wheeler to provide a list of members of all the county’s boards by the next council meeting, but she seemed to redirect the question to Young. “How about you make the phone calls and get it updated?” Wheeler asked. “Do you have time on your hands?”
But Young noted that might be difficult without updated contact information. “I would be happy to go online and look up the membership and call the chairman of each of these boards, but I can’t do that,” he said. “The public has no idea who belongs to these boards and commissions.”
Thompson added that not having a current list makes it difficult to know whether the people who’ve been appointed are even attending meetings. Mike Tiede was apparently unaware that he’s been the council’s KIRPC representative for the past year. While some groups, like the BZA and plan commission, have their members listed on the county’s website, others do not.
