Niles Trustees Split Ethics Vote Along Gender Lines

After Mayor Robert Callero appointed five men to the Village of Niles' Ethics Committee, the two women trustees made the point at Tuesday's village board meeting that such an important committee needs diversity and should have women on it.

The village instituted the Ethics Committee in the wake of former mayor Nicholas Blase' conviction on federal charges of fraud and income tax evasion. Blase was released from federal incarceration in March after serving nearly a year.

Niles' residents and government officials were sufficiently shaken to form an ethics committee to set policy to ensure such corruption did not happen again.

At Tuesday's meeting, Trustee Rosemary Palicki, who won the April 5 election and was seated at the May 24 meeting, discussed the fact that at that May 24 meeting, the board delayed a vote on whether to approve Mayor Callero's proposed five appointees to the Ethics Committee.

Part of the reason was that trustees had not had time to learn about the appointees--but only part, she stressed.

"It was not just to give us time to review resumes that this was voted down," she said, adding that now that she has had time to read the proposed appointees' resumes, she feels they're well-qualified but not representative of the village's diversity.

Trustee Louella Preston agreed with Palicki's point, saying, "When these names were voted down, the same five names came back."

Village Attorney Joe Annunzio explained that since state law does not provide much direction on this point, it did not prevent the mayor from bringing the same five names.

"I voted no on it at the last board meeting. I was very displeased there was not one woman (appointee) on the Board of Ethics," Preston said. She noted she was the only woman on the ethics committee during its first two years of existence. Both Preston and Annunzio, as well as attorney Mike Fries and Niles Trustee Joe LoVerde recently stepped down from serving on the committee. LoVerde had been the chair.

Trustee Chris Hanusiak read a statement saying he had reviewed the resumes of Callero's five proposed appointees and was very satisfied with them. He said he voted yes.

He indeed voted yes when the vote was conducted a few minutes later, and was joined by trustees Andrew Przybylo, Joe LoVerde and Jim Hynes. Hynes was Callero's choice to chair the Ethics Committee.

Palicki and Preston both prefaced their votes by saying the appointees were qualified, but that the committee needed diversity. They both voted no.

After the meeting, Hynes, who was confirmed as the committee's chair by the vote, said, "I fully agree with what was said about needing more women and other minorities represented on the committee. I think the mayor should take that to heart and do it."