Oak Lawn’s New Mayor, Trustees Sworn In Tonight

A new era in Oak Lawn begins as the village’s first woman to be elected mayor takes her oath of office at tonight’s (Tuesday’s) regular village board meeting.

Cook County Judge Denise K. Filan will administer the oath of office to the new village board members, including political novice Dr. Sandra Bury, who beat two-term incumbent Mayor Dave Heilmann last month.

Sign up for the Oak Lawn Patch newsletter and follow us on Facebook.

In their last action together as a village board, the Heilmann and outgoing trustees Cindy Trautsch (Dist. 1), Tom Duhig (Dist. 4) and Tom Phelan (Dist. 6) will approve the minutes from last month’s regular and special village board meetings.

Room has been left on tonight’s agenda for remarks from the outgoing village board members. Heilmann and Trautsch already said their goodbyes at the April 23 meeting.

Judge Filan, an Oak Lawn resident, will administer the oaths of office to Bury and trustees-elect Tim Desmond (Dist. 1), Terry Vorderer (Dist. 2) and Mike Carberry (Dist. 6).

Village Clerk Jane Quinlan and Trustee Alex Olejniczak (Dist. 2) will also be sworn into their third terms of office.

After the oaths, the outgoing mayor and trustees, in a symbolic transfer of power, will exit their seats on the dais, to be filled by the newly sworn in mayor and trustees.

The Oak Lawn Village Board meets at 7:30 p.m. on the second and fourth Tuesdays of every month at Village Hall, 9446 S. Raymond Ave. The meetings are free and open to the public.

In what is surely to be an anti-climatic end to the evenings ceremonies, it’s down to business for the new village board.

Here’s what we’ll be watching:

• Jen Care Neighborhood Medical Center – a request to approve a planning and development commission referral, and an ordinance for a parking and landscape variation allowing for the construction of a new medical building at 6101 W. 95th St.
• Intergovernmental lease agreement – A resolution to approve a lease agreement between the Village of Oak Lawn and Oak Lawn-Hometown Dist. 123.
• Creation of an ethics and legislative license committee – An ordinance amending the municipal code pertaining to the creation of an ethics and legislative license committee.

What’s not on the agenda – The other shoe dropping, a new era of civic engagement, most likely the first major test of the Bury Administration.