The Evanston Township board Monday night appointed city manager Wally Bobkiewicz to replace Gary Gaspard, the township supervisor who resigned abruptly last week.
The trustees, who also serve as aldermen, voted 7-3 to name Bobkiewicz the interim supervisor and task Evonda Thomas-Smith, the city’s health department director, with the day-to-day duties of the part-time job. The township, which has the same boundaries as the city, handles general assistance for the needy and offers tax advice to residents.
Trustees Judy Fiske, Peter Braithwaite and Don Wilson opposed the move, with Braithwaite and Wilson wanting to wait a week to fill the position. Evanston Mayor Elizabeth Tisdahl voted in favor of Bobkiewicz’s appointment.
Gaspard’s resignation went into effect Friday, less than five months after he was elected. He cited the time commitment of the job as his reason for leaving the post in a letter sent Thursday to Tisdahl and city clerk Rodney Greene.
On Monday night, Ald. Jane Grover (7th) urged the township board to replace Gaspard as soon as possible.
“I worry that for those clients of ours of the township, those are people who fall through cracks, and I don’t want them falling through this crack in the lapse of a township supervisor,” Grover said.
But Wilson called any appointment Monday night “premature,” saying trustees owe their constituents more time to explain the fast-moving situation and possibly recruit other candidates.
“I think the residents deserve to have someone advocate for them,” Braithwaite said.
Ald. Ann Rainey (8th) emerged as the most vocal opponent of Wilson’s suggestion, asking him what harm there would be in appointing familiar faces like Bobkiewicz and Thomas-Smith while the township searches for a permanent supervisor.
Wilson balked at her remarks, replying, “Did I say there was any harm in it? Did I say there’s no need?”
Evanston resident Mary Baker, who frequently interrupted the trustees as they discussed Gaspard’s replacement, told them they were acting too fast by picking Bobkiewicz.
“We have not been given the opportunity to have our say,” she said.
Baker was one of a few speakers who hinted at unfinished business from Gaspard’s tenure. In her first public comments on her former colleague’s departure, township assessor Bonnie Wilson suggested the office was turning the page on a tumultuous period.
“The staff is to be commended for all the turmoil that they recently had to endure under the last administration,” she said.
The trustees, however, declined to publicly air out what Rainey called the “who did what to whom,” voting to enter executive session to discuss the interim supervisor appointment. After about 45 minutes, they returned to the council chambers with Bobkiewicz’s name.
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Twitter: @PatrickSvitek
