The Ford Heights Village Board voted Wednesday to nominate a longtime good friend of interim Mayor Freddie Wilson as village trustee, in addition to a person with a household connection to convicted former Mayor Charles Griffin.
Wilson was appointed appearing mayor final month following Griffin’s conviction for embezzlement.
Germaine Hooks, who mentioned he’s the brother of Griffin’s son, Leland Hooks, and Douglas Jones had been nominated for 2 vacancies on the board, one created when Trustee Wilson was appointed appearing mayor.
The appointees acquired the total assist of the board and a standing ovation from the roughly 50 individuals in attendance, as requested by Wilson. Although the board didn’t talk about the background or expertise of Hooks or Jones earlier than voting to nominate them, Wilson later mentioned it selected them based mostly on their involvement and curiosity within the Ford Heights group.
“Hooks has been right here his complete life, since he was a little bit boy,” Wilson mentioned.
He mentioned that though Jones solely lived in Ford Heights for a couple of years, he shortly grew to become concerned in village affairs, attending most board conferences.
“Only involved residents present as much as these conferences, until one thing loopy is occurring,” Wilson mentioned.
Wilson mentioned that whereas he does not have particular plans that he thinks Hooks and Jones will assist, he is trying ahead to “having no restrictions in your facet while you want one thing permitted or performed.”
Hooks declined to reply questions after the assembly, however confirmed that he’s a brother of Leland Hooks, the Ford Heights public works supervisor who testified throughout Griffin’s trial about his spending on a village debit card .
Hooks was appointed to switch Jimmy Viverete, who resigned as trustee after the state’s legal professional’s workplace notified him {that a} prior prison conviction made him ineligible to serve.
Jones, who’s filling the emptiness left when Wilson grew to become mayor, mentioned he tries to “assist the trustees and the mayor, at all times advocating to make town a greater metropolis.”
“Whatever the mayor desires, that is what we’ll attempt to accomplish for the villagers,” he mentioned later.
The assembly, which lasted lower than an hour, included transient discussions of Ford Heights’ greater than decade-long failure to pay its greater than $2 million water debt to Chicago Heights of the village, in addition to on the close to completion of the brand new recreation of the village middle.
Wilson mentioned Ford Heights has employed an legal professional for a pending lawsuit, though a settlement between the 2 villages might forestall Chicago Heights from continuing with the litigation.
ostevens@chicagotribune.com
