Steger trustees fail to agree on interim Village President; trustee Lopez named chairman pro‑tem

The Village of Steger Board of Trustees held nominations Nov. 4 to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Village President Ken Peterson Jr., but no candidate reached the four-vote majority required under the Illinois Municipal Code.

Clerk Joseph Zagone Jr. opened nominations and Trustee Gerald Stewart nominated himself; Trustee Thurmond nominated Trustee William Joyce; Trustee Trotier nominated Trustee Ernie Lopez. The first round of roll-call votes produced one vote for Gerald Stewart, two for William Joyce and three for Ernie Lopez.

Trustee Thurmond raised concerns that appointing a trustee who is already running for mayor in the April election would give that candidate an unfair advantage and proposed restricting consideration to trustees not seeking the office; Attorney James Vasselli cautioned that nominations must come from among the six trustees and reminded the board that governmental funds cannot be used to promote candidates. "There will be no promotion of any mayoral candidate or any expenditure of funds in governmental literature for any office, mayor or trustee," Vasselli said.

After trustees agreed not to repeat the full nomination process, Trustee Perchinski moved — and Trustee Trotier seconded — to appoint Trustee Ernie Lopez chairman pro‑tem for the meeting; the motion carried 4–2 (Lopez, Stewart, Trotier and Perchinski aye; Thurmond and Joyce no). The board did not appoint an interim Village President at the Nov. 4 meeting.

The absence of an interim president is expected to remain a point of discussion at future meetings as the board balances continuity against perceptions of electoral advantage. The board's next regular meeting will provide another opportunity to resolve the vacancy under the statutory process.