Story posted Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Sweeney In As New Alderman
New First Ward Alderman Joe Sweeney shakes the hand of City Clerk Betty Henneman after she administered him the oath of office.
By CRAIG ADAMS Journal & Topics Reporter
Park Ridge has a new alderman for the first ward with the city council's approval of Joseph Sweeney on Monday, June 15.
The seated aldermen asked Sweeney many questions and two of them attempted to delay his approval before voting to seat him on the council.
Sweeney agreed the police department needs a new facility but added that more research is needed on the size and scope. He also responded to questions about the Ekl report and the relationship between police and local teenagers.
"You're going to have problems with teenagers," Sweeney said, but added, "You can't say all teenagers are bad and you can't say all teenagers are good."
Sweeney felt the police department is moving in the right direction with the recent hiring of Frank Kaminski as police chief.
"You have hired a new police chief with a tremendous amount of background; a tremendous amount of experience," he said. "I think that relations are going to improve by themselves." He also indicated a personal involvement with police, stating his youngest daughter was killed in the line of duty while serving as a police officer.
He also spoke of his background in finance, having served in marketing and sales.
"I was setting up business plans, setting up budgets, dictating and staying within those budgets," he explained. "I do understand the budget process."
Sweeney stated he believes more information is exchanged in the city's new Committee of the Whole format than in the old, smaller committee meetings. He also said the city's Planning Commission should be a recommending body, not a deciding body. However, he declined to comment on changes he would make to the city's internal organization structure, explaining he was not familiar enough with it to answer.
He was born and raised on the north side of Chicago and later moved to Morton Grove. His children attended Niles West before the family moved to Skokie. He later moved to Westchester, Penn., while his now-grown children remained in this area. Upon the death of his daughter, he and his wife returned to the Chicago area, settling in Park Ridge in 2001.
"Park Ridge is my home. I could have moved anywhere when I moved back from Pennsylvania," he said. "There are wonderful people here, I have a great house, I've become involved."
Sweeney did not rule out a formal run for the office in 2011.
"I plan to serve here for as long as the people of the first ward want me," he stated. He added that he plans to establish a contact telephone number and a Web site for his constituents and to visit all the neighborhoods in the ward. "It's going to be a lot of steps," he said.
Ald. Frank Wsol (7th) asked the council to consider continuing the questioning and final approval of Sweeney until the next meeting. However, after discussion, aldermen defeated that motion by a vote of 2–4 with Wsol and Ald. Thomas Carey (6th) voting for continuation. After additional questioning, the aldermen voted unanimously to add Sweeney to the council. City Clerk Betty Henneman swore in Sweeney and he took his seat for the rest of the meeting. Mayor Dave Schmidt, who selected Sweeney to replace him in the first ward seat, spoke about the approval the next morning.
"I thought the aldermen asked some very tough questions and I thought that Ald. Sweeney dealt with them appropriately," he said. "The one thing that I admired most about Ald. Sweeney was his brutal honesty. He's not afraid to speak his mind. I feel that is a good quality for an alderman."
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