Lande lands seat on Joliet City Council

The Joliet City Council voted 7-0 for Herb Lande to fill a council vacancy, showing none of the dissension that arose a week ago when the mayor's first pick for the seat was turned down and his authority to fill the position was even questioned.

The one question raised about Lande came from Councilman Pat Mudron, who pointed to an article in The Herald-News about Lande's donations to the mayor's campaign fund.

"Would you still be an independent thinker?" Mudron asked.

Lande and his company, Imperial Construction in Joliet, has contributed $15,500 to Mayor Bob O'Dekirk's campaign fund, the second biggest source of contributions behind only the mayor himself, since O'Dekirk first ran for mayor in 2015 against then-Mayor Tom GIarrante.

"I didn't care for the last administration. I thought they were going in the wrong direction," Lande told Mudron. "I put my money where my mouth is."

Lande could become a key vote on a council that has divided at times on key issues with a council majority bucking O'Dekirk in a 5-3 split that narrowed to 4-3 when Councilman Don Dickinson resigned on Nov. 23. Lande has the potential of turning votes into 4-4 ties that would go to the mayor, who has made it a policy to only vote to break ties or when his vote is required for a quorum majority.

"Mayor O'Dekirk will tell you I disagree with him as much as I agree with him," Lande told the council. "I'm pretty vocal when we don't agree."

Lande has served since 2015 as chairman of the Board of Fire and Police Commissioners. He was appointed to the board by O'Dekirk.

The mayor's first choice to fill the vacancy was Todd Wooten, another member of the fire and police board that he appointed in 2015.

The council turned down Wooten 4-3 at a meeting in which Mudron produced an outside legal opinion that state statute gave the council the authority to nominate candidates to fill vacancies. The legal issue did not come up Tuesday.

Bettye Gavin, who voted against Wooten, abstained in the vote on Lande's appointment, citing a conflict of interest with her position as executive director of the Forest Park Community Center.

She described Lande as a "great community partner" to the center, having donated time and services to the organization.

"I know you are a man of your word," Gavin said to Lande at the meeting. "You are an independent thinker."

O'Dekirk after the meeting said Lande is "a very successful businessman" who will be "a good addition to the council."

"I'm glad we put this behind us, and we can move forward," O'Dekirk said.