Shorewood Trustee McDonald Almost Gets To Chair a Committee

Shorewood Trustee James "Mac" McDonald remains the only member of the village board without a committee to lead.

At last week's village board meeting, Rick Chapman didn't change that, but did make McDonald the vice-chairman of the Parks & Recreation Committee.

McDonald will back up Parks & Recreation Chairwoman Celine Schwartz, who has missed meetings this year with health problems.

McDonald, who is the only "vice-chair" of any of the village board's five committees, created a bit of a stir during the board's last meeting in May.

He publicly complained about being the only one of the six board members without a committee to chair.

His remarks seemed to irk Chapman, who snapped at McDonald, "I didn't appreciate that right now."

"There's a lot of things I don't appreciate," McDonald shot back.

McDonald can add his appointment to the Parks & Recreation Committee as vice-chairman to the list of things he does not appreciate.

After the meeting, he pointed out that the new role still does not allow him a chance to speak at the end of meetings, as the five chairmen do.

Chapman appeared to have a feeling that McDonald wasn't too thrilled about the appointment, as he remarked, "Unless you turn it down," when he brought the matter up for a vote.

McDonald did not turn it down, and the three other trustees present, along with Chapman, voted in favor of the appointment.