There will soon be a new president of the board of trustees of the Lyons Township Treasurer of Schools office, better known as the TTO. Mike Thiessen is not running for another term after 11 years on the TTO board.
“I don’t think I can do any more work here,” Thiessen said. “This office is in great shape. I have other things I want to do. I have some other volunteer board work I want to focus on.”
Thiessen was originally appointed to the TTO board in 2012 to replace Edward Maloney, who became a judge. He was re-elected to the board in 2013 and 2017, running unopposed both times.
In addition to leading the board, Thiessen often served as the spokesman for the TTO during its long-running lawsuit against Lyons Township High School, which ultimately resulted in LTHS prevailing.
After the verdict, LTHS withdrew from the TTO as it was allowed to do by state law. But LTHS and the Lyons TTO are still in court fighting over money in a new case LTHS filed in 2021.
LTHS claims that the TTO still has more than $2 million of its money. In February Cook County Circuit Court Judge Cecilia Horan rejected a motion by the TTO to dismiss the case. The two sides have not been able to agree on mediation to settle the case.
The TTO wants LTHS to split the cost of mediation, which LTHS has refused to do since it had to pay for approximately $754,000 of the TTO’s more than $4 million of legal fees it paid pursuing its lawsuit against LTHS.
This year, once again, the races for TTO board member are uncontested. Three candidates are running in the April 4 election for the three seats. Koula Alevizos Fournier, an assistant state’s attorney from Burr Ridge, is running for a two-year term and incumbents Jessica Doherty, a legal secretary from Countryside, and Carol McGowan, a radio station supervisor at Argo High School and member of the Summit Zoning Board of Appeals, are running for full six-year terms.
As a result of a new state law backed by former state Sen. Steve Landek, the TTO board has expanded from three to seven members. Four of the trustees are elected by the voters and three are school board members selected by the school boards whose districts served by the TTO.
On Jan. 31 McGowan was appointed to the new elected seat and the three school board members were added to TTO board.
The three new school board members of the TTO board, who will serve one year terms, are William Green of Summit Elementary School District 104, William Brockob of Pleasantdale School District 107 and Nicholas Caprio of Argo Community High School District 217.
