Robinson In As New Mayor of Lake Forest

By Martin Henderson

Dwight Robinson, who a year ago participated in his first meeting as a newly-elected councilman, was appointed Tuesday as Lake Forest's mayor for 2014. 

Robinson was a unanimous selection after being nominated by Adam Nick. 

Robinson returned the favor, nominating Nick to be the City's No. 2, the mayor pro tem. Nick, too, was a unanimous selection. 

Robinson and Nick will replace Scott Voigts and Kathryn McCullough, respectively.

"I'm excited on one hand, a little apprehensive on another," Robinson said. "I know it's a pretty significant time commitment, mainly a lot of ceremonial parts to it. From what I've seen, Kathy and Scott do a fantastic job when it comes to that kind of stuff. They're at so many grand openings and ribbon cuttings and things of that nature, and I hope I can live up to what they've been able to do from that perspective."

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Among those voting for both men was David Bass in his first meeting as a councilman. Bass was appointed in a special meeting last week. 

City law enacted in the summer of 2012 precluded the sitting mayor and mayor pro tem from holding those positions for a two-year span. City law also precluded newly sitting councilman Bass from holding one of the positions.

Robinson said afterward he hadn't defined an agenda he would like to champion in 2014, but did say his focus was on local businesses, both big and small—and the jobs they bring to the community—and figures he'll be doing a lot of talking to business owners in his new role. Also, he would like the City to do more business within the city limits when that opportunity presents itself. 

"Part of it is getting those businesses on our interest lists here, and that takes somebody actually getting out there and reaching out, and sometimes it's hard for the staff to do that when we're talking about a $100 expense or something like that, it doesn't make sense, but part of our role and responsibility is to be ambassadors for the city, for the businesses, for the residents.  

"You want to make sure you're touching everybody. The last thing you want to see is a business the size of Western Digital leave if we can help it. I wasn't involved in that. I don't know if the city did everything it could or if there was something more we could have done. I want to make sure even the Mom and Pop, or the guy working out of his home and has a P.O. box, that he feels he has a place if his business provides a service the city would need—that we're reaching out to that business owner in some way.

"You talk on a national level all the way down to a local level, what's the most important thing to people? It's jobs and the economy. We're usually focusing on everything from potholes to traffic to parks and things like that, but that's what people are focused on, so how can we help in that way? It might not be significant ways, but there's something we can all do at every level of government."