New alderman named in Chicago Heights

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District 163 Board of Education President Walter Mosby completes his registration and prepares to head to the course. | Supplied Photo

Updated: March 18, 2012 8:11AM

A lifelong Chicago Heights resident has been appointed to replace the late Willie White as the city’s 1st Ward alderman.

Mayor David Gonzalez Wednesday appointed Walter Mosby III, a longtime pastor in town, to the seat, and aldermen approved it unanimously.

White, 1st Ward alderman since 1999, died in December at age 71 from complications of cancer.

Mosby, 50, is president of the Park Forest-Chicago Heights District 163 school board, where he has been a board member since 2008.

Gonzalez touted Mosby’s involvement in the community, noting his volunteer work and years as pastor at Greater Faith Baptist Church. Mosby also is a court services supervisor at Aunt Martha’s Youth Service Center.

“I don’t know what he doesn’t do,” Gonzalez said. “It’s such an easy appointment for me to make because it’s an individual who’s already given back to the community so much, and it’s always from the heart. “

Mosby, who challenged White for the council seat in 2003, remembered the former alderman for his dogged commitment to serving the ward.

“I truly take my hat off to ... Willie White, who has set the bar really high. I know I have some large shoes to fill,” Mosby said.

Mosby is a 45-year resident of the city’s Beacon Hill community.

A father of two who also is raising a 10-year-old granddaughter, Mosby said he was motivated to apply for the council seat because his granddaughter’s friends will not come to the neighborhood to play with her. His goal is to erase Beacon Hill’s reputation of drugs and violence.

“One of the things I’m going to work to my darnedest is changing that stigma,” Mosby said, “to a community where people feel safe, to a community where people feel loved, to a community where people feel involved. And most importantly, where they feel important.”