Oak Park’s mayor neither has a conflict of interest nor appears to have one, village officials determined Tuesday evening.
The decision was made after resident Chris Donovan alleged in a lawsuit that it was improper for Mayor Anan Abu-Taleb to make recommendations as a board member of the Oak Park Economic Development Corporation and then vote on the recommendations while sitting on the village board. Specifically, the civil complaint pertained to the choice to redevelop a blighted section of Madison Street.
The village board, serving as an ethics committee and absent Abu-Taleb, voted to deny and dismiss accusations of a conflict.
The mayor’s repeated contact with the developer of the high-profile project in his role as a member of the economic development corporation created the appearance of a conflict, violating the city’s ordinance, according to Donovan.
Donovan’s complaint grew out of a longstanding opposition to village efforts to rejuvenate the commercial district along Madison Street from Oak Park to Wesley avenues. The village chose Chicago-based Jupiter Realty to craft a mixed-use development in December 2016.
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The development plans approved by the village board would reduce Madison Street to one lane in each direction and bend the road between Euclid and Wesley avenues to create a large parcel designed to attract an anchor tenant, such as a grocery store. The project does not yet have such a tenant.
Donovan has said he filed the lawsuit Dec. 28 in Cook County Circuit Court, having received no response after calling for the ethics committee hearing at the village board meeting Nov. 20.
“It’s a pretty sad day when somebody has to sue the village to try to get a response,” he told the board Tuesday, although Trustee Simone Boutet said the meeting was the board’s first chance to hear the complaint since it was made two months ago.
Boutet also noted that as a legislator, the mayor is not prohibited from having an opinion.
Of the board trustees, only Boutet voted against denying and dismissing the complaint. She said she didn’t want the complaint dismissed, and referenced Donovan’s lawsuit. She also said concerns Donovan expressed about a lack of transparency in the village’s development process are valid.
Village Attorney Paul Stephanides recommended the board act against Donovan. In a July memo, he explained his conclusion that Oak Park officials who serve on the economic development corporation board do not have a conflict of interest as defined by village and state law.
“There is no legal merit to this complaint,” he said Tuesday.
Most village board members agreed.
“I just do not see an ethics violation here whatsoever,” said Trustee Deno Andrews.
Andrews noted any developer planning to invest in a municipality would want to meet with its mayor and other officials.
“It’s part of the job that you try to learn about something that may or may not happen, and invariably you do form an opinion,” Trustee Dan Moroney said.
Donovan did have a supporter in resident Marty Bernstein, who during public comment asked the board to reject Stephanides’ memo.
Abu-Taleb was relegated to the audience during the board’s discussion of the complaint, with Trustee Robert Tucker serving as mayor pro-tem, but Abu-Taleb did reflect on what he called a baseless complaint during board remarks at the end of the meeting.
“I will not let a distraction like that get in the way of doing the right thing,” he said.
Anna Bybee-Schier is a freelancer.