The remaining two recently elected University Park trustees were sworn in Thursday by Will County Clerk Lauren Staley Ferry, the same day University Park Mayor Joesph Roudez canceled a special meeting of the board.
Trustee Theo Brooks said Roudez scheduled the meeting to use the old board to push his agenda.
“He’s holding on to the little power he has left, and that’s not fair,” Brooks said. “These things need to be discussed with the new board. Why are you discussing it with the old board?”
Roudez said Friday he was not aware the three new trustees, elected April 4, were sworn in by the county clerk.
“It’s the first I’ve heard of that,” Roudez said.
The agenda for the special meeting included a vote on a street lighting project and a resolution “revising the rules of order and procedure of the mayor and board of trustees.” The supplemental documents for these items were no longer on the village’s website Friday.
The agenda also included a resolution to extend the contract with CHW Management Group LLC as the management company for the University Park Golf Club.
The golf course was at the center of allegations that came to a head when CHW Management Group LLC owner Sonia Coffee and former University Park police Chief Deborah Wilson were in an altercation Dec. 16, 2021, that resulted in Coffee being charged with aggravated battery and Wilson’s termination.
A Will County judge found Coffee and golf course employee DeVaughn Mathus, who was also charged with aggravated battery, not guilty April 13.
Trustee Jewell Thompson went to the Will County clerk’s office May 5 to be sworn in. Trustees Gina Williams and Donna Fulcher were sworn in Thursday by the clerk, Williams said.
When asked why he canceled the meeting, Roudez said he wouldn’t violate health insurance privacy laws.
Staley Ferry said candidates who win an election can be sworn in by anyone that’s a notary. Typically, Staley Ferry said she swears in sheriff’s department and other county officials.
Staley Ferry said she doesn’t typically swear in trustees.
“Trustees usually do get sworn in at their first meeting … by the clerk of their municipality,” Staley Ferry said.
Williams said she was upset the special meeting was scheduled because the new board should be making decisions.
The previous board, Williams said, would vote the way Roudez wanted, and the new board members will ask more questions and do their own research.
“He’s got his work cut out, and I think he knows that,” Williams said.
Fulcher said it was no fair to hold a special meeting with the old board members.
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“It shows the lack of support for the new trustees and, in a way, creates a division,” Fulcher said.
Thompson said after she learned about the special meeting, and its subsequent cancellation, she still went to the Village Hall to ensure a meeting wasn’t held. She waited from about 6:30 p.m. to 7 p.m., and while some residents arrived no board members did, Thompson said.
Scheduling a special meeting and then canceling it was “extremely disingenuous” on Roudez’s part, Thompson said.
“It points to something that’s negative,” Thompson said.
Roudez said the new board will be sworn in Wednesday at the University Park Golf Course. He declined to comment on the new member’s concerns about the special meeting.
“I look forward to working with them,” Roudez said.