The Harvey City Council met Monday for the first time since it voted to apply for financially distressed city status Oct. 16, and became a forum for residents to give voice to their anger and frustration with the city administration under Mayor Christopher Clark.
Harvey furloughed about 40% of its city employees last week in response to the city’s financial crisis, including 18 of its 35 public works employees. A group of workers wearing the green of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees were present at the crowded meeting.
The council meeting was preceded the city’s Finance Committee, which also turned contentious. Sharron McGee, a resident and board member of West Harvey-Dixmoor Elementary District 147, criticized the members for continuing to approve expenses as normal when the city was in financial crisis.
“We’re on fire, and you’re telling me it’s all OK, when you’re steady pouring gasoline by voting yes,” McGee said. “It is ridiculous what you guys are doing to us.”
Sixth Ward Ald. Tyrone Rogers, the committee chair, shouted at McGee as she concluded, calling her wrong and misinformed. McGee was eventually escorted out by police.
Fourth Ward Ald. Tracy Key and 2nd Ward Ald. Colby Chapman echoed McGee’s concerns. Chapman said the city should put an immediate hold on new spending until there was more transparency about the city’s finances.
“I’m asking this council to freeze all spending on expenditures until you see a rough report, until you see a cash net, a profit and loss statement, invoices, until the fiscal audit is done from 2021, and until we know something more about this financial distress,” Chapman said.
The committee voted to approve two lists of the city’s bills, one from its Aug. 25 meeting and one from Monday’s meeting.
Chapman, who shared the lists on Facebook, drew attention to particularly expensive line items, including $23,885 monthly payments on vehicle leasing by the police and over $55,000 in legal fees in the most recent billing cycle.
First Ward Ald. Shirley Drewenski said it was unrealistic to suggest the city should not pay its bills, regardless of the financial situation.
“The fact of the matter is, we still have bills, and these bills still must get approved, whether we like it or not,” Drewenski said. “Even though we’re applying to be in distress due to the lack of taxes being received, business doesn’t stop. Our doors are still open. We still are accruing cost.”
The City Council voted to ratify both lists. A motion to call the question was brought on both lists, cutting off debate and forcing an immediate vote on the issue. Chapman attempted to have the list from Monday’s meeting referred back to the Finance Committee, but the motion to call the question passed instead.
The one item of new business before the City Council was an agreement for a proposed redevelopment of city-owned properties by a company called Turlington Homes. Third Ward Ald. Telanee Smith immediately called the question for a vote, preventing any debate. The council voted 3-2 in favor of approving the redevelopment agreement, with Rogers, Drewenski and Smith voting in favor and Key and Chapman voting against.
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Members of the public spoke out against the agreement.
“It just feels like we’re doing a fire sale to some legal friends downtown,” Amanda Askew said. “We just continue to act like this is a liquidation sale for the city of Harvey.”
According to the documents from the Illinois secretary of state’s office, Turlington Homes Inc. was incorporated Oct. 2. The business’ website is currently empty, saying only, “Welcome to the future website for Turlington Homes in Harvey, Illinois.”
Turlington Homes will acquire 10 city-owned properties along the 15100 block of Turlington Avenue for the creation of a new development. The development will use three basic house plans, with estimated base purchase prices for the new homes ranging from $168,000 to $248,000, according to the ordinance. Site work is projected to begin in the first quarter of 2026 with completion estimated for the final quarter of 2027.
“Each home is targeted toward a specific buyer, single occupant, married couple, or small family,” the resolution said. “The designs are compact, yet extremely functional with open plan designs and state-of-the-art home automation. They will represent a turning-point in single-family home offerings in the City of Harvey and attract new residents from neighboring areas.”
The resolution states the city is “willing to assist the developer by selling the Redevelopment Property at a discounted sale price,” though a final sale price is not specified.
Julian Rucker, who said he has purchased and rehabbed multiple Harvey properties, said he applied for a city program for interested Harvey residents to acquire and renovate city-owned properties, but hadn’t heard anything since submitting his application in August.
“No returned calls, no emails. So I’d just like somebody to tell me what’s going on,” Rucker said. “This Turlington investment, I don’t know if that has something to do with this, but after just finding out, I am concerned.”
Public comment was unanimously critical of the Clark administration, and each comment was met with a round of applause from the audience.
Resident Mauzkie Ervin spoke at both the Finance Committee meeting and the City Council meeting, saying Clark should have applied for relief under the financially distressed city law in 2019 when he first took office, rather than after six years as mayor.
“When Chris Clark took office in 2019,” Ervin said, “I asked him to open the books, and show everybody everything that’s going on. We were about $140 million in debt right then at that moment. That was the time to ask the state to come in to help us.”
Ervin said that since the city had applied for state relief via financially distressed status, it should now be down to the state to rule on agreements such as the one with Turlington Homes.
“Ask the state, should they be getting those properties?” Ervin said. “Whatever you do, include the state in what you’re doing.”
Multiple community members urged others to vote in 2027, when Clark will next be up for election.
Despite the public discontent, Clark closed the meeting on an optimistic note.
“The city of Harvey is still on a path forward,” Clark said. “Just like in your household if you run out of money and all these things happen, that don’t mean you stay where you are in your household. You’re gonna make some changes, you’re gonna do what you need to do, you’re gonna tighten up that belt, OK, and do what needs to be done there, so then you don’t have to stay in the situation that you’re in.”