Four University Park trustees called a special meeting and voted to issue a 90-day notice of termination to CHW Management Group LLC as manager of the municipal golf course.
Trustee Gina Williams said she voted for the dismissal because CHW Management because has been “milking us dry,” there hasn’t been an increase in golfers, no profits have been reported and the company hasn’t offered promised programming.
“It was a lot of unkept promises. We felt it was more damage than good,” Williams said. CHW Management Group owner Sonia Coffee said in a statement the golf course secured confirmed events planned for the summer and the remainder of the year and that CHW Management “is guiding the course and the village’s investments in the right direction.”
“I maintain hope that the village will continue to allow the CHW Management team, which is a highly diverse group of talented and committed staff — representing many ethnicities, sexual orientations and ages — move forward with our strategic vision toward making this golf course and facility a top destination in the Southland region in the years ahead as University Park enjoys economic growth,” Coffee said in the statement, released through an attorney.
The special meeting May 25 was not attended by Mayor Joseph Roudez and Trustees Janelle McFadden and Karen Lewis.
Trustee Theo Brooks said he heard through attorneys that Roudez was upset the special meeting was held while he and the other two trustees were in Las Vegas for a conference.
“I think he’s upset he has four trustees that aren’t in agreement with his policies,” Brooks said. “I believe we can reach common ground.”
Roudez did not respond Friday to requests for comment.
Roudez tried to hold a special meeting May 11 to extend CHW Management Group’s contract with the previous board. But, the meeting was canceled after newly elected trustees Williams, Donna Fulcher and Jewell Thompson went to the Will County clerk’s office to be sworn in.
The golf course was at the center of allegations that came to a head when 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.
Brooks said he voted to remove CHW Management because of the altercation between Wilson and Coffee.
After the group Save University Park released video from the Dec. 16, 2021 altercation and depositions of Roudez and Coffee in a wrongful termination case by Michael Realty & Management, the former course manager, Brooks said it became clearer to him that CHW Management Group had to go.
“It’s clear that it’s time for them to move on,” Brooks said. “They haven’t shown us they deserve to be here.”
The board also had an agenda item to immediately dismiss Odelson, Sterk, Murphey, Frazier & McGrath as village attorneys, appointing Montana & Welch instead, but tabled that motion.
Williams said she supported hiring Montana & Welch as village attorneys because the village worked with the law firm in the past.
Brooks, who ran against Roudez in the 2023 election, said he wanted to remove the village’s former attorney group because an attorney with the group represented Roudez during a recount Brooks called for after Roudez won by just 10 votes.
Montana & Welch represented the village in 2015 and from 2017 through 2019, Brooks said.
“They did an excellent job,” Brooks said. “They have a great reputation of integrity.”
While the mayor and two other trustees didn’t attend the meeting, Williams said she does not believe that they were blindsided because it was properly posted.
“No, they probably didn’t know right away, but it was public knowledge,” Williams said.
Williams said she and the trustees that met during the special meeting do not want to make a habit of meeting without the mayor and other trustees, so she hopes the board can find common ground.
“We look forward to working with the other trustees and the mayor, and we hope we can work together,” Williams said.
This story was updated June 5 to reflect that board tabled an agenda item to change law firms representing the village.