VILLAGE OFFICIALS FILE FALSE TREASURER'S REPORT

SAUK VILLAGE |  Village officials may have falsified the Village's Treasurer's Report according to official Village records.  Village Clerk Debbie Williams certified the Village's Treasurer's Report which apparently was void of two individuals who have been on the Village's payroll since 2015.

JW Fairman and his assistant former Northlake Mayor Reid Paxson are nowhere on the most current year's Treasurer's Reports.  Fairman and his consultant company JW Fairman LLC or perhaps JW Fairman LTD were hired by Mayor David Hanks in the wake of the Village election in 2015 during the lame-duck session.  Fairman or his consultant company are reported earning $100,000 per year while his part-time "assistant" is paid $25,000 per year.  Fairman, his company and Paxson are not found on the most recent Treasurer's Report.  "All employees and vendors" earning over $25,000 are required to be listed on the report according to Illinois law.

 

Fairman receives a state and Cook County pension, and it is unclear if his "full-time" employment with Sauk Village would impact those pensions and if the omission was intentional.  Fairman was a prison administrator for Cook County jail and retired.  What is clear is that village officials did not list Fairman and Paxson on the Treasurer's report, yet all other Village employees, contractors and vendors are listed out on the report (***CLICK HERE TO VIEW REPORT***)

Both Hanks and Williams have been criticized by residents and three of the six Village Trustees for the lack of transparency and in 2016 both were admonished with a petition of No Confidence signed by 652 residents.  Williams most recently had her petitions challenged for Village Clerk among many other reasons, because she accepted a check from a village vendor for her so-called "personal trip" to Washington DC in 2013.  Williams said on July 23, 2013 at a Village Board meeting that she paid for the trip with her own money, however, a Freedom of Information Act request clearly showed she did not.  The Electoral Board in January of this year, which included Hanks and her daughter Rosie Williams, voted 2 to 1 to keep Williams on the ballot. 

Williams may still face charges from the Cook County States Attorney for failing to report money she received on her Statement of Economic Interest which is required under Illinois law.

"I do not understand how they keep getting things so wrong" a long-time resident said.  "The Village Treasurer gets indicted and pled guilty to Federal charges and these guys keep getting away with crap like this" they said.

The Village Treasurer, James Griegel appointed by Hanks in May, 2013 was arrested in January, 2016 and later Federal charges were filed against Griegel for embezzlement of Police Pension Funds.  The Village has not had a Treasurer in place doing the job since January, 2016 when Hanks put Griegel on "paid" administrative leave.

***UPDATE*** March 28, 2017:  At Tuesday's meeting JW Fairman's advised the public that we were correct that there was an omission was corrected and the Village has filed an amended Treasurer's Report!  We applaud their effort at Financial transparency in government!