VILLAGE TREASURER REVEALS TRUTH AT 'TALK TO THE TREASURER'

Village Treasurer Anthony Finch

TRUSTEES ARE CAUSE OF BUDGET DELAY; ONGOING FBI INVESTIGATION; 67 BROKEN FIRE HYDRANTS; $225,000 LEGAL TAB

Fourth of July fireworks may have been cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic but fireworks were flying at Village Hall Thursday evening during the first Talk with the Treasurer.  Village Treasurer Anthony Finch fired off salvos during his opening comments for about 35 minutes in response to nonsensical political criticism leveled against him and Village staff, who happen to be black, by five of the six Trustees.  Finch completely rebuked the personal attacks as nonsense and leveled criticism right where it belonged, with the Village Board of Trustees.  “That is why the Board is mad at me because I’m challenging them for being hypocritical. Prove me wrong and tell me where I lied, but show me” Finch said.

 

 

“One thing that we have major concerns about over the last few months is the budget.  This is a touchy issue.  The budget is not done.  The budget was started back in April. I originally had the schedule to complete the budget by the end of July.  This is the first Village where I have worked where we have not gotten the budget passed and approved by the end of July.  Personally, it’s embarrassing because it should be unacceptable by anybody” Finch said.

 

 

“One of the challenges that is holding up the budget is that our Trustees wanted to wait and do job description reviews.  So that to me has nothing to do with the expenses of the budget, but that is the reason why the budget is not done” Finch said.  Trustees have had well over a year to review individual job descriptions but are now holding the Village’s budget hostage and putting the Village in jeopardy and at risk.

 

 

Residents who attended Thursday’s event, which Finch said he will host monthly, called this “the most transparent the village has been ever”. 

 

 

Resident Larry Sapp vocally spoke up “When these new Trustees took over (gaining a majority over Mayor Derrick Burgess) in 2019 they had an axe to grind,” he said.  Debbie Williams, the former Village Clerk lost her bid for re-election in 2017 joined forces with Sherry Jasinski, who was terminated by Mayor Burgess in 2018 and Gary Bell who was terminated from the Village’s Emergency Management Agency all had personal and political axes to grind.  The trio joined forces with their friends who were on the Board Linda Todd and Bernice Brewer.  The only Trustee who continues to support the efforts of Mayor Burgess to move the Village forward is Trustee Rodrick Grant. Williams sat silently in the front row during the meeting taking copious notes during the event. 

 

 

Finch told the crowd that the Village, under Mayor Burgess has amassed a surplus in the Water Fund of $1.2 million and had ended the routine of taking money and using it for unrelated water fund payroll. We ended the raids on the water fund for non-water fund related uses that prior administrations routinely would do. Prior to 2019, we amassed $800,000 from the sale of the property to Gas N Wash which is invested in a Certificate of Deposit and [we also] obtained a $500,000 line of credit avoiding the need to take out Tax Anticipation Warrants which cost the Village about $40,000 each time. The finances of the Village have gotten far better under Mayor Burgess and the team he brought in, which begged the question, why do a forensic audit now? Why wasn’t this done to investigate where the money went when money was embezzled, mismanaged, misspent and absconded by a rogue criminally indicted and now convicted felon Ex-Village Treasurer James Griegel who was appointed and convicted under the Hanks Administration? 

 

 

Residents were shocked to discover that there is an ongoing FBI Investigation stemming from 2014-2015 during the previous administration according to Finch, however, he did not disclose what was being targeted.  He did indicate that at least two [current] Trustees know all about it. 

 

 

With the Village’s water fund being so healthy residents, were dumbfounded as to the reason why there are still 67 nonfunctioning fire hydrants throughout the Village.  Mayor Burgess and Finch wanted this to be outsourced to get them all repaired, however, they have had consistent push back from the Public Works Department and their Union that they would file a grievance if the Village proceeded without them, according to Finch.  Finch also said the same thing about the condition of the roads and dead trees; that this could not be outsourced because of union grievances. “These (fire hydrants) have been broken and unrepaired for years and PWD have given numerous excuses as to why repairs can't be made even though there is money in the budget to repair or replace” Finch said.  The Village Trustees and their hired Village Administrator refuse to get the work done and are enabling the Public Works employees' incompetence over the resident’s needs, according to resident Arnold Coleman. Other residents in attendance also questioned what Trustee Bernice Brewer, who chairs the Public Services Committee since 2017 has done to get the work done.  “What has she done in the three years she sat on the Village Board?  Nothing, she has done nothing to fix a single fire hydrant.  Yet she complains about everything” a long-time resident said. Trustee Bernice Brewer, to date, has yet to conduct a single committee meeting to address the needs of residents, and the deplorable public services conditions throughout the Village.    

 

 

“The problem that I hear and see is that it’s not the Mayor or you (Anthony Finch), it’s the Trustees.  We need to get people in there that care about Sauk Village.  We live here, this is our home a lot of us are retirees and we came here because we like what we saw, but they are not taking care of the business” a resident said passionately.

 

 

Residents also spoke about the racial divide for employees who work for the Village, as it appears black employees are targeted with harassment and being treated differently than white employees by the Village Trustees.  Finch questioned why Union employees are getting a 2.5% pay raises and non-union staff get nothing.  Most union employees are white while non-union employees at Village Hall are black. Tonya McCoy had her pay cut by the Trustees by some $20,000;  the only employee in the Village to have her pay cut with no justification, according to Finch.  Many suspect that it was done because McCoy, who is black, was appointed by Mayor Burgess and the decrease in salary was a personal and political retaliation.  McCoy has since left Sauk Village and now works for the Village of Matteson earning nearly twice as much as she earned in Sauk Village.

 

 

Finch said he has been proud of the accomplishments that he and his staff have been able to accomplish.  He clearly puts the blame upon the Trustees for not allowing the audit to be completed on time because due to a Trustee routinely calling the auditors and making false and unfounded allegations. Finch called the actions of the Trustee “inappropriate” and costly to the Village.  The most recent audit is now delayed until after what Finch calls the “unnecessary” forensic audit is completed. “The Audit Firm is not going to lose their CPA license, just because (a certain Trustee) doesn’t think they’re looking into financial matters they want them to look at” Finch said attributing this to the ongoing delays. 

 

 

Resident and community activist Larry Sapp did not mince his words when he spoke out.  “I commend you for dealing with these idiots.  Racism has no place here. These people are hell bent on putting things back the way they were and I’m hell bent on not letting them.  We need to come together, this is turning into a black and white issue and I’m not going to sugar coat it saying that it’s anything other than that because I see the behavior of some of these Trustees.  That’s insidious to me” he said.

 

 

Lynda Washington one-term former Trustee, who aligned herself with former mayor David Hanks and his trustees, who subsequently and unsuccessfully ran for mayor against Burgess in 2017, applauded Mr. Finch and his financial staff for their transparency. “This is the most transparency that I have seen in years…” she said.

 

 

Mayor Derrick Burgess said following the meeting “we have been transparent about everything we do.  There are no secrets here.  The Village Treasurer is appointed and has a legal responsibility to do his job without regard to politics.  Unfortunately, this board has brought undue complications, pressure, division, chaos and confusion.  This meeting sure did clear up much of that.  Mr. Finch has my complete support and confidence,” he said.