Calumet City will proceed with litigation towards its elected worker regardless of aldermen’s efforts to dismiss the case, which they are saying represents a retaliatory motion by Mayor Thaddeus Jones.
During a particular assembly Monday, council members James Patton, Monet Wilson, DeJuan Gardner and Michael Navarrete voted to override Jones’ veto of the Dec. 4 vote to dismiss the case. However, the override required 5 votes reasonably than a easy majority of the board and lacked help from DeAndre Tillman, Anthony Smith and Ramonde Williams.
Jones and City Clerk Nyota Figgs have been at odds throughout Jones’ tenure, with Figgs just lately opposing Jones’ bid for re-election in 2025. The metropolis’s elections board earlier this month rejected the declare by Figgs that Jones is ineligible to function mayor resulting from a citywide referendum handed in 2021 that bars a mayor from additionally serving as a state consultant. Figgs appealed to Cook County Circuit Court.
Figgs dropped the residency problem towards Jones throughout a listening to Monday.
The case filed towards Figgs alleges the worker illegally disposed of metropolis information quickly after Jones was elected mayor in 2021.
“The Figgs, surreptitiously and with out the approval of the mayor or metropolis council, disposed of and destroyed roughly two truckloads of metropolis paperwork with none authorized authority to take action,” the lawsuit alleges.
Figgs’ legal professional, Jim Kelley, stated earlier this month that Figgs had approval to eliminate the paperwork and that Jones filed the lawsuit towards Figgs with out the board’s approval, which is essential regardless of the place of the mayor as the principle decision-maker within the metropolis’s authorized issues. Figgs stated Tuesday that she believes Jones filed the lawsuit as a response to a lawsuit she filed towards him, and claims metropolis officers instructed her they might drop the lawsuit if she dropped hers.
“If I make all of this go away, then he’ll make all of this go away, as a result of it was performed in retaliation,” Figgs stated.
Aldermen led by Patton, who’s difficult Jones within the 2025 Democratic major for mayor, known as a particular assembly Dec. 4 to dismiss the lawsuit towards Figgs on the steps of City Hall. They had been unable to fulfill within the boardroom, as Jones had despatched out a discover that day requesting that the assembly be canceled “resulting from a pest management emergency and water pipe points” inside the constructing, in keeping with the e-mail obtained.
Patton stated he anticipated Jones to intrude with the assembly due to his private curiosity within the lawsuit, and reported that employees modified the locks on the entrances to City Hall and barricaded the constructing shortly earlier than the scheduled assembly. He stated he knowledgeable the mayor’s workplace upfront that the council would maintain the assembly open air with out the mayor’s chair if he refused to cooperate.
Jones later denied that he had barricaded the constructing due to the assembly or that he meant to dismiss the lawsuit and stated that the council didn’t have the authority to dismiss circumstances introduced by town.
“Only the mayor can direct the authorized work on behalf of town, OK, not town council,” Jones stated on the time.
However, Jones quickly after vetoed the dismissal permitted throughout the particular assembly, thus resulting in the cancellation of Monday’s vote. Figgs stated she was not shocked by the three aldermen who voted towards dismissing the case, as they’re all carefully aligned with Jones and his administration.
The case was set for trial in early December, however was moved ahead after Cook County Judge Alison Conlon recused herself after disclosing that she might have distributed literature for Jones when he was operating for consultant state in 2016. The case will return to court docket in February. 20, in keeping with court docket paperwork.
ostevens@chicagotribune.com
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