As Oak Lawn Turns: Heilmann Says Investigation Is 'All-out Attack on Me'

The Oak Lawn Village Board has a week to let the village manager know which course of action to pursue after meeting in closed session on Monday to discuss the contents of an investigative report regarding the former village attorneys.

Attorney Burt Odelson, who provides legal counsel for districts 218 and 229, was hired in December 2009 to look into billings and practices of the village’s former legal counsel Tressler, Soderstrom, Maloney & Priess, and attorney Norm Chimenti, after several board trustees and the village manager expressed concern over the tripling of legal fees and judgments under the Tressler law firm’s watch.

The Tressler firm and Chimenti both were hired in 2005 at the recommendation of Mayor Dave Heilmann. The mayor was a no-show at Monday night’s meeting.

“Ask Dave Heilmann where the hell he was,” Odelson said.

Meanwhile, Heilmann has characterized the report as an "all-out attack on me."

Odelson said on Monday the only part of his report that would be read in open session was his executive summary because it involved “possible litigation.” His summary alluded to mismanagement of the village’s legal business, including duplicate and overpayments, and the bungling of a civil rights lawsuit against the village.

Between 2005 and 2009, Odelson said the village had been billed $3.5 million in legal fees, compared to the $500,000 annual fee by the firm before Tressler was hired.

“The Board of Trustees will have a week to digest (the report) from closed session,” Odelson said. “This was a 40-page report with details on emails and executive session minutes. I went over it with them. They have to read it carefully.”

In his executive summary, Odelson also acknowledged “a summary of findings” compiled by Trustee Tom Phelan under Odelson’s oversight. Phelan has been highly critical of the mayor since the splintering of the Unity Party slate that was elected into office in 2005.

Trustee Bob Streit described the report as “disturbing.”

“In my 20 years on the board, I have never seen anything like it,” Streit said. “It’s worse than I expected. Clear evidence was presented in the report that indicated a misrepresentation by the law firm and gross mismanagement of the legal team that went to the highest level of village government.”

Streit said Odelson recommended several options of where to proceed from here, including: negotiate a settlement, seek civil litigation or “turn evidence over to the proper authorities.”

“I do think they should know of the gross mismanagement of the legal team from 2005-2009,” Streit said. “I think they already know that the mayor brought in his friends to serve as lawyers for the village. Unfortunately, the taxpayers paid dearly for it.”

Other village board members would not comment on the record or else didn’t return phone calls seeking their reactions to the report.

Odelson also provided a copy of his report to the mayor. Heilmann said he hadn’t yet seen it.

“I spoke to (Trustee) Carol Quinlan, and my understanding is that it was an all-out attack on me,” Heilmann said. “All this is are trustees using Burt Odelson to attack the mayor, which is an illegal use of public funds.”

Heilmann said that if he understood correctly, the report was “taking bits and pieces of various emails and ripping into me.”

The mayor also painted Phelan’s role in compiling financial data for the investigative report as further bias.

“It’s so obvious what they’re doing when two lawyers are handling the case and dividing the responsibility,” Heilmann said. “Everything I said from the beginning, it turned out to be.”

Heilmann defended the Tressler law firm, and his friend and partner in community theater productions, Chimenti, who provided labor law consultation and oversaw the village’s legal business.

“Mr. Chimenti said that he would review any legal bills any time (the village) wanted him too,” Heilmann explained. “We never asked him to.”

Chimenti also was the co-counsel on labor law matters, including for the Oak Lawn Fire Department.

“How come the village never investigated the other lawyer?” Heilmann said. “The answer is that the other lawyer didn’t have a connection to Dave Heilmann.”

Heilmann described the other labor attorney, Carl Ottoson, as  "outstanding.”

Some village trustees have accused Heilmann, an attorney himself, of throwing the village’s legal business to his friends.

“I do know a guy at Tressler,” Heilmann said. “I’ve known him my whole life. He’s someone I talk to every five years.”

When asked why he didn’t show up Monday night to defend himself, Heilmann replied: “How would I know someone was going to attack me when I haven’t seen the report?"