Western Springs Correcting 'Pretty Shocking' Practice

WESTERN SPRINGS, IL — Western Springs trustees are expected to vote Monday on whether to ratify the village's previous appointments of its top officials.

This is an apparent response to a Patch inquiry that uncovered the village's violations of its code dealing with appointments.

In the last two weeks, Patch has identified four instances in which the Village Board did not vote on appointments to top positions, violating the code. Last year, a trustee was sworn in without the board's approval. That was corrected after Patch pointed it out.

According to Monday's meeting agenda, the board is set to vote on ratifying 17 officials' appointments

The list includes Village Manager Ingrid Velkme and Police Chief Brian Budds, both of whom appeared to have been appointed according to village code.

In an email to Patch earlier this week, the village's attorney, Michael Jurusik, said the matter was undergoing a legal review and that he would provide his opinion at Monday's board meeting.

Village President Alice Gallagher and the six trustees have not responded to Patch's email and phone messages about the issue.

Patch also reached out to Ben Silver, an attorney with the Elmhurst-based Citizen Advocacy Center, a nonprofit watchdog group. He said the board should approve appointments as required.

"It's pretty shocking that they would overlook something as routine as confirming appointments," Silver said in an email. "I'm glad they're moving to correct it, but the public deserves an explanation on how it happened, what they will do to ensure it doesn't happen in the future, and whether there was a broader breakdown in the process."

He said such situations may be a result of the fact that Illinois has more units of government than any other state in the country. And those government entities don't have "enough pairs of eyes to watch it all," he said.