An Oak Brook Village Board candidate has resigned from an ad hoc committee formed to review village legal fees.
Jeff Kennedy, a retired attorney, submitted his resignation Feb. 2, citing an appearance of conflict of interest. He had been tapped to serve on the committee in September, and believed the panel would complete its task before the filing period for candidates in mid-January.
Kennedy is one of seven candidates vying for three trustee seats in the April 5 election. Two others who filed nominating petitions last month, Terry O’Malley and Samuel Girgis, have dropped out of the race.
The committee’s task is to scrutinize legal fees incurred by the village in Village Atty. Ken Kubiesa’s first year, compared with the final year of work for Kubiesa’s predecessor, Richard Martens. Some trustees have expressed concern that costs have risen, which Kubiesa has attributed to increased responsibilities and unprecedented litigation, among other factors.
Kubiesa, who has threatened to sue Trustees Susan Chase Korin and Stelios Aktipis for comments they have made about him, has derided the group as a means to get at Village President Kevin Quinlan through him. Trustees on the committee counter that watching the village’s bottom line, and that new procedures in approving legal work would help contain costs.
Kennedy spent more than 100 hours analyzing legal billings.
At a late-December committee meeting, Kennedy noted that the common “core cost” annually for Martens was about $130,000, compared with about $160,000 for Kubiesa. Those numbers are subject to revision, and the final results have not yet been released.
Korin, also a committee member, told the board Tuesday that she hoped the final report would be completed in weeks.
