A personnel move that ended up costing Hazel Crest taxpayers $300,000 could be the deciding factor in the town’s April 4 mayoral election.
Residents of the village of 14,200 will decide whether they want new leadership. Incumbent Mayor Vernard Alsberry faces challenges from Rod Bashir and Max Solomon.
Alsberry is seeking his second term as the town’s top elected official. He said he’s cleaned up the town by beautifying intersections and demolishing dilapidated buildings.
“It’s very humbling to be in a position to make change in the community,” Alsberry told a crowd during a candidate forum Sunday at the Hazel Crest Village Hall.
“Hazel Crest is moving forward. The future will make the past look like a bad nightmare,” he said.
Bashir, a former Hazel Crest trustee, said the mayor should be able to cite more accomplishments than cutting weeds.
“We have to make further changes, aside from aesthetics,” Bashir said. “In my view we’ve not had the proper leadership.”
Bashir said Alsberry lost the community’s trust when he fired Marlo Kemp, Hazel Crest’s former village manager, in 2015. Kemp was awarded $300,000 last year when he and the village settled a wrongful termination lawsuit.
Kemp was working under a contract approved by the village board before Alsberry was elected. His lawsuit against the village claimed he was fired without cause, in violation of his contract..
Alsberry hasn’t publicly explained his reasons for firing Kemp and last year declined to answer my questions, citing the litigation. The village claimed in its response to Kemp’s lawsuit that the former manager was insubordinate. But the settlement approved by the village board last April stated there was “no cause” for Kemp’s dismissal.
Alsberry tried to increase his power over hiring and firing employees by pushing a referendum last year to change Hazel Crest’s village manager form of government, Bashir said. Residents last year voted by a 2-1 margin to keep the village manager and limit the mayor’s power.
“We have documentation that the mayor and his supporters were behind the change” by circulating petitions for the referendum, Bashir said. “It was a power grab, pure and simple.”
Alsberry’s other opponent, Max Solomon, said he is the most qualified candidate because he is an attorney and teaches political science at South Suburban College. He said he settled in Hazel Crest after emigrating from Nigeria in 1992.
Solomon said his 21-point plan to improve the village includes appointing a treasurer and bringing an end to “lawsuits, divisions, factions, name-calling, bickering and fighting.”
“Hazel Crest has been recycling the same questions and answers for 20 years,” Solomon said at the forum. “We’re not better off than we were three or four years ago.”
Alsberry said he’s unified the village.
“I think I’ve done a great job working with all the trustees,” Alsberry said. “I may disagree with you, but I’ll work with you. It’s hard for me to listen to (my opponents) say they work with everybody when they don’t.”
Alsberry was elected in 2013 by defeating then-incumbent Mayor Robert Donaldson by 105 votes in an election in which 2,659 votes were cast.
Bashir said Alsberry’s desire to control hiring and firing of employees has cost taxpayers substantial legal fees and settlements. In addition to the Kemp lawsuit, another former employee — Sammie Young — alleged in a federal lawsuit last year that Alsberry fired him from his police department job for refusing to support the mayor by buying additional tickets to a political fundraiser.
“I intend to bring integrity back to this government … (and) stop wasting tax dollars,” Bashir said.
The three mayoral candidates also addressed questions about economic development and programs for youths during the candidate forum, which was sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Homewood-Flossmoor.
Solomon helped organize a petition drive to place a term-limit referendum on April 4 ballots. Hazel Crest voters will decide whether the village president, clerk and trustees should be held to no more than two consecutive four-year terms.
Solomon heads a slate of Democratic Party candidates that includes Vicki Lynn Walker for clerk and Pamela D. Hollins, Tessy O. Imarenezor and Yvonne Gillie-Wallace for trustee.
Alsberry heads the Hazel Crest United Party slate that includes Isaac R. Wiseman for clerk and Kevin Moore, Marlon D. Rias and Java Rogers for trustee.
Bashir heads the Hazel Crest New Leadership Party slate that includes Jacqueline B. Owens for clerk and Deidre M. Dyer, Lee Fantroy and Patricia A. Jackson for trustee.
Also, Susan M. Pate will appear on ballots as an independent candidate for trustee. Gregory Jackson is running for trustee as a write-in candidate.
Hazel Crest voters on April 4 also will decide two seats on the Hazel Crest Park District Board of Commissioners, a seat the Grande Prairie Public Library board, three seats on the Prairie Hills Elementary School District 144 board, four seats on the Hazel Crest School District 152.5 board, and other local elections.
Twitter @tedslowik
