Aug 19, 2008 10:37 am US/Central
Town To Keep $108,000 Found After Apartment Fire
OAK FOREST (STNG) ―
Oak Forest has been legally cleared to keep more than $100,000 recovered during a deadly fire late last year.
The city's fire department recovered $108,750 at the site of a fire at the LeClaire Station apartments at the end of December that claimed the life of a couple, their 3-year old son and an unborn child.
City attorney Julie Tappendorf said the money was put into a bank account for safe keeping while the city attempted to find its owner.
The city has been in contact with the Cook County state's attorney's office so it could follow the correct procedure for finding the owner or ultimately taking possession of the money should it go unclaimed.
About a month ago, the city published a legal notice in the SouthtownStar giving the owner one last opportunity to claim the money.
Nobody stepped forward, Tappendorf said, so the city has claimed it at last week's city council meeting.
At the meeting, resident Karen Krouse asked Mayor Joanne Kelly to explain what the agenda item pertaining to the money was about. The item said nothing about recovery of money or how much, only that the city was taking possession of unclaimed property pursuant to state law.
But neither Kelly nor another city attorney, Keri-Lyn Krafthefer, would reveal what the item was.
Krafthefer said the "appropriate" way for the public to get more information was to file a formal request through the Freedom of Information Act.
That didn't sit well with some aldermen.
"I'm disturbed by some of the items that aren't being mentioned on the agenda," Ald. Richard Simon (2nd) said.
"Sometimes when a resident asks for something to be explained, there is no harm in it. Who knows why she (Kelly) would want to hide anything like that," Simon said.
Ald. Charles Toland (4th) also said he didn't have a problem with the way the city tried to find the owner. But he said he would have liked to see Kelly explain it if a resident asked a question about it.
Kelly said Monday that Krouse asked her and Krafthefer several questions in rapid succession before sitting.
Kelly said she didn't get a chance to answer sufficiently and that Krafthefer's advice about filing formal requests for information was a general rule, not an answer to the specific question about the money.
"I felt I didn't have a sufficient chance to answer before Ms. Krouse sat down. I think I've been getting some unfair criticism. We haven't been doing anything behind close doors here," Kelly said.
Kelly said the city will discuss its FOIA procedures at the city's next committee meeting next week.
(Source: Sun-Times News Group Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2009. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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