'Sickens Me': Elmhurst Official Denounces Colleague's Statement

ELMHURST, IL – Three Elmhurst aldermen on Monday voted down policies for approving city grants to businesses.

They said they feared a colleague would encounter potential conflicts of interest.

Another alderman, though, said such an issue should not have reached a public meeting, saying it "sickens me."

At issue is the role of Alderwoman Jennifer Veremis, who became the Elmhurst Chamber of Commerce's CEO and president in December.

Since that time, the city has tried to navigate Veremis' dual high-profile hats.

At Monday's meeting, the City Council was asked to approve an update to its policies for marketing grants. The proposal included a longstanding provision that the chamber's president votes as part of a city grant review committee, which makes recommendations to the council.

Alderman Jacob Hill expressed concern about Veremis' role as a committee member. He questioned whether she should have voted on the proposal as a member of the City Council committee that recommended the update.

Elmhurst Alderwoman Jennifer Veremis speaks Monday in response to colleagues' suggestions that she may have a conflict of interest. (City of Elmhurst/via video)

"I don't think we should be voting ourselves onto grant review teams," he said.

He said he brought the issue to Veremis and others before the meeting in the hopes of heading off a public discussion.

Hill noted the council's policies that require aldermen to recuse themselves when they have a financial interest.

"But I feel it's kind of an ethical conflict of interest," he said. "I do have an issue when the chamber represents certain businesses that pay to be members and then serves on the marketing team and makes decisions about who gets grants."

Alderwoman Noel Talluto said she found it distressing that the council was even discussing the issue during a meeting.

"Recusal is an opportunity for a person who has a financial interest in a vote to remove themselves from that. This is not that situation," she said. "For one of our aldermen to accuse another alderman of being unethical on this dais sickens me."

Veremis herself said she holds herself to the highest ethical standards

"While I know my colleagues are looking out for the integrity of the council, I want to make it crystal clear that I'm doing the same," he said.

Alderman Michael Bram agreed with Hill.

"I feel that even though legally there's not a conflict of interest, just because it's legal doesn't make it right," he said.

He said he highly doubted that Veremis would show a bias for chamber members in her city role.

"But it's also about perception," he said.

Mayor Scott Levin said the council's policy requires that aldermen must vote either yes or no on city business. The only exception, he said, is if they have a financial interest. One does not exist with the issue before the council, he said.

"People can't say, 'I don't want to vote on an issue because it's too uncomfortable.' You are forced to vote. The exception is if you have a true conflict of interest," he said.

Hill said he did not mean to impugn anyone's ethics.

"I apologize for bringing up a tense subject, but I think we have to talk about tense subjects sometimes," he said.

Ideally, he said, it's best to figure out such issues before a meeting.

The council voted 10-3 in favor of the policy on grants, including the provision on the chamber president. The dissenters were Hill, Bram and Rex Irby. Dan Virgil was absent.

Veremis' role as chamber president has come up at meetings before.

In February, the council decided to stop splitting advertising income from its summer and holiday trolley with the chamber.

At the time, City Manager Jim Grabowski said the city was aware of the potential conflict for Veremis.

"To eliminate this potential, I have directed staff to remove the Chamber of Commerce from the process of procuring advertising on the trolley," Grabowski wrote. "Therefore, there will be no conflict for Alderman Veremis."