Taking Village Gas Actually Saved Shorewood Money, Says Mayor

SHOREWOOD, IL —The morning after village board members questioned the mayor for fueling his personal car on the taxpayers’ dime for years, he explained he was only doing so to conduct town business — and was actually saving public money.

“Instead of turning in expense reports, I thought it would be cheaper to turn my one car, which I was going to get rid of, into the village car,” said Mayor Rick Chapman, telling how he used his 1999 Cadillac solely for Shorewood business, and that he and his wife otherwise drove their Sport Utility Vehicle.

Chapman said he started doing this in 2011 after village administrator Kurt Carroll quit to go work for New Lenox, and then Carroll’s replacement, Jeff Fiegenschuh, ended up not lasting very long. The mayor said he filled in for Carroll before Fiegenschuh was hired, then ended up covering for that job again when the new administrator was gone after just six months.

“I was working for the village,” Chapman said, recalling how he “had to go to work for the village nearly every day.”

“That Cadillac never left the village unless I was going to a county meeting or something like that,” the mayor said.

A mailer was recently sent to Shorewood residents that showed Chapman filling up his car at a village pump.

“WOULDN’T YOU LIKE FREE GAS?” the mailer says. “VILLAGE PRESIDENT HELPS HIMSELF TO YOUR TAX DOLLARS.”

The image on the mailer is from a village surveillance camera, board member Ed Murphy said Tuesday night.

“I’m very bothered by this,” Murphy said.

Chapman called the mailer an “election deal.”

“This came out the day before Tuesday’s election,” he said. “There’s a picture of me standing at the gas pump like a thug.”

Chapman was re-elected to his fifth term in last week’s election. The unofficial results showed him defeating challenger Cookie Kirkland by 34 votes. Kirkland is also on the village board.

Chapman insisted he was above board about pumping village gas into his Cadillac. Village employees watched him do it, he said, and the key he possessed to operate the pump was registered in his name and with the serial number 1111 — signifying it was the mayor’s.

“I wasn’t skulking around in a ski mask on a Saturday or Sunday or anything like that,” Chapman said, adding, “I’m not a thief.”

During Tuesday night’s meeting, Murphy asked that the mayor’s gas key be de-activated.

Attorney Dave Silverman, who represents the village, said Chapman has been taking village gasoline for his personal car for six years. The village pumps are only supposed to be used for Shorewood’s fleet of vehicles and for Troy Fire Protection District equipment, Silverman said.

Patch viewed records supposedly showing Chapman’s usage of village gasoline for the last five years. The records say nearly $2,500 worth of untaxed gasoline was pumped.

Silverman said he did not know if Chapman’s alleged usage of village gasoline could rise to a criminal matter.

“You’re getting way ahead of it,” said Silverman, who said the mayor plans to address the issue at the next board meeting. That meeting is scheduled for April 25.

“He said he’s going to explain to the board how the gas was used for village purposes,” Silverman said.

Part of that explanation might include an aversion to filing expense reports.

“I’ve got to admit, I don’t like filling out paperworks,” Chapman said, adding, “Never once did I feel like I was taking something from the village I didn’t deserve.”

Mayor Rick Chapman | submitted photo