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Residents ask council to investigate alleged alderman pressure over parade permit; complaint and vendor-payment question raised
Summary
Speakers representing community groups accused Alderman Victor Felix of pressuring a nonprofit to withdraw a parade permit; another resident flagged a $24,999 vendor payment and said she would file an ethics complaint for potential conflict of interest.
Several residents used the public-comment portion of the May 19 Waukegan City Council meeting to ask the mayor and council to investigate alleged misconduct by an alderman and to flag a vendor payment that a speaker said may require scrutiny.
Elizabeth Marrero, speaking for Juntos, said that on April 27 Alderman Victor Felix met with parade organizers and tried to pressure the nonprofit to withdraw or approve the special-event permit for the Viva La Independencia parade. Marrero said the alderman told the organizers the event had been promised to others, warned that the city council might vote against the permit on appeal, and asked that the organization withdraw to avoid “drama.” Marrero called those statements “deeply inappropriate” and “a violation of our city ethics code,” and asked for a formal investigation and public disclosure of the findings.
“I respectfully request a formal investigation into the alderman’s conduct and a public disclosure of the investigation findings,” Marrero said during audience time.
Separately, Margaret Carrasco and another commenter raised a vendor-payment entry in recent city vendor payments: a $24,999 payment to a contractor named Brad Goodman, which the speaker noted was $1 short of the $25,000 threshold that would require council approval. The speaker said she would file a FOIA and an ethics complaint to determine whether that payment was appropriate and, if the contractor is the campaign manager for a political candidate, whether the payment presented a conflict of interest.
Mayor Cunningham responded that the council would look into the parade-permit allegation and that the vendor payment would be reviewed; one council member asked that the vendor payment line item be pulled for further review until questions were resolved. The clerk and finance staff said the vendor-payments report on the consent agenda would stand as presented for the current meeting but that they would investigate the previous pay period identified by the speaker.
The council did not take formal disciplinary action during the meeting. Speakers asked the mayor and council for accountability, training on the city ethics code, and public disclosure of any investigative findings.
