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Public commenter reads letter alleging illegal hire of University Park public safety director, urges trustees to reject agenda items
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Summary
A public commenter read a multi-point letter (attributed to John Pate) accusing the village manager of illegally hiring a director of public safety in mid-February 2025, warning of retroactive ordinance language to legitimize the appointment of Patrick Seaman, and urging trustees to table or oppose several March 24 agenda items, including a proposed TIF expansion.
A public commenter read a four-page letter to the University Park Board of Trustees during the general public comment period alleging the village manager "unilaterally hired a new director of public safety" in mid-February 2025 and calling the action a violation of both state law and village code.
The letter—identified in the record as written by John Pate (the transcript later records the name once as "John Kate")—says the manager's action violated a cited state statute (identified in the letter as "65 ILCS 5-5-3-7") and a village ordinance (cited as "O 2017-28"), and it urges trustees to demand accountability. "By bypassing the law, the manager has committed an illegal hire," the reader said while presenting the letter.
The letter also argued that University Park, "a community of fewer than 7,000 residents," does not need an independent director of public safety and called the role wasteful and impractical if the appointee serves part time while holding another agency's chief position. The writer said the administration is preparing retroactive legislative changes on the March 24 agenda to "repeal and replace the director of public safety" and to retroactively appoint Patrick Seaman to the post; the letter further stated that the agenda lacked the full ordinance text for public review.
On finance-related items, the letter accused the administration of attempting an "unauthorized TIF district expansion," specifically citing an item the letter describes as item 2(a) to expand the TIF 7th District without the required approvals from taxing bodies.
The letter closed with explicit requests to the trustees: vote no on specified agenda items, table any legislation that was not provided in full to the board and the public ahead of the meeting, and demand accountability from the administration. The transcript records the reading but does not include any immediate response from the mayor, the village manager, or the village attorney in this portion of the meeting.
Background and authorities cited in the letter included the state provision labeled in the transcript as "65 ILCS 5-5-3-7" and a local ordinance referenced as "O 2017-28." The reader told the board that the letter-writer opposes agenda items described on the March 24 agenda as items "e to b" and "e to c," and specifically called for trustees to vote no or table the measures until the public and board have the full ordinance text for review.
No vote or formal board action on the allegations was recorded in the transcript. The meeting proceeded after public comment to additional agenda business.
