Resident alleges village attorney aided trustee in personal case; trustee and speakers dispute ethics concern

A resident raised ethics concerns during public comment at the Village of University Park meeting on Aug. 26, saying she was approached by a lawyer from the Montana & Welch firm who told her the firm was representing Trustee Donna Fulcher in an ongoing civil/criminal matter. The resident asked the mayor and village manager whether they were aware and asked the board to open an investigation.

The resident said the representation raised a potential conflict because it appeared to involve the village attorney and personal legal matters. "He said he was representing Donna Fulcher," the resident said during public comment, and asked officials whether village resources were being used for a private matter.

Deborah Sharp responded in public comment that she retains her own attorneys and that any retainer is separate from village funds. "The legislative attorneys is not being paid from this village to handle any case that I have," she said, adding that she has a separate retainer and that taxpayers are not paying for her private legal work.

Trustees and other participants also debated whether certain legislative-attorney invoices — including a line described as a "telephone conference with trustee regarding park district review, analyzing park district code, review committee meeting" — should be billed to the village. One trustee said the Montana & Welch attorneys told the board they could not bill University Park for those services; trustees discussed whether the attorneys' responses about allowable billable services had been shared with the full board.

Members of the board did not take formal disciplinary action during the meeting. A trustee asked staff and attorneys to provide clarity and the resident requested a meeting with the village manager to begin an investigation.

The meeting moved on after public comment and later adjourned.