La Margo Vs. Pekau, Village: La Margo To Pay $30K In Settlement
ORLAND PARK, IL — A nearly four-year legal battle between the Village of Orland Park and Mayor Keith Pekau and former village manager Joe La Margo has reached an end, with La Margo on the hook for $30,000. La Margo will pay the Village $30,000 to settle a lawsuit filed following a heated dispute over an investigation into potential bid rigging. The Village Board approved the terms of the settlement in a Special Meeting Wednesday. "We’ve been fully exonerated like we knew we would be," Pekau said, following the vote. “I’m glad it is over."The settlement is the latest and final move in the lengthy fight between the current Mayor and former Village employee. After he was reportedly pushed out of his role, La Margo subsequently sued the Village of Orland Park, Mayor Keith Pekau, Trustee Bill Healy, and the Keith Pekau for Mayor campaign on claims of breach of contract, defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress. The Village promptly denied those claims, and slapped La Margo with counterclaims for breach of his employment agreement, breach of his resignation agreement, breach of fiduciary duty and loyalty to the Village, and unlawful conversion of Village funds.Judge John J. Curry in June 2023 ruled in favor of the Village and its parties, also ruling that the Village could pursue its counterclaims, alleging breach of employment agreement, breach of fiduciary duty and breach of duty of loyalty. In a judgment to the village, Curry stated La Margo's would have lost, had it gone to trial. Pekau on Wednesday celebrated the win. "... We knew we did nothing wrong, and we knew this day was coming," Pekau said. Trustee Sean Kampas voiced his frustration and relief. "It took us four years to get here and for what?" Kampas said after the vote, "so we could appease a certain element of the community that did not like how the last Mayoral election turned out?"I just hope that as we put this behind us, the community can come together and look toward the future of Orland Park."With the settlement reached and approved, the Village will now dismiss its lawsuit against La Margo. As a requirement of the settlement, both parties agreed to not pursue any further legal action, now or in the future. The years-long dispute stems from an earlier investigation spearheaded by La Margo into the Village's bid practices, specifically surrounding two vendors, Mid-America Tree of Mokena, and GroundsKeeper Landscape Care LLC. Both regularly came in as the lowest bidder with a margin of only $25 below competitors, Patch previously reported. Pekau owned GroundsKeeper Landscape Care LLC and contracted with the village until he sold the business in February 2019. La Margo hired an outside law firm called Jones Day to conduct the review.Jones Day investigators at the time suggested that the Village continue looking into Pekau's former landscaping business and the financial interests he held with two village vendors. They also said the Village needed to fix its own flawed bidding, purchasing and ethics policies, as Patch previously reported.Investigators added that they did not gather enough evidence to show whether the village broke state bidding or ethics laws in the cases they reviewed. What they found, they said, was that the incidents "raise questions," leading them to recommend that the Village continue its investigation.To date, Pekau asserts the investigation proved no wrongdoing on his part, and previously alleged the investigation was politically charged and timed, subversive and secretive—statements he continues to stand by.The Mayor's claims against La Margo include that he pursued the investigation "mere months before a trustee election in which the Mayor backed certain candidates, one of which was Bill Healy." He also claims that by approving an investigation that cost nearly $34,500, La Margo abused his role and violated Village ordinances limiting his authority to authorize expenditures only up to $20,000.Pekau called La Margo's pursuit of the issue a "secret investigation." An earlier report from Patch said that several people knew about the investigation as it proceeded, including attorneys James Roche, Dennis Walsh and Kenneth Friker; trustees Carole Ruzich, Patricia Gira, Michael Carroll, Jim Dodge, Kathleen Fenton and Daniel Calandriello; former Assistant Village Manager John Keating; and the seven employees interviewed as part of the process.Pekau has asserted that he should have been told of the investigation because he was the sitting mayor. But a previous Patch report said that ICMA, the leading association of professional city and county managers and other employees who serve local governments, disagrees.La Margo's lawsuit claimed defamation by Pekau, who, after La Margo's departure, published email newsletters to campaign supporters that defended his actions and accused La Margo, who opened the investigation in 2018, of misconduct. He also held a news conference about the report, known as the Jones Day report, and made all its findings public.The Village in its counterclaims also alleged that La Margo violated Village code by authorizing sick time payout to former assistant village manager Karie Frilling, following her resignation. Frilling, the Village said, did not qualify for the payout because she was not participating in the IMRF Early Retirement Program. La Margo has contended he had followed best practices. La Margo on Friday maintained that he had taken proper steps throughout his actions in the investigation into the bidding practices, saying he felt he had an ethical and moral obligation to look into it. "I got an allegation of potential bid rigging, and I had an ethical and moral obligation to look into, and I did," La Margo told Patch. "I got the permission of the board to move forward with it. I felt like I did what I needed to do. … It was about if there were gaps in our procurement and bidding process. … that they needed to be corrected, and they were."In a sworn statement issued with the settlement, La Margo said he believed he acted in the community's best interest. I considered the allegations of bidding irregularities serious. Since the allegations involved a public official, I understood I was in a tough spot. If I did not investigate the allegations, I could be criticized for sweeping the allegations under the rug. I also knew that opening an investigation could potentially cause me to be criticized for investigating a public official. After weighing these competing interests, I determined I had a responsibility to conduct a thorough investigation but to do so discreetly to avoid the allegations from taking on a life of their own. — La Margo, in a sworn statementRead more of La Margo's declaration here: La Margo_JLM Declaration by Lauren Traut on Scribd >"I understand that some may disagree with the decisions that I made regarding theinvestigation and sick time payout, and I can look back and see that there may have been other courses of action I could have taken," he said "I made judgment calls in these situations, and every decision I made was based on my best judgment and deliberation taking into account my understanding of the past practices in the Village, and what I believed to be in the best interest of the citizens of the Village of Orland Park." La Margo said he settled the lawsuit in the interest of preserving his finances and putting his family at ease."We settled to avoid any more legal fees and putting my family through any more of this," he told Patch Friday. "We felt it was best to settle this, and both parties move on. I think Orland Park is a great community, and continue to believe so, as well. It’s time to move forward and move past this. "This was not the resolution I was hoping for when I decided to stand up for myself five years ago, but it’s been a long time since I left the village of Orland Park, and it’s time to close the chapter and put my family first, and move forward."Read more of the settlement here: La Margo_Settlement Agreement by Lauren Traut on Scribd >The article La Margo Vs. Pekau, Village: La Margo To Pay $30K In Settlement appeared first on Orland Park, IL Patch.
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