Wheeling park board releases related to conflict-of-interest charge

The Wheeling Park board has released the minutes of two March executive sessions where the Wickes property was discussed.

Those meetings have been a point of contention for the board because members of the board said that Commissioner Mike Kurgan has ties to a developer who is interested in the Wickes site and should have stated his conflict of interest when the matter was discussed in executive session.

The minutes released this week show the value of the property and its use were discussed while Kurgan was in the room.

Kurgan, however, said Jan Buchs, the executive director of the park district, should have told him before the meeting that the Wickes property was going to be discussed.

He said Buchs had approached him earlier in the year about talking to Sam Kabbani, a developer who works in the same building as Kurgan, about pursuing the site. Kurgan said this indicates that Buchs knew that he would have a conflict and should have made him aware of the situation earlier. Buchs has denied that she discussed the matter with Kurgan.

Kurgan reiterated many of the same points he has made before in a statement he read Tuesday night after the board agreed to release the minutes. Other board members declined to comment on the issue at the meeting.

"The minutes speak for themselves," Tom Webber, park board president, said on Wednesday.

Previously, Webber said Kurgan used information that could have only been gained in executive session when he took Kabbani to meet with people that the district was interested in talking to.

"I have done no wrong," Kurgan said on Tuesday. "My reputation has been tarnished."

The minutes for the March 4 executive session show that Buchs asked all the board members to sign a nondisclosure agreement for potential property acquisition. Buchs then brought up the possibility of the park district purchasing the Wickes property, which is part of the village's comprehensive plan for a town center on Dundee Road.

The board talked about the issue for a bit, with Kurgan asking who the contact was for the site and Commissioner Keith Pecka expressing his concerns about how the village board would react if the park district bought the site. There was also discussion about the price of the property and what it could be used for, such as expansion of the community recreation center as well as the town center that the village would like to see there.

Kurgan acknowledged that he took part in conversations about possible value of the land but said purchase price wasn't determined.

After the discussions continued, Kurgan told the board that he is a Realtor and has been contacted by more than one person to purchase the Wickes property. He then asked if he should abstain from the discussion, and the park district attorney said he should leave the room. The attorney, according to the minutes, felt "Commissioner Kurgan was involved in a real conflict of interest and said someone could say that his being here tonight gave him access to privileged information."

At the March 18 meeting, Kurgan said he was frustrated that he wasn't given a heads-up about putting himself and the park district in a compromising situation. Webber responded by saying that he wished Kurgan would have brought up his conflict of interest issues earlier in the March 4 meeting.

Since those meetings in March, Kurgan was asked to resign by the other members of the board but refused.

"I feel that the park board and in particular that Ms. Buchs and President Webber owe me an apology for misrepresenting what happened at the March 4 meeting," Kurgan said Tuesday.

<div class="infoBox"> <h1>More Coverage</h1> <div class="infoBoxContent"> <div class="infoArea"> <h2>Related documents</h2> <ul class="morePdf"> <li><a href="/pdf/whparks717.pdf">Wheeling park board minutes </a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div>