Hoffman Estates hire former Buffalo Grove trustee as temp prosecutor

The Hoffman Estates board on Monday approved the appointment of a temporary village prosecutor.

Richard Kavitt, who served 25 years as a Cook County circuit court judge, will represent the village in adjudication court. He'll fill the role until the board appoints a permanent prosecutor.

“At least a couple months,” Village Attorney Arthur Janura said.

Kavitt serves in a similar role for Elk Grove Village, and voters elected him as a Buffalo Grove trustee for 2-year term from 1979 to 1981. He graduated from Kent College of Law in Chicago in 1973. He retired from the bench in 2008 and also served as a Cook County public defender.

The board's vote was unanimous, and Kavitt did not attend the meeting. This comes after last month when the board rejected Mayor William McLeod's nomination of former Trustee Cary Collins. Only McLeod and Trustee Gary Stanton, who was appointed to replace Collins in November, voted for Collins.

Trustees said they remained concerned over a summer incident when Collins supposedly used his stature to have a batch of loitering tickets issued to teenagers thrown out of adjudication court. The tickets were eventually heard and dismissed, but the process angered the hearing officer, Cheryl Axley. She fired off an angry e-mail to McLeod expressing her frustration and wrote Collins compromised the integrity of the proceedings. Collins has denied wrongdoing.

McLeod tried to compromise with the trustees by altering the position so Collins would represent the village only in matters at the Rolling Meadows courthouse. Another attorney would need to represent the village at the adjudication hearings, which convene twice a month at the Hoffman Estates police station. Those hearings cover traffic violations and other local citations. Trustees still rejected the appointment but said the vote wasn't personal. Last year Collins often would criticize his fellow trustees during meetings.

The board voted without discussing the matter. Janura suggested Kavitt for the post. Janura added Kavitt would be paid as a contractor, in the same capacity other attorneys are paid when the village needs a prosecutor due to vacation or sick time.

The post opened in the fall after former village prosecutor Dominick DiMaggio resigned. DiMaggio took a village trustee position in Hawthorn Woods, and its Monday board meetings conflict with the Monday adjudication hearings.

Collins resigned before his term would have ended in April. He had already said he had no plans to run for re-election. No board member nor Collins has commented if Collins' resignation as trustee came with the agreement he would be appointed as prosecutor already in place. Collins, who served as trustee for 7½ years, has had past interest in the job. He said he resigned as trustee to focus more on his private law practice and spend more time in court.