West Chicago mayor faces pushback after appointing new city administrator, attorney

West Chicago’s new mayor announced the appointment of an interim city administrator and an interim city attorney this week, despite objections from city council members who argued he didn’t have the authority to make those decisions.

Daniel Bovey was sworn in on Monday as West Chicago’s first new mayor since 2012, along with three returning and four incoming ward aldermen.

He then quickly moved to replace City Administrator Michael Guttman and Patrick Bond, the city attorney.

Bovey’s actions prompted most of the 14-member city council to question the legality of the changes. Both sides spent much of the three-and-a-half-hour meeting debating whether Bovey had exceeded his authority as mayor.

Council members eventually decided to pause the meeting and reconvene on May 19.

The night started on a positive note. More than 150 people showed up to watch the swearing-in ceremony at the West Chicago Community High School cafeteria. Bovey then gave a 14-minute bilingual introductory speech on commonality and compassion.

However, the tone of the meeting changed when Bovey unilaterally removed two items from the agenda — one was to affirm a new four-year contract for Guttman, and the other was to fill vacant offices.

Guttman’s contract had expired on April 30. The previous agreement with the 27-year city employee was unanimously approved by the city council in 2017 and renewed in 2021.

Alderman Heather Brown said it was illegal for Bovey to remove the resolutions about Guttman’s employment agreement and filling vacant offices.

Bond said an attempt to pull an item from the agenda would require a motion from the city council to table the item and move it to a future date.

However, Jeffrey Jacobson — an attorney Bovey “invited to provide legal counsel” — countered by saying the mayor could create and pull items from the agenda.

Bovey then declared that the offices of city administrator, city attorney and police chief were vacant.

Next, the mayor reinstated Police Chief Colin Fleury as interim police chief. “I think he’s doing a great job,” Bovey said of Fleury.

Bovey then appointed Assistant City Administrator Tia Messino as interim city administrator and Jacobson as interim corporate counsel.

Upon Bovey’s request, Jacobson took a seat next to him while Bond remained in his chair.

Messino declined to take her position as Guttman remained in his seat until the meeting ended at 10:30 p.m.

“This is not how city council is run,” Alderman Chris Swiatek said. “City council votes and hires and releases employees. Unfortunately, the new mayor may not know this, and so the current … city administrator and the city attorney are still valid.”

Bovey maintained that under state statute and West Chicago ordinance, the contracts for the three positions expired when he was sworn in as mayor.

Jacobson and Bond each cited case law, state law and West Chicago ordinances to argue that Bovey had — or did not have — the authority to act without the advice and consent of the city council.

Bond, West Chicago’s city attorney since 2000, said that under municipal and West Chicago code, Guttman would maintain his position until he is properly removed and replaced by the mayor with the advice and consent of the city council.

Guttman continued to work at city hall in the days following the meeting on Monday.

If the proposed contract extension for Guttman went to a vote this week, it was clear that new aldermen Julieta Alcantar-Garcia, Denise Carreto-Muñoz, Carlos Aviña Soto and Matthew Myers would not have swayed or outnumbered the 10 council members who served with former Mayor Ruben Pineda.

Bovey voiced disappointment about veteran aldermen failing to answer his calls and emails about the agenda items before Monday’s meeting.

“I chose to change administrators because the voters clearly wanted to go a different direction,” he said, later referring to his election day win and “double-digit” percentage margins in the four aldermanic races.

Several times citizen supporters attending the meeting applauded Bovey’s comments.

“I just refuse to abdicate the responsibility that our voting citizens gave me to set a new course for our city,” Bovey said.