Vernon Twp. board: Assessor shouldn't be investigating harassment claims

Vernon Township board members expressed their frustration Wednesday night that Township Assessor Gary Raupp, whose son has been accused of sexual harassment by two fellow township assessor employees, has decided to have his own attorneys investigate the claims.

Raupp declined to comment on the allegations but did read a statement at the beginning of the meeting that he was investigating the allegations and would defer to his counsel's advice on how to address them. He said the female employees never came to him directly and instead brought their concerns up with outsiders.

Township Supervisor Daniel Didech said the women came to him.

"You're concerned the female employees aren't participating in your investigation," Didech said to Raupp after he read his statement. "The reason why they're doing that is because the perpetrator is your son. It's your son."

Phillip Raupp was one of the employees accused in a meeting agenda last week.

"I don't treat anyone any differently," Raupp interjected.

"Well, it creates a tremendous conflict of interest and it's a problem," Didech said.

Raupp declined to comment on the matter after the meeting.

Raupp sued the township board, supervisor and highway commissioner last week, alleging they held an illegal meeting Dec. 5. At that meeting the board met to discuss accusations against two employees in his office.

Neither employee has been charged with a crime.

Raupp's lawsuit, filed in Lake County circuit court, alleges the board held the meeting without first giving the public at least 48 hours' notice as required by the Illinois Open Meetings Act.

Didech said the meeting was an emergency session that was exempt from the 48-hour requirement. The meeting qualified as an emergency, he said, because Raupp hasn't taken action against the two employees.

Township Trustee Roger Addelson said Raupp's lawsuit was a roadblock to resolving the issue.

"It's something I thought I'd never see," Addelson said.

Didech said Dec. 4 the female whistleblowers provided him with a digital conversation between the two male employees to support their claims that the men were sexually harassing them.

Didech said in the conversation provided to him, one of the male employees tries to obtain illegal drugs from the other.

During the meeting Didech asked Raupp if the two male employees were going to be forbidden from operating township equipment during Raupp's investigation. Raupp said they weren't in the part of the year where the employees would need to use township equipment.

The lawsuit will be back before a judge next month.

"We're hopeful that the assessor decides to do the right thing," Didech said after the meeting. "There needs to be an independent investigation and there needs to be consequences that are proportional to the very serious offenses that have been reported in the office for years."

Township resident Laurence Schiller called on Raupp to resolve the matter quickly during public comment.

"Something had better happen darn soon, and you better take care of this and make this a safe workplace for your employees, because if you do not we're going to demand your resignation," Schiller said, which drew applause from the nearly full room.