With Ragucci out, Oakbrook Terrace to appoint acting mayor
Oakbrook Terrace has scheduled a special city council meeting Wednesday to appoint an acting mayor to finish the term of Tony Ragucci, who resigned weeks after news surfaced that federal agents had seized $60,000 in cash from his home last year.
Ragucci resigned effective 11:59 p.m. Friday, according to a statement released by the city. He was serving his third term as mayor.
On Tuesday morning, Ragucci's photograph was still on the wall at city hall, but his name had been removed from the city's website.
City Administrator Amy Marrero declined to discuss the mayor's departure and refused to release a copy of the mayor's resignation letter to the Daily Herald without a Freedom of Information Act request. The paper immediately filed such a request.
The city council will elect one of its six aldermen to serve as acting mayor until the next general municipal election, according to the statement from the city. That's expected to happen during a special council meeting scheduled for 7 p.m. Wednesday at city hall.
When reached by phone, Alderman Frank Vlach declined to talk, saying “I can't get involved in that.”
Ragucci's abrupt departure comes after the Chicago Sun-Times reported Jan. 2 that a document revealed federal agents had raided his home in October.
In November, the Chicago Sun-Times asked Ragucci whether he or his community has drawn scrutiny from federal agents because of the town's use of the company SafeSpeed to operate red-light cameras.
SafeSpeed is a focus of the ongoing federal investigation, with agents looking into whether company representatives landed deals through payoffs.
“That was all done legit,” Ragucci told the Sun-Times of the SafeSpeed contract. “We did everything legit and clean here.”
Ragucci has not been charged with any wrongdoing.
He first was elected mayor in April 2009. He won election after retiring as an Oakbrook Terrace police officer. He served 18 years with the department.
He was reelected in 2013 and 2017.