Emails, Police Report Detail Evanston City Hall 'Witch Hunt'

EVANSTON, IL — A political power struggle playing out during public meetings between freshman Evanston City Clerk Devon Reid and longtime City Manager Wally Bobkiewicz has gotten nasty behind the scenes at city hall.

Their political beef seems to center on the 25-year-old African-American city clerk’s push to make good on campaign promises to be an advocate for increased police transparency, voter participation and affordable housing, while Bobkiewicz says Reid’s plans overstep the authority afforded by his elected post.

Over the last year, the 51-year-old city government veteran and Reid have battled over budgeting, staffing issues and control of disseminating Freedom of Information request data online, among other things. In recent months, the tense relationship has devolved into behind the scenes pettiness, name calling and even a call to the cops, according to emails and public records Patch obtained through FOIA.

Even the staff holiday party that the Bobkiewicz hosted with Mayor Steve Hagerty was tainted by the bad blood between the city insiders, sources said.

Reid accused Bobkiewicz and his staff have orchestrated nothing short of a “witch hunt” to discredit him and diminish the duties of his elected office in an October email to Mayor Steve Hagerty obtained through FOIA.

Bobkiewicz, who was the subject of a 2015 racial discrimination lawsuit the city settled for $500,000, hasn’t concealed his thoughts on the rookie city clerk, either.

He publicly described Reid “the biggest asshole I’ve ever worked with” at a meeting with city department heads, sources said. Bobkiewicz declined to answer questions about that allegation.

Reid's critics will tell you he's a political neophyte who has made loads of mistakes.

In an email to a resident, Ald. Ann Rainey put it this way: "I am concerned that Clerk Reid does not have the maturity, life experience nor the judgment to assume some of the responsibilities he has been elected to assume."

And Bobkiewicz has suggested Reid might not fully understand the limits of his office and its place in the city government pecking order.

“City clerks generally are capable, competent people who do their jobs quietly and efficiently and that’s the job that comes with it," the city manager said. “Mr. Reid’s view of the job has been a little different.”

Mayor Hagerty dismissed the disputes as typical backroom infighting.

“There’s always a little tension in government between different departments and people angling over funding sources,” Hagerty said. “So, I think you’re just seeing that play out a little.”

The ongoing unease has been an open secret that several public officials said they would rather not discuss.

“I don’t want to give a statement about people’s personality difference and what have you. I don’t want to give a statement about how well they work together between meetings, because I’m not there,” Alderman Cicely Fleming said.

One alderman, who asked not to be identified to avoid criticism from constituents, wished the conflict would end and Reid would stop talking to reporters and focus on his job.

Still, Reid said he feels like he’s being targeted by Bobkiewicz, who is white.

Reid said the city manager’s actions and words seems inappropriate for a guy who was at the center of a 2015 civil rights lawsuit that ended in a $500,000 settlement, Reid said.

Reid was referring to the federal suit filed by former Public Works chief Suzette Robinson, now the chief operating officer of Washington, D.C.’s transportation department.

Robinson accused Bobkiewicz of telling two white employees she was an unqualified “affirmative action” hire and confronting her for expressing concerns in his performance evaluation about his treatment of black employees, according to court papers. The lawsuit also claims that Bobkiewicz repeatedly used the phrase, “We are going to make sure we have the right people on the right seats in the bus” over the objections of black city workers.

Asked if the increased scrutiny he’s faced has racial undertones, Reid said, “I’m not sure if the issues are racially motivated or more so revolving around age. Maybe a combination of both.”

'I Don’t Circumvent Agendas'

Reid’s conflict with Evanston’s political establishment started even before his name appeared on the ballot in April.

The ambitious millennial politician who made national headlines when he made a failed run for Chicago alderman in 2011, got arrested while collecting signatures the day before the candidate filing deadline. Police hauled Reid to a holding cell only because he wouldn’t disclose his birthday. He was released without charges.

Reid gained increased notoriety after the arrest and soundly defeated incumbent City Clerk Rodney Green winning 66 percent of the vote. Citywide, Reid got more total votes than Mayor Hagerty.

It didn’t take long after Reid was sworn in for him to stir things up in city government.

In June, Reid balked at a last-minute emergency session the mayor called to consider temporarily opting out of Cook County’s minimum wage mandate, declaring it a violation of the state open meetings act. Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s office agreed.

Reid extended the opening hours of his office until 7 p.m. He started adding hyperlinks of the video from council meetings to the minutes. And he began approaching staff about ways to expand the role of the clerk, including assuming some of the record-keeping duties of the health department.

Reid’s transition was a bumpy one. He immediately clashed with Bobkiewicz on staffing issues. He accused two employees of being uncooperative and sought to handpick his own staff.

The mayor described it as a “big issue of contention” between the clerk and staff.

“[Reid] feels he is independent and can choose his staff, the lawyers look at the municipal code and everything else and say ‘No, this is actually under the purview of the city manager,’” Hagerty said.

Soon after Reid took office, two deputy clerks and some of their duties were removed from his office and assigned to other departments, leaving the clerk's office without permanent staff.

“It was around that time when I saw that there wasn’t cooperation,” Reid said.

Reid hired Bobby Burns, a political consultant who managed field operations for Mayor Hagerty’s campaign.

Burns accused Bobkiewicz of “circumventing” Reid’s office.

“It’s not the city clerk’s office it is the city manager’s office,” Burns said. “So it’s up to the council and also the community and push back on that and say this is an elected office.”

The city manager disagreed.

“I don’t have the ability. I don’t circumvent agendas,” Bobkiewicz said.

But the city manager played a key role in recommending budget cuts to fill a $6 million budget deficit. According to budget documents, the city clerk’s budget got slashed by more than 30 percent, significantly more than every other departments.

Bobkiewicz said the budget decrease only appeared so dramatic because staffers were reassigned and their duties had been handed over to other departments.

Residents rallied to Reid’s defense at city council meetings. Some folks publicly accused Bobkiewicz of maneuvering to undermine Reid through a "pattern of marginalization."

'Exhausting' FOIA Fight

Reid campaigned on a promise to bring more transparency to city government, particularly the police department.

Four months after Reid took office, controversy bubbled over whether the clerk had authority to act as the city’s designated FOIA officer. What followed was a city council debate that pushed the ongoing conflict into public view.

The dispute began around the time aldermen received complaints from a resident that they did not want a request for information automatically made public online.

It further escalated when Reid declined Alderman Don Wilson’s request to redact the name of a 12-year-old boy — who had been arrested for riding on the back of a bicycle that ran a red light downtown and later testified at a City Council meeting — from a document posted online.

Bobkiewicz and city attorney Grant Farrar blamed Reid for trouble with the public records request portal that was installed in February 2016.

“After May 2017, there were issues admitted to by the Clerk regarding timely compliance with FOIA requests or other relevant legal standards,” they wrote in a memo suggesting changes to the city’s FOIA policies.

The city council voted to take down the entire FOIA portal. City attorneys questioned whether Reid had ever officially been designated the city’s FOIA officer. Ultimately, the City Council voted to name Reid as the city’s official FOIA officer, but stripped him of authority to post FOIA information online for public view.

“This is exhausting and makes everyone look bad,” Wilson wrote to Reid Oct. 6.

Rob Bady, the father of the boy whose name Wilson wanted redacted from the website, said he sides with the city clerk’s stance because it promotes transparency.

Indeed, Bady said the arrest of his African-American son, Iain, raises concerns similar to those raised when Reid was arrested while campaigning on the same block.

“It almost seems like there’s a vendetta against the young man now that he’s in a clerk position,” Bady said. “He’s trying to really effect change in a positive way by giving information out in a way that gives the public access in way that we haven’t had it before.”

‘With Great Frustration’

Reid found himself in the hot seat when allegations that the clerk’s office had bungled sending the city’s mail, specifically a grant application that allegedly cost the city $76,000 in state funding.

Bobkiewicz forwarded city officials a Sept. 25 email from health department director Evonda Thomas-Smith, with the subject, “With Great frustration” that declared she was “sorry to report another frustration with the Clerk’s Office.”

She accused Reid’s office of losing an Illinois Department of Public Health grant by not affixing enough postage to the application.

Mayor Hagerty responded swiftly.

“Details matter. This is completely unacceptable!,” the mayor wrote in an email obtained by Patch. After a closed-door session to discuss the alleged mishap, Mayor Hagerty sent an email that he lacked “tolerance for such self-inflicted mistakes.”

As things turned out, however, the allegations were false. A piece of mail had, in fact, been returned for insufficient postage, but it wasn’t the state health department application, and the city didn’t lose any money.

By the time the mayor learned that Reid was wrongfully accused, the unfounded allegations had been leaked to the Evanston RoundTable, a local weekly newspaper.

“I am upset and disappointed about all these changing ‘facts’ and someone leaked to the press” the false claim, the mayor wrote in an email. “This all reflects poorly on our City. We can do better than this.”

Hagerty apologized to the clerk in an Oct. 13 email copied to the council with the subject line, “Fact Finding Before Making Claims - We Will Do Better."

Hagerty wrote that the allegation against the clerk was a “serious charge” that “deserved to be completely vetted,” which Bobkiewicz did not do.

“I have spoken with the City Manager about this process and expressed my displeasure in its handling,” Hagerty wrote, saying Bobkiewicz had promised that kind of thing wouldn’t happen again. “Our credibility as a City and as professionals depends on it.”

But before Reid received the mayor’s apology, he got a visit from Evanston’s finest.

Cops Called On Clerk

Thomas-Smith, the health director, filed a police report accusing Reid of violating the state's eavesdropping law, a Class 4 felony.

Thomas-Smith told police Reid confronted her on Oct. 10 at the civic center. He asked about the allegation she made regarding the grant application while holding a cellphone and a laptop. Later, she told officers that she “heard her voice” coming from the phone after their conversation, according to the police report.

Reid told police Thomas-Smith’s claim was retaliation after she had been “caught in a lie” herself, according to the report.

Thomas-Smith declined to press charges. She declined to answer questions about the incident.

Celebrating @CityofEvanston Health Human Srvs Dir. Evonda Thomas-Smith @YWCAevanston Women Leadership Award #YWomen pic.twitter.com/55fHv4RCwd
— Wally Bobkiewicz (@WallyBobkiewicz) October 14, 2016

“It appears Clerk Reid has made mistakes and is having a challenging transition with staff,” wrote Aldermen Robin Rue Simmons on Oct. 11. “It also appears that staff has made mistake as well and staff has embellished facts to control how Clerk Reid operates.”

“Will there be a public apology to Clerk Reid sent out from the Mayor’s office?” Alderman Cicely Fleming asked.

No public apology was made.

Rue Simmons said the council has “moved on” from the incident.

Rue Simmons said she hopes “the community doesn’t take this and further distract Devon from doing well in his role – or Wally for that matter from doing well in his role. Because I have an expectation in both Devon and Wally – and it’s important to me – that they are able to perform.”

'You weren’t invited.'

Some aldermen may have “moved on” but Reid said not much has changed.

Even the mayor’s holiday party didn’t ease tensions, Reid said.

Reid said he showed up at Prairie Moon on Nov. 30. after Alderman Peter Braithwaite invited him to come along.

Reid said he got a terse greeting from Bobkiewicz as the city manager exited the party.

“He directly says to me, “'You weren’t invited’ … quite rudely,” Reid said.

Bobkiewicz said the bash was for aldermen and senior staff. Indeed, the city manager said, the city clerk has never been invited to the staff party. Bobkiewicz confirmed that Reid was not invited. He declined to answer questions about his interaction with the clerk at the party.

The petty dig got under Reid’s skin.

A few days later, on Monday Dec. 4, Reid and Bobkiewicz had yet another run-in.

During a break in a racial equity training session for top city staffers, Reid said he was discussing budget proposals with Deputy City Manager Erika Storlie when Bobkiewicz approached and interjected himself into the chat.

Reid couldn’t help himself.

“I place my hand on his shoulder and I leaned into him,” Reid remembered. “And I told him, ‘You weren’t invited to that conversation.’”

Before he got too far away, Reid said he heard Bobkiewicz’s rather shocking retort: “That’s the biggest asshole I’ve ever worked with.”

The room was packed with city department heads who were all in earshot, Reid said.

"After the guy just walked the city into a $500,000 settlement, plus the lawyer’s fees, it seems inappropriate for him to make a very public comment like that about a young African-American elected official in the city,” Reid said.

Bobkiewicz and city staffers contacted about the incident declined to comment.

'Very Interesting Adventure.'

While Reid insists that he’s being railroaded by Bobkiewicz, there’s no doubt that the rookie clerk has made a series of missteps during his first year in office.

Aldermen have complained that meeting minutes Reid is charged with keeping are filed late, weren't posted online for months and included mistakes in attendance and vote counts, according to emails obtained through FOIA.

Several members of the council and city staffers repeated the criticism that Reid was not always available in his office during business hours.

Bobkiewicz said his challenge dealing with Reid is that his vision for the office – the agenda he ran on — is different than what’s laid out in the law and the Evanston City Code.

“For better or worse, part of my job is to make sure that the city code and appropriate state and federal statutes are implemented,” Bobkiewicz said.

“If that has put me at odds with him, you know, that’s certainly not something that I would want to see, but at the same time, part of my job is to enforce those rules and regulations.”

There’s evidence that the city manager’s staff keep close tabs on Reid. For instance, Bobkiewicz’s deputy retrieved tracking records of the whereabouts of a pool vehicle Reid was using, according to city records obtained through FOIA.

There’s no telling if that hints at a future conflict, but with three years left on Reid’s term one thing is certain, Alderman Ann Rainey said.

“It’ll be a very interesting adventure.”

_{Top photo: Evanston City Clerk Devon Reid (left) has clashed with City Manager Wally Bobkiewicz (right) since taking office in May, 2017}