Complaints Against Clarendon Hills Official Kept Secret

CLARENDON HILLS, IL — Clarendon Hills decided last week to keep secret complaints against Village Manager Kevin Barr.

Patch requested the complaints, which may have led to Barr's suspension for a couple of weeks in January and February.

But the village last week denied the request, citing exceptions under the state's open records law. It said releasing the information would be "an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy" and "unavoidably" disclose the identity of those who filed the complaints.

In an email, Village Deputy Clerk Vicki Pries said she made the decision to deny the records, in consultation with the village's attorney, Jason Guisinger, who works for the Chicago-based Klein, Thorpe & Jenkins law firm. Pries works under Barr's leadership.

In an interview, the leader of a watchdog group said it's better for a government body to be open with the public about its business. He noted the exemptions asserted under the Freedom of Information Act, or FOIA.

"Despite any claims of FOIA exemptions, they have an option not to claim the exemption," said attorney Jason Han, executive director of the Elmhurst-based Citizen Advocacy Center. "Just because an exemption is there doesn't mean they have to reflexively cling to it."

In this case, he said, the exemptions were debatable.

Often, government bodies release complaints to the public upon request. They do so after the grievances are handled.

In January, Patch obtained the complaint against a substitute teacher in Elmhurst School District 205 who required students improperly wearing masks do pushups or jumping jacks. She received a written warning.

While Clarendon Hills said it wanted to avoid disclosing the identities of those who complained, District 205 handled that issue by blacking out the name of the parent who tipped off officials.

In Clarendon Hills, Barr apparently got in hot water for making jokes about the fire chief's age at a public meeting in mid-January. When Barr stopped showing up to work a few days later, the village told Patch that Barr was taking "personal leave."

But the village obtained emails last week that showed Village President Len Austin, in fact, suspended Barr until further notice.

Barr returned to work in early February after the Village Board held a closed session about his situation. The board approved a new contract with Barr, making it easier to fire him.

Last week, Austin said Barr had his complete support.