Hinsdale's Changing Reasons For Secrecy

HINSDALE, IL — Hinsdale on Wednesday acknowledged it used the wrong justifications to keep secret a discrimination complaint filed by the estate of a firefighter who took her own life.

In an email to Patch, Village Clerk Christine Bruton said the village was still withholding the complaint from the estate of late firefighter Nicole Hladik, but using new reasons. The 25-year-old Lyons Township High School graduate died in July 2020.

Bruton said the village's attorney, Mallory Milluzzi, reviewed the issue and found different reasons to keep the document under wraps.

"She concluded the section I cited was not as appropriate or specific as it could have been," Bruton said.

Milluzzi is listed as responsible for the denial of the records.

Previously, the village cited the possibility of a trial and a pending investigation as reasons to keep the records secret under the state's Freedom of Information Act. The exemption for trials is to help ensure fairness for criminal defendants, but no one is charged in this case. Further, no investigation is taking place.

Now, the village is citing the exemption under the Freedom of Information Act that allows the village to keep under wraps documents that are considered secret under federal law. In this case, the federal law governing the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission calls for the complaint only to be given to the charging party and the respondent.

The village also claimed the exception for an "unwarranted invasion of personal privacy." And it cited an exemption that allowed it to withhold records prepared for a public body in anticipation of a legal proceeding.

After Hinsdale originally denied the records, Patch filed an objection, which prompted the village's changed reasoning.

In an interview Thursday, Jason Han, who heads the Elmhurst-based Citizen Advocacy Center, said the exception in recognition of the federal law was valid. As for the privacy exemption, he said, "We understand the need for privacy, but that should be the family's call."

He said the village invalidly claimed the exception for documents prepared for a public body before a legal proceeding. He said the estate did not file the EEOC complaint for the village government.

In 2020, the village paid an independent law firm more than $100,000 to investigate what a village official said were "operational issues." The village has declined to release the firm's report upon Patch's records request.

Last month, Patch reported on the estate's lawsuit against the village, saying Hladik was the victim of gender discrimination. In response to a Patch inquiry, the village said in a statement that the law firm's investigation revealed Hladik was treated in a "respectful and fair" manner.

Hladik's lawsuit named the village and fire Lt. Tom McCarthy as defendants.

According to the lawsuit, Hladik wrote shortly before her death, "Work has destroyed me" and "I cannot take one more single day. Almost everyone at work will only be relieved." The lawsuit said she added, "P.S. You're welcome Lieutenant, I'm gone. I'm no longer your problem. You win."