Former Oak Lawn Fire Chief Lands On His Feet In Westchester

OAK LAWN, IL — Sometimes when life, or a village, leaves you dangling in mid-air, you have to make your own parachute. After his sudden, shocking dismissal as Oak Lawn’s fire chief in the middle of a pandemic, Michael Mavrogeorge has landed on his feet. Mavrogeorge started his duties as the new fire chief of Westchester on July 1.

Oak Lawn’s first Asian fire chief, Mavrogeorge was dismissed on May 29 and replaced by the Deputy Fire Chief Zachary Riddle as acting fire chief. The village claimed financial distress due to a projected budget shortfall of $8 million to $10 million caused by the COVID-19 shutdown. He was the only village department head who was let go, along with eight other non-union positions at village hall. Mavrogeorge says his dismissal came as a complete shock.

“There was no warning, the dismissal was immediate, and no respect or help for my family,” Mavrogeorge said, who was not offered severance pay. “We had planned to relocate back to the St. Louis area and start looking at opportunities out of state.”

During his 2-year tenure, Mavrogeorge burnished the image of the Oak Lawn Fire Department, which had taken a beating in recent years due to contentious arbitration with the firefighters’ union. Re-branding the fire department “Oak Lawn EMS-Fire-Rescue” Mavrogeorge was able to reestablish a positive relationship with the community and the firefighters union. He led the agency to an ISO Class 1 public protection rating, worked to establish national best practices and implemented new community risk reduction programs, while the village’s 66 firefighter/paramedics answered 8,500 calls for service.

“I wanted to build something and not destroy something,” he said. “I wanted to improve services.”

Mavrogeorge said his house was a quarter packed, as he, his wife, LaVonne, and their 7-year-old son Levi, prepared to move Kentucky, Alabama or Oregon, where he had been invited to interview for fire chief positions. They had just extended the lease on their home in Oak Lawn two weeks before his dismissal.

“I’ve received a lot of messages from Oak Lawn residents and businesses wanting to know how my family and I are doing,” he said. “Fire chiefs and their wives from other communities were stopping by my house; my firefighters were calling to see if we needed anything.”

Then the opportunity in Westchester came up. He wanted his son be able to continue at Covington Elementary School with his friends.

“It just felt right for my family. Several friends and fire chiefs from across the Chicago area said Westchester was a great town and would be a good spot for me. Everyone has been wonderful and supportive here. Westchester is a great community,” Mavrogeorge said. “Once our lease in Oak Lawn is up, we are definitely open to relocating to Westchester and becoming part of the community. It will be great to live in a community that loves their fire department.”

Following Mavrogeorge’s dismissal, Patch heard from the former Oak Lawn fire chief whom Mavrogeorge replaced — George Sheets — the village’s first African American fire chief. Sheets “retired” after nine years as the village’s fire chief, and four years concurrently as fire chief in Chicago Ridge. Sheets is currently the fire chief of a municipality in Missouri, which he describes as "superb."

"To say that I have not been tremendously challenged, reporting to fifteen elected officials who have varying degrees of opinions, needs and wants, would be an understatement of the grandest kind,” Sheets said at the time of his departure.

Sheets said Mavrogeorge may have gotten too “buddy-buddy” with the firefighters union and not supportive of the village’s actions toward the firefighters.

Meanwhile, the Village of Oak Lawn is searching for an assistant village manager during its time of financial distress to help the acting village manager, Randy Palmer, who is also chief of the Oak Lawn Police Department. Applications for assistant village manager are being accepted through July 13.