In an effort to understand how much money Oak Lawn's long, drawn out battle against their own Fire Department's union, Local 3405, was costing Oak Lawn taxpayers, I submitted a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to Village in early August. After having my request denied and then re-submitting it, my specific request was for “Any and all information pertaining to legal costs, attorney fees, court fees, and any other expenditures made by the Village of Oak Lawn with regard to legal actions taken by the Village of Oak Lawn against the Oak Lawn Professional Fire Fighters Local 3405 from the year 2013 forward and including 2018.” After a lengthy delay, the Village provided me with a partial release of documents from 2015 through 31 July of 2018. In combing through hundreds of pages of documents, I’ve been able to determine that the Village has paid out around, and this is a very conservative estimate, $500,000 during this period to two different law firms. This figure does NOT include fees for 2013 or 2014 or whatever else the Village decided not to provide. Bottom line: if you add the $1.35 million dollar Staffing for Adequate Fire Emergency Response (SAFER) grant (the grant the Village applied for and was awarded, and that Larry Deetjen canceled), and the approximate $500,000 spent on attorney fees, court fees and other expenditures related to the Village’s ongoing litigation against the Oak Lawn Professional Fire Fighters Local 3405, the Village could have hired about TEN fire fighters. The grant would have provided for the hiring of seven, and the $500,000 for about three more, thereby reducing the overtime firefigther pay Deetjen is always ranting about but which also insures that OL residents are adequately protected. From my perspective as a taxpayer, I’d rather MY tax dollars be used for protecting our community, not frivolous lawsuits. Oak Lawn residents must demand better stewardship of our tax dollars! Write your Trustees. Demand a stop to Deetjen-induced, tax payer funded, expensive litigation. And most importantly, VOTE!
