Elmhurst Alderwoman's Emails In Controversy Released

Elmhurst IL

05 August, 2021

10:06 AM

Description

ELMHURST, IL — Elmhurst typically follows state law in responding to public records requests, providing information within the required five business days. But that has not been the case with Patch's requests for information involving the controversial issue of adding advanced life support to city fire trucks. In the spring, the city took more than a month responding to such an inquiry. With the latest one, Patch submitted a request on May 26. It got the information this week. In the weeks leading up to the April 6 city election, the issue of advanced life support took center stage in the mayoral campaign. Candidates Scott Levin and Mark Mulliner, also city aldermen, opposed adding such equipment. They said it would be costly in the long run because they maintained the union would demand more pay in exchange for greater duties. On the other side was the third mayoral candidate, Michael Bram, an alderman who often served as the lone wolf on city issues. He argued Elmhurst should add the equipment in cases when firefighters responded before the city's private ambulance service. The union's leader also backed the idea, saying the union would make no demands for the additional responsibility. Two key members of the city's Public Affairs and Safety Committee, Marti Deuter and Dannee Polomsky, held a committee meeting focused on advanced life support. They both endorsed Levin, who later won. At the March 8 meeting, the city attorney laid out his case against advanced life support, saying the city was vulnerable to union demands. Then-Mayor Steve Morley called in, saying he was "in the mountains in the middle of nowhere." He railed against suggestions that advanced life support would cost nothing for the city. During public input, a couple of people disagreed — union President Steve Talaski and Liz Ambrogi. She is a representative of the local Annie LeGere Foundation, which was formed in memory of the 13-year-old girl who died from a severe allergic reaction during a slumber party in August 2015. The foundation has offered to pay for the advanced life support equipment. The committee's meeting is on video, which is available on the city's YouTube page. It was the only instance in which a city committee meeting was televised in the last seven years, according to the city's YouTube archive. In an email, Polomsky explained why the meeting was televised. "I asked if arrangements could be made for that committee meeting you reference (already scheduled to be in chambers due to the large number of people expected to attend) to be recorded because it reviewed the data pertaining to conflicting messages about the subject circulating on social media and in the community," the alderwoman said. The city also later issued a rare news release about the meeting, but excluded the union's position on the issue. On March 11, three days after the meeting, Deuter emailed Abrogi, taking her to task for her comments during the session. She titled her email "Exploiting a Tragedy." "You have suggested that Annie's life may have been saved if Elmhurst equipped its fire apparatus with ALS capability," Deuter wrote. "As I understand the facts of the case, which I believe may be accessible through a FOIA request, the ambulance arrived on the scene prior to the fire apparatus, and the paramedics were qualified to provide care." She said advanced life support on fire trucks would not have changed what happened that night. "To suggest otherwise is a disservice to the public who hears your inflammatory and false claims and is an exploitation of a young girl's tragic death," Deuter said. At the meeting, Ambrogi did not directly connect the tragedy to the lack of advanced life support on fire trucks. Annie LeGere's mother, Shelly LeGere, wrote Deuter four days later. She criticized the emergency response, Her allegations were detailed in a Patch story in March. In response, Deuter apologized for "the insensitivity you feel my words represented." She offered to meet with Shelly LeGere and promised to review every record available from the night Annie LeGere was taken to the hospital. Deuter said she had relied on the account of the former chairman of the City Council's Public Affairs and Safety Committee, whom she did not name. "It was a mistake on my part to rely on the account of the situation, rather than my own review," she said. True to her word, Deuter emailed City Manager Jim Grabowski on March 15 for all the documents and reports from the night in question. Grabowski said he could provide the records that very same night, but also requested he and the fire chief meet with the alderwoman. They settled on April 7 as the date. Deuter may have received the documents in question, but the city apparently wasn't willing to release them so quickly to others. On March 25, Patch filed a request for the same reports and any correspondence or other documents indicating a change in policy on fire engine response to medical emergencies, which Shelly LeGere had alleged. Patch did not receive those documents until May 5, more than a month and a half after Grabowski said he could get the documents for Deuter. In a response to a Patch request for comment, Deuter said, "The death of Annie LeGere is a heartbreaking tragedy for her family, close friends, and our entire community. I requested and received the city's incident reports and had a subsequent meeting with city staff to review the details. My conclusion from this review is that the city's response did not impact her outcome." The latest Patch records request, filed May 26, was for emails involving Deuter, Polomsky, Grabowski and other key officials about the advanced life support issue in March. The response came this week. In mid-July, the city's public records officer asked Patch to narrow down its request for emails because the city's email system is not searchable like those in most public entities. City employees must go through their emails one by one to find what a requester is seeking. In the cases of Deuter and Polomsky, they use their private emails for city business, even though they are given city email accounts. Officials are often advised to use their government accounts for public business. A few years ago, it became a controversy when then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel acknowledged using his private email account for city business. In Elmhurst's case, Polomsky said in an email that she forwarded the records promptly upon the city's request. She said she wasn't even told who was requesting the documents. "I don't disagree that it probably would be easier to use one account, but I was a member of this community before I was an alderman, and many residents who want to express an opinion or who have questions will email me at the address they already have for me," Polomsky said.