For forty minutes Manteno's board had a calm night: six trustees present, pickleball lights approved 6–0, a pavilion paint job put off, a new clerical hire welcomed. Then came the bills. Trustee Boudreau moved to strike $44,769.50 owed to Vasselli Law, the firm the mayor named village attorney and the firm suing four trustees in the Village's name, "until the court case is decided." It passed 4–2, and the rest of the bills were paid 4–2 on the same split.
In the argument that followed, a trustee said the mayor's 30-day emergency appointment of the firm "expired about two months ago." We checked that against the Village Code, which the mayor's own affidavit cites, and against state law: the 30-day limit is real, it comes from Manteno's code rather than the statute, and the code would not have let the appointment run past about mid-August. Section 1 has the detail. A court hears the attorney case at 10 a.m. Thursday, November 12.
This meeting follows October 19. The full background: the lawsuit and the legal analysis. New here? Start with the two-minute version.
Graded November 3, 2026 against the two recordings, the posted agendas, the Manteno Village Code and the Illinois Compiled Statutes. A grade is a statement about the evidence, not about anyone's honesty. Nobody named on this page is accused of any wrongdoing.
Payment of the bills, roughly 40:00 to 46:30.
The mayor called for a motion to pay bills of $115,962.24; Trustee Barry moved and Trustee Vaughn seconded. A trustee then asked to move an amendment: ⚠ "I want to move to amend the payment of the bills to not include the $44,769.50 for Vasselli Law at this time until the court case is decided, hopefully next week." The chair later referred to it as Trustee Boudreau's motion.
The roll calls:
Amendment: Boudreau, Crockett, Gesky and Zimbelman yes; Barry and Vaughn no. 4–2.
Bills as amended: Crockett, Zimbelman, Boudreau and Gesky yes; Barry and Vaughn no. 4–2. The mayor: ⚠ "Motion carries, sadly."
Our arithmetic. $115,962.24 less $44,769.50 is $71,192.74. The agenda prints the $115,962.24 figure on both the "Payment of Bills" line and the "Bills Authorized and Paid between Board Cycle" line; the mayor clarified at about 5:30 that it is the list being voted on that night.
Sources: board recording, 5:00–5:30 and 40:00–46:30; posted agenda, item 8C1.
A trustee said this to the mayor during the debate, adding ⚠ "you're supposed to re-up every 30 days." The captions do not show which trustee.
The appointment. On June 15, after the board voted 4–2 against confirming James Vasselli as village attorney, the mayor declared a 30-day temporary appointment. Her sworn affidavit in the lawsuit says she acted under Manteno Village Code § 1-5-5(E). That section, as read aloud at the September 21 meeting: "The term for any temporary officer appointed shall be 30 days. No person shall be eligible to be appointed or to fill an office as a temporary officer more than two times in any one fiscal year." Manteno's fiscal year runs May 1 to April 30.
The math. A 30-day term starting June 15 ended about July 15. With the one further term the code allows, it ended no later than about mid-August. Either way, by November 2 it had been over for somewhere between two and a half and three and a half months, so "about two months ago" if anything understates it.
The context. First, "re-up every 30 days" is not what the code allows: it caps the same person at two temporary terms a fiscal year, the kind of limit the Attorney General endorsed in Opinion 94-012. Second, the 30-day limit is Manteno's own. State law, 65 ILCS 5/3.1-30-5(d), lets a mayor appoint "a temporary successor" after a "dismissal from or abandonment of office" but sets no term. Third, the temporary power assumes a valid dismissal of the prior attorney, and whether the June removal was valid is the question in the lawsuit. Fourth, we have found no record of a second temporary appointment. Brian Miller of Vasselli Law answered that who the proper village attorney is will be decided by the court (card q4).
Sources: board recording, 41:00–41:30; Manteno Village Code § 1-5-5(E), as read on the record September 21; our legal analysis (the affidavit); 65 ILCS 5/3.1-30-5, read November 3.
The same trustee opened with it. State law has the president appoint an attorney "by and with the advice and consent of" the board (65 ILCS 5/3.1-30-5(a)). On June 15 the board voted 4–2 against confirming Vasselli, and voted 4–2 the same night to disapprove the removal of Joseph Cainkar and reinstate him. On September 9 the treasurer, asked by the mayor why Vasselli Law was not being paid, said: ⚠ "It has not been board approved."
The mayor's position is that the removal was lawful and her temporary appointment put the firm in place. That is what the court is being asked to decide.
Sources: board recording, 41:00; Village minutes, June 15, 2026 (see timeline); September 9; 65 ILCS 5/3.1-30-5(a).
The mayor asked Brian Miller of Vasselli Law, at the table, to respond to the amendment. ⚠ "Who is the correct village attorney is up for in the lawsuit... that's the temporary restraining order and motion to dismiss in the case, so it might go longer than that... It's not clear by any sense of the word... who's the proper village attorney, and that's what the court's going to decide." He also disputed the trustee's suggestion that the firm had been working for free.
What the record shows. On September 21, Judge Lindsay Parkhurst set the case for 10 a.m. Thursday, November 12, after setting 14 days for the Village's counsel to respond and 7 days for the trustees' reply. A ruling was not expected for several days after the hearing. Mr. Miller's firm is the firm whose invoice was at issue.
Sources: board recording, 41:30; the lawsuit page; Shaw Local / The Daily Journal, September 21, 2026.
The mayor, after Mr. Miller spoke: ⚠ "The reason that I dismissed our previous attorney is that... we broke our own ordinances to allow a huge business to come into town that made a lot of people very unhappy. Our lawyer made that happen. So why would we trust a lawyer who broke our own ordinances to allow something that the people don't want?" The business is the Gotion battery plant.
Why Open. Whether the Gotion rezoning broke Village ordinances is the claim at the center of Concerned Citizens of Manteno v. Village of Manteno, No. 2023 CH 37, which is still pending. No court has found that it did. Context: before she ran for mayor, Annette LaMore was a leading figure in Concerned Citizens of Manteno, the group bringing that suit (see the overview). Her June 12 removal letter cited 65 ILCS 5/3.1-35-10 and promised to report her reasons to the board in 5 to 10 days; whether she did so in time is disputed in the attorney case.
Sources: board recording, 41:30–42:30; the Manteno Record overview and timeline.
A trustee asked it; a second voice agreed with "Trustee Gesky." The premise is accurate: Vasselli Law filed Village of Manteno v. Boudreau, Zimbelman, Crockett and Gesky, No. 26CH21, in July in the Village's name, against the four trustees who voted for the amendment.
The mayor's answer was the mirror image: ⚠ "Why are we paying bills to defend trustees?" See card q7.
Sources: board recording, 42:00–42:30 and 44:30–45:00; the lawsuit page.
Mr. Miller and the mayor said the trustees' agreement with their own counsel was pushed through after the August 3 meeting had been adjourned, was vetoed, and has not been signed. Trustees answered that the mayor cannot adjourn a meeting without a majority vote, and that nothing was vetoed. One cited a case the captions render as ⚠ "Roie versus Washington."
What the record shows. On August 3 a motion to adjourn failed 2–4; the mayor declared the meeting adjourned and left; four trustees stayed and voted, including to engage counsel for themselves (see August 3). The September 21 vetoes we have documented were of motions approving minutes, which a president has no power to veto under 65 ILCS 5/3.1-40-45 (see September 21). We have no record of a veto of the engagement itself, and we do not know whether the engagement letter was signed. Whether the votes taken after the failed adjournment stand is a question now before a court. We could not identify a case named "Roie versus Washington."
Sources: board recording, 42:30–44:00; August 3; September 21; 65 ILCS 5/3.1-40-45.
The mayor said it twice, and earlier said the Village is ⚠ "already in court with the lawsuit because of one employee." A trustee answered: ⚠ "Not employee either."
Why Mixed. The fight is over one office, village attorney, and one lawyer. But the village attorney is an appointed officer under state law and the Village Code (§ 1-9-2), held here by an outside law firm, not an employee. And the lawsuit was filed by the Village, through the mayor's counsel, against four trustees.
Sources: board recording, 40:30 and 44:00; 65 ILCS 5/3.1-30-5(a); the lawsuit page.
Said near the end of the exchange; the captions do not show by whom. Trustee Crockett, addressed by name by the mayor, also pushed back on her saying she speaks for "the people of Manteno": ⚠ "The galley is not the village."
Why Open. We have not totaled the Village's 2026 legal spending across both firms. The one figure on the record this night is the $44,769.50 Vasselli Law invoice. We are requesting the rest (see below).
Sources: board recording, 44:00–44:30.
Public Works report, roughly 11:30 to 13:30.
Trustee Crockett said the treasurer has emailed trustees for months about missing paperwork, and that this is ⚠ "the first time in my tenure here on the board that this has been late being submitted to the state." He asked for a time frame. The mayor: ⚠ "As soon as everything is finished, as soon as we work through all the issues."
The deadline. State law requires the audit to be "completed and the report submitted within 180 days after the close of such fiscal year, unless an extension of time shall be granted by the Comptroller in writing" (65 ILCS 5/8-8-3(b)). Manteno's fiscal year closed April 30, so the deadline was October 27. We have not confirmed whether the Village asked for an extension. On October 19 the auditor said the draft was waiting on the attorney's letter and the mayor's final review (see October 19). "First time in my tenure" we have not checked against past filings.
Sources: board recording, 11:30–13:30; 65 ILCS 5/8-8-3, read November 3; October 14.
The mayor, answering Trustee Crockett: ⚠ "We are not finished with the forensic audit because it's being looked at and we're working through some of the problems, because there were massive discrepancies in the way things were being handled... it is being looked at by authorities, not by me." She said some of the auditors' questions related to it, and ⚠ "I don't just rubber stamp things and sign things without looking at them carefully."
Why Open. She named no agency, and we have found no public record of a referral. The Village paid the forensic auditors' final bill on August 12 (see August 12), and the published findings are on our audit page.
Sources: board recording, 12:00–13:30.
Public participation, reports and new business, roughly 2:00 to 40:00.
The agenda item: a KPI Electric proposal for $7,727.40, with the Village's cost $6,327.40 after a $1,400 donation from Paddle Together, the league. Trustee Gesky said earlier proposals came in at $54,500, $115,000 (Spartan Sports), $120,000 (Condor) and $140,000 (Baseline); KPI's plan puts floodlights on the existing poles over the six newer courts. Moved by Boudreau, seconded by Zimbelman, 6–0.
Context. Before the vote the mayor asked to notify neighbors first and said the board might table it. Trustees said the park would close at 10 p.m. and the timing could change if neighbors object; the public works director said the lights now run with the park's until midnight and would need separate controls. The figures quoted differed at each meeting: about $40,000 installed on October 14, $7,720 on October 27, $7,727.40 on the agenda. The agenda's donor name, "Paddle Together," also differs from the name used on October 27. The agenda governs.
Sources: board recording, 15:30–17:30 and 18:00–29:30; posted agenda, item 10a; October 27 committee recording, 23:00–32:00.
Andy Lee, the only public speaker, said he supports lighting in principle but would not support it ⚠ "until we have a clearer picture of our finances," and that remaining funds from the Aqua sale ⚠ "won't last forever." Mr. Lee announced on September 21 that he is running for trustee in April.
Why Open. The draft audit presented October 19 shows the general fund spent about $10.4 million in the year ended April 30, 2026 against about $7.7 million coming in, with about $7.3 million left. We have not checked the two years before that.
Sources: board recording, 2:00–4:00; October 19.
The public works director said Eck Painting bid $8,750 and would either work this season or hold the price into spring. CertaPro bid $14,875 at the October 27 committee. A trustee said the brick at the base of the pillars should be fixed first; the mayor said other painters want to bid. A trustee noted the item could not be awarded because the agenda lists it as "Discussion," and that because both bids were now public, a fair rebid would need sealed bids from everyone.
Sources: board recording, 29:00–37:30; posted agenda, item 10b; October 27 committee recording, 45:30–49:30.
Public works director Jim Hanley's status update: the Heritage Park shed and dugouts are at $45,113 against $70,000 budgeted, with about $2,500 more for the dugout roofs; this year's pavilion work came to $108,421 against $250,000 budgeted; the pavilion purchase last year plus this year's work totals $356,754; the turf was about $90,000 on top of that. A trustee summed it as $440,000; the stated figures add to $446,754. Building director Jim Paicz reported 36 permits, 19 contractor registrations, 10 code violations, 7 calls and 3 records requests in two weeks.
Context. These are figures stated aloud. We have not checked them against invoices.
Sources: board recording, 37:30–40:00.
It is the second board agenda in a row to carry the item; on October 19 it was never raised. This time Trustee Barry said he would take it up at the finance committee on Monday, November 16, at 5 p.m. Disclosure: The Bourbs files many of the records requests Manteno receives; see the Toolbox, section 14.
Sources: board recording, 5:00; posted agenda, item 8C1b.
At Trustee Vaughn's request the police department read the month's figures: 97 case reports, 844 incidents, 4 accidents, 8 arrests (two for DUI, two for domestic violence, and one each for theft, sexual assault, child endangerment and driving on a suspended license), and 52 traffic stops ending in 38 warnings, 2 ordinance tickets and 12 traffic tickets. Connor McCormack of the department repeated the state's new e-bike rules taking effect January 1, 2027, which we checked on September 8. Asked about license plate cameras, the chief said he supports them and the outcome of the statewide debate is ⚠ "yet to be determined."
Context. Figures stated aloud; not checked against department records.
Sources: board recording, 6:30–11:30.
The mayor announced Trina Myrick (the agenda's spelling) as the new clerical worker, saying more than 20 people applied. The Village has had no elected clerk since September; a temporary clerk named by the mayor is taking minutes (see the Toolbox on the clerk).
Sources: board recording, 4:00; posted agenda, item 8A5.
Trustee Zimbelman said the Village received a letter moving that polling place to the library for this election only. November 3 is the general election, not a primary. We have not confirmed the polling-place change; the official source is the Kankakee County Clerk's polling places page.
Sources: board recording, 17:30–18:00.
Public Works and General Government, 7:00 a.m., Tuesday, October 27.
Pickleball lights. The public works director presented KPI Electric's $7,720 price for floodlights on the seven existing poles, after other bids he said came in far higher. Trustee Gesky said the league organizer had a check of about $1,400 for the Village. The committee agreed to put it on the board agenda, and suggested closing the park at 10 p.m.
The pavilion. CertaPro bid $14,875 (a trustee first read a lower line on the quote) and Eck Painting $8,750, both prevailing wage. The committee asked the director to find out whether either would hold its price to spring, and to put it on the agenda.
A resident's complaint. A resident said the 8th Street retention pond and the swale feeding it have not drained properly for 20 years. Trustees said three firms had found it working as designed; the Village engineer, Bruce, agreed to inspect it and recommend any work, which would go out for prices.
Also: a storm sewer project near Jeffrey Street and Heritage Park goes to bid opening November 5; the County Highway 9 overpass lights are out because a tree contractor's trailer took out the state's controller; a sidewalk and Christmas-light update; and an idea, with no action, of sharing a vacuum truck (about $600,000 new) with Beecher and Peotone instead of hiring one at $2,500 to $3,000 a day. The chamber reported more than 1,000 children at the Main Street trick-or-treat. Both committees approved their July 28 minutes, three months after that meeting; our July 28 page explains what the Open Meetings Act requires. The lawsuit and the attorney did not come up.
Source: October 27 recording; agenda.
From the agenda and the court calendar.
Thursday, Nov. 5: storm sewer bid opening. Tuesday, Nov. 10, 6 p.m.: Plan Commission. Wednesday, Nov. 11, 7 a.m.: Planning & Zoning and Properties & Recreation committees. Thursday, Nov. 12, 10 a.m.: the attorney case before Judge Parkhurst, Kankakee County Circuit Court. Monday, Nov. 16, 5 p.m.: Public Safety and Finance committees, with the FOIA officer pay item; the board meets at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 24, 7 a.m.: Public Works and General Government committees. Check the Village's posted notice before you go.
Drafted this week.
On the attorney: every Vasselli Law invoice submitted in 2026 with its payment status; any notice of a second temporary appointment after July 15; and the engagement letter for the trustees' counsel, signed or not.
On the audit: any request to the Comptroller for an extension of the FY2026 filing deadline, and the auditors' open questions.
On legal spending: the total paid to every law firm in 2026.
If you were in the room, or hold any of these documents, the form below reaches us directly.
If a verdict here is wrong, if we have put a quote in the wrong mouth, or if you hold any document referenced at this meeting, we want to see it. Name and email are optional.