Village of Manteno · Board Meetings

The eleven meetings.

By Stan Gromer, Editor & Publisher, The Bourbs

Full recordings of the board and committee meetings where Manteno's governance crisis unfolded: the dismissal, the special reinstatement, the two-attorneys standoff, the August 3 night the mayor declared the meeting adjourned over a 2-4 vote and four trustees stayed to vote the veto override, the August 12 morning she said on camera that the agenda is hers to set, the August 17 night she sent the police chief after an absent trustee for a quorum, the September meetings where the village ran out of staff, and the September 21 veto of an entire special meeting. Streamed live by Manteno Village View.

Meeting 1 of 11

The dismissal, and the failed vote

Monday, June 15, 2026 · Regular Board Meeting · Leo T. Hassett Community Center

Earlier that day: Mayor LaMore emailed Cainkar a Notice of Removal dated June 12, removing him as village attorney. The letter cited 65 ILCS 5/3.1-35-10 and promised to report reasons to the board within 5–10 days. (Whether the statutory clock runs from the letter's June 12 date or its June 15 delivery is one of the disputed questions in the lawsuit.)
At the meeting: LaMore moved to appoint James Vasselli of Vasselli Law as village attorney, citing her emergency appointment authority.
The board voted 4–2 against confirming Vasselli's appointment.
LaMore's response: She invoked executive authority and installed Vasselli on a 30-day temporary appointment. Trustees questioned Vasselli at length, including about a 2001 prank involving a fake anthrax letter (an incident he acknowledged at the meeting and resigned over as a young Cook County prosecutor; his bar disciplinary record is clean; see the Fact Check), and about unverified claims regarding FOIA handling in prior work.
The legal knot: Under state law (§ 3.1-35-10), LaMore was required to report removal reasons at a board meeting held 5–10 days after the removal. Whether she did, and even which date starts that clock, is now a central issue in the lawsuit.

Meeting 2 of 11

The special meeting, and the walkout

Thursday, June 25, 2026 · Special Board Meeting · Leo T. Hassett Community Center

Mayor LaMore did not attend. She called the meeting illegal, arguing the trustees did not follow Village Code § 1-6-3's Clerk-notice procedures; her attorney sent the board a legal memorandum making that argument at 4:15 p.m. that day.
Trustee Barry objected and left. After roll call he read an objection that the meeting was not properly called and left during the vote for mayor pro tem, per the Village's posted June 25 minutes. (Corrected September 22, 2026: an earlier version said he walked out during roll call.) Trustee Vaughn was also absent. The remaining four trustees constituted a quorum.
The board voted 4–0 to reinstate Cainkar as village attorney, citing the removal statute's 5–10-day report requirement, which they argued LaMore never satisfied.
That same night at 9:34 p.m., LaMore emailed trustees, re-sending her June 15 letter and writing "You have had this information for over a week." The trustees say this does not satisfy the requirement to report reasons "at a meeting" within 5–10 days.
This is now the core of the lawsuit. The Village (mayor's side) argues the June 25 meeting itself was invalid; the trustees argue Cainkar was restored by operation of law before the meeting even happened.

Meeting 3 of 11

The standoff, two attorneys at the table

Monday, July 6, 2026 · Regular Board Meeting · Leo T. Hassett Community Center

Both attorneys showed up. Mayor LaMore sat next to Brian Miller (of Vasselli Law, her designated attorney); Joe Cainkar took his usual seat as the board's attorney.
Per WFAV 95.1's report of the meeting, LaMore asked Police Chief Al Swinford to remove Cainkar. The chief declined; The Vedette added that Swinford said he lacked the legal authority to do so unilaterally. The full exchange is in the recording above.
The board voted 4–1–1 to retain Cainkar's firm (Boudreau, Crockett, Gesky, Zimbelman in favor; Vaughn against; Barry abstaining). Per The Vedette, LaMore has said she will veto the vote at an upcoming meeting, whether a mayoral veto even applies to this kind of board action is itself disputed.
Four days later (July 10), the Village filed suit in Kankakee County Circuit Court (Case 26CH21), seeking a temporary restraining order against the four trustees and asking the court to bar Cainkar and his firm from acting as village counsel.
Agenda and meeting packet available from the Village of Manteno's website (PDF linked in sidebar).

Meeting 4 of 11

The override, after the walkout

Monday, August 3, 2026 · Regular Board Meeting · Leo T. Hassett Community Center

Two agendas showed up to one meeting. The 4-page agenda posted on the village website since July 30 carried the Cainkar veto reconsideration (items 9A/9B); the mayor said she prepared a shorter version without them, and announced she had suspended Administrator Chris LaRocque five days without pay over the paper copies.
The one unanimous moment: the board ratified the Gotion fire-brigade agreement 6-0. Gotion had signed it the previous Friday, July 31 at 2:55 p.m., under threat of a same-day red tag; the deadline to field 18 certified firefighters is August 31.
The bills failed 2-4 after the mayor called the vote on $15,205 more than the posted total; the trustees offered to pay everything except the added items and were refused.
The climax: a motion to adjourn failed 2-4 on the voice vote; the mayor declared "meeting is adjourned" anyway and left. Four trustees stayed and passed the reconsideration and the Cainkar retention "over the veto of the mayor," 4-0 each, while two mayor-aligned trustees remained but refused to vote. Her counsel says none of it binds the village; the closest Illinois case on the books, Chicago's 1983 "Council Wars" decision, rejected that exact argument, and one narrower question (who presided after she left) is still open.
Every claim from this night is graded card-by-card on the August 3 fact-check page, including a correction of our own reporting.

Meeting 5 of 11

“It is my meeting and it’s up to me what’s on the agenda”

Wednesday, August 12, 2026 · 8:00 a.m. Special Board Meeting, following the 7:00 a.m. Planning & Zoning committee

The mayor states her agenda theory on camera. “I have the right to set the agenda” (40:56), and: “I talked to the lawyer about it and he has reminded me it is my meeting and it’s up to me what’s on the agenda” (51:05–51:18). She acknowledges a “two or more trustees can request it” rule (50:28), then adds: “I am going to put the things on the agenda that serve the public and serve the village of Manteno” (50:36).
Trustees used the word “censor” three times on camera (39:54, 42:30, 44:22) to describe items not reaching the agenda.
The clerk’s office turns over again: Village Clerk Steven Orth’s resignation, effective August 28, was discussed, with a clerk salary item teed up for the next board meeting.
The meeting itself was called under § 1-6-3, the same two-or-more-trustees provision at the center of the June 25 litigation. Quotes above are transcribed from the stream’s auto-captions. (Corrected September 22, 2026: the special board meeting was at 8:00 a.m., per the posted notice; the 7:00 a.m. session was the committee meeting.)

Meeting 6 of 11

The arrest order

Monday, August 17, 2026 · Regular Board Meeting · Leo T. Hassett Community Center

Four of six trustees were absent, leaving the board one short of a quorum: no bills, no votes, no business.
The attorney present read Village Code § 1-6-5, Rule 21 aloud: a 1974 rule that lets a majority of the trustees present send a police officer to notify absent members and, if a member refuses after notice, arrest them without a warrant.
The mayor directed Chief Swinford to go get Trustee Annette Zimbelman, who had messaged that she was sick, as was reported at the dais before he went. The chief asked for confirmation three separate ways before going; the key exchange runs 27:31–32:29.
His report back, 38 minutes later (1:10:22): “Nothing much just happened. There was no answer at her door.”
Rule 21’s own text contains the limits that matter: the power belongs to the trustees present, not the mayor; the sick are exempt; and no arrest is authorized until notice is given and refused. All of it, verbatim and graded, on the August 17 page.

Meeting 7 of 11

Six trustees, and every vote unanimous

Thursday, August 20, 2026 · Special Board Meeting · Leo T. Hassett Community Center

Three days after the quorum failure, all six trustees answered the roll and every recorded vote was unanimous, including $123,948.81 in bills.
54 of the meeting’s 76 minutes were spent in closed session under 5 ILCS 120/2(c)(1), the personnel exception. The board came back and tabled the appointment of a code enforcement officer, setting a special meeting for August 25 to finish it. That meeting was later posted as cancelled.
Crystal Wolfe was appointed Village Clerk this night; she resigned after about two weeks (Shaw Local, September 18).
Trustee Boudreau thanked Administrator Chris LaRocque for fourteen years of service, and announced from the dais that he would miss the September 8 meeting for a golf match.

Meeting 8 of 11

No administrator, no code officer

Tuesday, September 8, 2026 · Regular Board Meeting · Leo T. Hassett Community Center

The motion to appoint Jim Paicz as Director of Building and Zoning / Code Enforcement Officer failed 2–3 (Vaughn and Barry yes; Crockett, Gesky and Zimbelman no; Boudreau absent). The dispute was a budget question Trustee Crockett said he had emailed the mayor about weeks earlier; she apologized on camera and gave the number: $30,000 of the $60,000 salary was already budgeted.
Trustee comments were removed from the agenda. The mayor’s stated reason: “our meetings have been so contentious… some of it is not necessary.”
A resident asked who voted on the license plate cameras appearing on village roads. Nobody produced a board vote.
Two trustees and Fire Chief Rick Petersen reported an unannounced 9 p.m. inspection of Gotion’s fire brigade on September 1: six certified members on shift, 19 on staff.

Meeting 9 of 11

“I will be making appointments”

Wednesday, September 9, 2026 · 7:00 a.m. · Planning & Zoning and Properties & Recreation committees, with the board

Asked whether the empty jobs would be posted, the mayor said: “As village president, I will be making appointments… So you don’t need to worry about that.” She added that she does not plan to hire an administrator before April: “there’s going to be an election in seven months.”
The treasurer said the Village is not paying the mayor’s attorney: “It has not been board approved.”
The police chief answered on the license plate cameras for the first time on camera: the department has used Flock “for years,” there is “potential for abuse,” and other agencies have access to the data. He offered a public pros-and-cons session.

Meeting 10 of 11

Twenty-five minutes, and the mayor walked out of it

Wednesday, September 16, 2026 · 7:00 a.m. · Special Board Meeting called by four trustees

Four trustees called the meeting under § 1-6-3. Mayor LaMore arrived, read a statement calling it illegal, said “I will veto every action taken by the board at the supposed special meeting,” and left before any motion was made.
Trustee Boudreau was elected mayor pro tem and Trustee Gesky recording secretary, because the village had no clerk.
Three actions, each 4–0: the board amended the August 3 minutes, approved the August 17 minutes, and approved a professional service agreement with B&F Construction Code Services. All three were vetoed five days later.

Meeting 11 of 11

The veto

Monday, September 21, 2026 · 5:00 p.m. Public Safety and Finance committees · 6:00 p.m. Regular Board Meeting

The mayor vetoed all three September 16 actions, citing Village Code § 1-5-7 and reading it as covering “items considered at a board meeting.” The section is titled Approval And Veto Of Ordinances; none of the three items was an ordinance. The override vote is due October 5.
She appointed Jim Paicz herself as “building inspector,” and named former clerk Allen Pickrel temporary village clerk, on a code section that governs appointed officers.
The board unanimously confirmed Fire Chief Rick Petersen as chief of the village’s fire bureau (the agenda spells it “Peterson”), tabled a fire inspection agreement received that evening, and approved $118,472.98 in bills.
At the 5:00 p.m. committee meeting (second recording, below) the finance chair told the room that with no administrator “there’s one person that’s verifying payroll in the village.” Neither recording is linked from the Village’s own meetings index.
Earlier that day in court, Judge Lindsay Parkhurst set the attorney case for 10 a.m. on Thursday, November 12.

Tips & Corrections

Spot something we missed?

If a timestamp, vote count, or detail here is wrong, or you have a document that adds to the record, let us know.

The eleven meetings.

The dismissal, and the failed vote

The vote

News coverage

Key documents

The special meeting, and the walkout

The vote

News coverage

Key documents

The standoff, two attorneys at the table

The vote

News coverage

Meeting agenda

The override, after the walkout

The votes

Go deeper

Meeting agenda

“It is my meeting and it’s up to me what’s on the agenda”

Why this one matters

Go deeper

The arrest order

The night in one line

Go deeper

Meeting agendas

Six trustees, and every vote unanimous

The night in one line

Go deeper

No administrator, no code officer

The vote

Go deeper

“I will be making appointments”

The morning in one line

Go deeper

Twenty-five minutes, and the mayor walked out of it

The votes

Go deeper

The veto

The night in one line

Go deeper

Spot something we missed?