Letters show back-and-forth over returning records between state’s attorney, ex-Kane board chair

GENEVA – More than three months after he left office, the Kane County state’s attorney sent former County Board chairman Chris Lauzen a letter demanding the return of government records he took with him as he left.

Lauzen and Kane County State’s Attorney Jamie Mosser apparently already had spoken by phone, according to the March 9, 2021 letter, and the correspondence was following up on what the lawyer characterized as a “serious matter.”

“It has come to our attention that upon your departure from office as Kane County Board Chairman, you removed documents belonging to the County of Kane,” Mosser wrote in the letter the Kane County Chronicle obtained along with other documents in response to a Freedom of Information Act request.

Lauzen left office on Dec. 8, 2020, the day his successor, Corinne Pierog, was sworn in as the new Kane County Board chair. He took with him a number of county documents that he eventually returned six months later, records show.

In his response to Mosser two weeks later, Lauzen seemed to take exception at both the tone and some of the language Mosser used in the letter.

“What peculiar and (again) threatening choices of words,” Lauzen wrote, defending how he left the office, “my goodness, how else is cleaning accomplished? ... It’s these insinuations, defined as unpleasant hints or suggestions of something bad, by whomever drafted this letter for your signature that can easily be interpreted as harassing and menacing, as well as threatening, in contrast to our cordial phone conversations.”

Lauzen said last month that he returned some documents as requested, but everything else was in the county’s possession in electronic form and other records were his. Lauzen did not respond to an email seeking additional comment for this story.

But the correspondence gives new insight into the back-and-forth between the state’s attorney, who was seeking the records on behalf of Pierog, a Batavia Democrat, and Lauzen, a former Republican state senator from Aurora who did not seek reelection in 2020 after two terms as county board chairman.

Mosser cited the Illinois Local Records Act, which says that all public records “shall not be mutilated, destroyed, transferred, removed or otherwise damaged or disposed of, in whole or in part, except as provided by law.”

“Even if the County has electronic versions of these records, the paper versions are not allowed to be removed from any County office,” Mosser’s letter stated.

“It appears that you removed entire file cabinets’ worth of files in the days before you left office in December of 2020,” Mosser wrote. “A number of witnesses observed you and your wife reviewing files in nine file cabinet drawers in the County Board office.”

Mosser’s letter states that some were removed in boxes while others were disposed of and others given to staff with instructions to have them recycled.

“Some of these files concern active litigation to which the County is a party, and for which litigation holds are currently in place,” Mosser wrote.

If such documents were destroyed, the county could face serious legal penalties, Mosser wrote.

Aside from a list of more than 500 files which were attached to her letter, Mosser wrote that Lauzen “had also taken two expandable file folders related to former Human Resources Director Sylvia Wetzel, as well as the codifier’s printed versions of the county code.“

“We hereby request the immediate return of all documents you removed from the County Board office and ask that you provide an accounting of all files destroyed,” Mosser wrote.

Ultimately, the list of files was culled down to five: annual performance reviews, Aurora Election Commission, Aurora Transfer Station, cable television franchises and Chicago Regional Growth Initiative.

Lauzen had previously stated he had five pieces of paper related to Wetzel that he returned, as well as the printed county code.

In a March 24, 2021 letter, Lauzen criticized Pierog, stating, “How truly sad that our new madam chair feels it’s necessary to request that the State’s Attorney of the fifth largest county in the fifth largest state in the country should send a threatening legal letter from the top law enforcement official in Kane County.”

Lauzen’s letter also took issue with her description of witnesses having seen him and his wife clearing out his office.

Lauzen’s letter also disputed Mosser’s assertion that extra copies of documents are to be preserved “only for convenience of reference” and that copies “are not included within the definition of public record.”

“I thought I was doing the county a favor by updating files by cleaning them out following the precedent that I encountered eight years ago when I was first elected and … at the end of my 20-year State Senate service,” Lauzen wrote. “I simply cleaned up after myself” and nobody sent any “threatening legal correspondence.”

Lauzen’s letter also stated that when he walked into the chairman’s office, there was “not a stick of furniture nor a single sheet of paper in any file whatsoever, there were no electronic files for me to fall back upon when I took office.”

In a follow-up letter on April 16, 2021, Mosser wrote, “I do not believe that you removed the documents for any nefarious purpose. I am truly grateful that you are willing to work with us to return these documents to ensure compliance with the Local Records Act.”

Mosser wrote that the county has to follow procedures to verify that electronic copies meet established state rules to ensure that the information is maintained is accurate, accessible and usable for reference.

Records show that Lauzen returned 56 pages covering insurance information, deferred compensation, human resources policies, an employee’s grievance, Wetzel’s employment application for human resources director and a salary and a fringe benefits survey.

Mosser’s June 21, 2021 letter to Lauzen stated the county was satisfied with what he returned.

“This concludes this matter in its entirety and to the full satisfaction of the chairman and myself,” Mosser wrote. “Outside of advising the board that this matter has been resolved fully, there will be no further discussion on this matter.”

Regarding Lauzen’s complaint that he had no furniture nor a piece of paper in any file when he took office, his predecessor, former County Board Chair Karen McConnaughay said she left him a full electronic version of every document that came through her office, used her own furniture in the board office and took it with her when she left.

McConnaughay said every document was scanned electronically – and then shredded – with the disks put into a box and given to Lauzen.