Joliet inspector general issues 3rd report on Mudron

The Joliet inspector general has issued a third report in less than a year on City Council Member Pat Mudron, who called the latest investigation an attempt to “discredit me before the election.”

Mudron is seeking re-election in District 2 in the April 4 election. He faces three opponents.

The Feb. 9 report from Inspector General Sean Connolly, like the two before it, looks into Mudron’s insurance business and potential ethical issues with his position as a council member.

The report concludes that Mudron “may have had a conflict of interest” when his firm handled $432,000 in Joliet Park District insurance business from 2013 to 2019 while he was a member of a foundation that provides funding to the park district. Mudron Kane Insurance received a percentage of the business in commissions.

Connolly also concluded that Mudron did not commit any ethical violations as a council member when handling the business, since the park district is a separate governmental body. But the report states that he found “questionable practices” at the Joliet Parks Foundation, where Mudron is a longtime member and current board president.

“As a member of the Foundation’s board, Councilman Mudron voted, and currently votes, on what type and how much financial support should be given to the park district,” the report states. “This is a potential conflict-of-interest because Mudron Kane is indirectly benefiting from payments made to the Park District from the foundation.”

Mudron’s position on the foundation “can also create a sense of obligation on the park district’s board to vote to have Mudron Kane provide insurance since a principal of Mudron Kane (Councilman Mudron) is on the Foundation’s board and votes on funding for the foundation,” the report states.

The report states that Mudron Kane and other brokers were not required to submit competitive bids for park district insurance business, which was exempted as a professional services agreement.

Local governments, including the city, are not required by law to go through a formal bidding process before contracting for professional services.

There was no competitive bidding process when Joliet hired Connolly, a private attorney, in February 2022, as the city’s inspector general. The city did not even have a contract completed with Connolly, and the City Council was not told what he would be paid or the term of his appointment when it voted 7-1 to approve him.

Mudron was the one no vote against hiring Connolly, who has conducted the three investigations into Mudron’s insurance practices since he was hired.

Connolly was recommended by Mayor Bob O’Dekirk, who appoints the inspector general with approval from the council. Mudron’s opposition to Connolly was one of several issues on which he has been at odds with the mayor.

“It sure appears to me that they’re trying to discredit me before the election,” Mudron said Friday.

Mudron said while there was no formal bidding process for the park district insurance business, he does believe that park officials were getting quotes from other brokers besides Mudron Kane.

“They always received more than just our proposal,” he said. “Sometimes we got it, and sometimes we didn’t.”

Mudron said his firm has continued to pursue the park district’s business since 2019, and he did not plan to stop.

“I don’t see any reason to,” he said. “There are specific bylaws for the foundation, which I have not violated.”

Those bylaws could be changed.

Foundation Treasurer Bob Lees when asked whether a new conflict-of-interest policy in light of the inspector general report will be considered when the foundation next meets said, “I cannot imagine it will not.”

Connolly and associate Martin P. Walsh inquired into the Mudron matter while having no authority to investigate the park district or the foundation, which is stated in the report.

“The city of Joliet Inspector General does not have jurisdiction over the Park District or the Foundation,” the report states, going on to say that the findings were made in the course of the investigation into whether Mudron violated any ethics rules as a council member by doing business with the park district.

“The IGO has determined it is in the interest of Joliet residents and taxpayers to report these findings,” the report states.

The only inspector general reports to emerge since Connolly has been hired are the three that involve Mudron.

The first dealt with an insurance policy Mudron Kane provided the Rialto Square Theatre, while Mudron was the City Council liaison to the theater. The next examined Mudron Kane’s business with the Joliet Area Historical Museum, which, like the Rialto, receives funding from the city.

O’Dekirk said there have been other inspector general investigations, and one is underway now that may lead to a report.

“There’s one, I think, that’s coming soon,” O’Dekirk said. “I was interviewed for it last week.”

He would not say whether that investigation also involves Mudron.