VILLA PARK : City’s Move to Invest in O.C. Fund Criticized

Former Mayor Wayne Silzel this week criticized the City Council for its decision earlier this year to invest city reserves into the now-troubled county investment pool.

Silzel said previous councils, including the one he served on during the mid-1980s, were more cautious and conservative with city funds.

The City Council voted last February to take about $1 million in city reserves that had been invested in a state fund and put it into the county’s investment pool, which paid higher interest at the time. Mayor Bob Patchin said the move was made only after a council subcommittee investigated the prospects of the county pool.

But Patchin, in a prepared statement Tuesday night, added that the council subcommittee was given incomplete and misleading information about the county pool assets and risks.

“We now know we did not not get a full report” from the county, Patchin said. “We were given many printout pages of gold-plated bonds. . . . We were not given any listing of the derivatives, or any inkling that they existed.”

Silzel, however, said he does not think the City Council sought adequate information before investing in the county fund. Silzel said several knowledgeable residents could have warned the City Council about the risks in transferring so much of the city’s reserves into the county pool.

“Get out in the community and ask people, and then you won’t be embarrassed,” Silzel said, during the public comments section of the council meeting.

The City Council, before Silzel’s speech, had voted to allow City Manager Fred Maley to put future city reserves back into the state-administered fund. But Silzel said that move also may be risky because of the state government’s precarious finances.

“You may be going from the frying pan into the fire,” he warned.