VILLA PARK : Council Insists on Full Payment From Pool

The county has a moral obligation to return all of the city’s $1.3 million invested in the bankrupt investment pool, City Council members said last week.

“We want more than just pie-in-the-sky promises,” Mayor Bob Patchin said. “We’re not threatening with lawsuits--we’re not threatening with anything--we’re just saying there is a way to do this.”

Patchin and Councilman Joseph S. Barsa, in separate reports to the council, both said the county pool should be required to provide collateral for all funds invested by cities. They noted that the pool has made a settlement offer that does not provide solid backing, or financial collateral, for 20% of cities’ invested money.

Patchin and Barsa said the county pool should find a way to guarantee payment of 100% of invested city money, even if it takes many years to do it.

Barsa said he has attended countywide meetings of city officials concerned about getting money returned from the county pool. Barsa said those meetings indicated cities could quickly get 80% of their invested money if they agreed to the settlement offer.