Battle between township, agency worsens
Years of bad blood and ill will between Bremen Township and Bremen Youth Services are reaching an emotional boiling point over finances.
Bremen Youth Services has provided counseling services to thousands of young people since 1964. Agency representatives and supporters say they’re facing eviction from a township building and likely to close because of its inability to make lease payments.
“I’ve lived in town for 40 years,” Patrick Gordon, of Oak Forest, told the Bremen Township Board on Monday night. “I’ve known of (Bremen Youth Services Executive Director) Don Sebek most of that time. I didn’t know him personally, but all I ever heard was wonderful things about him.
“When I finally met him, I told him, ‘You’re the first person I met who could probably be canonized a saint,’ ” Gordon said. “He has put everything — his heart, his soul, his own money into this — and you’re throwing him out, and it’s a shame.”
Township officials said they’ve done all they can to help the agency over the years. They accused the agency of bungling construction of its two-story, 7,500-square-foot building that opened in 2011 on township land at 15350 Oak Park Ave. in Oak Forest.
Township Supervisor Maggie Crotty said Bremen Youth Services began construction in 2008 without proper plans or permits or sufficient funds to finish the project.
“I have some major problems with starting a building without the plans,” Crotty told Sebek. “I
couldn’t put a brick mailbox up without a permit but for some reason that building was started, money was sunk into it, all of the grant money, without plans.”
Part of the funding for the $1.5 million building was provided by a Cook County community development block grant. Crotty said that when she was still a state legislator she also secured “member initiative” funds for the project. She estimated public funds accounted for $500,000 of the building’s cost.
The township borrowed $800,000 to cover the cost of completing construction. Bremen Youth Services has been paying Bremen Township $100,000 in lease payments since 2011. The agency has invested more than $1 million of its funds in the building, Sebek said.
“We’ve had a substantial amount invested in building. We are now looking at being evicted,” Sebek said. “Can anyone tell me that’s fair?”
Tensions first publicly surfaced in 2015. For years, Bremen Township had provided $300,000 in funding for Bremen Youth Services operations. After 2011, Bremen Youth Services had to use a third of the annual allocation to pay its lease, which squeezed funding for operations. About three years ago, Sebek asked the township to increase Bremen Youth Services funding to $400,000 annually.
The township board agreed to increase funding to $350,000 if Bremen Youth Services could document the residency of its clients, Crotty said.
“We can’t use taxpayer dollars on residents outside our township,” Crotty said.
Bremen Youth Services balked at the request, saying privacy laws prevented it from disclosing personal information about its clients. Also, Bremen Youth Services receives state reimbursement for services and funding from United Way and other sources that allow it to counsel some non-township residents, Sebek has said.
If Bremen Youth Services could continue making payments until 2021, it could remain in the building until 2031, according to the lease.
“The arrangement was that after 10 years of payments we would be rentfree for 10 years,” Sebek said. “We’re now at a point where we have two more years of payments, less than $200,000. We’re going to be evicted because we’re not going to be able to make those payments.”
The township board voted to cut off funding for Bremen Youth Services in early 2016 and contract with Aunt Martha’s to provide youth counseling services. Bremen Youth Services sued, claiming the bidding process was unfair, but a judge dismissed the lawsuit.
Lingering hard feelings between the two parties was evident Monday night.
“Didn’t you put a lawsuit against this board? Didn’t you sue everyone on this board?” Highway Commissioner John Flaherty asked Sebek. “In my opinion, you guys never owned up to the mess of that building. You guys never said, ‘It’s our fault, here’s what we need.’”
Crotty said the township had no choice but to intervene when work stalled on the half-finished building due to a lack of funds. The township had difficulty hiring a contractor to take on the job after the steel framing sat idle, she said.
Tempers flared Monday after Gordon criticized township officials for doing nothing after highway department foreman Ron Szabo recently admitted sending anonymous letters that disparaged the reputation of Sebek and Bremen Youth Services.
Flaherty said he consulted with an attorney and that Szabo denied highway department employee Larry Canning’s claim that letters were mailed from Indiana on township time. Canning also is an elected member of the Bremen Community High School District 228 Board of Education.
“I cannot fire (Szabo) over it because it was done on his own time on his own computer outside work hours,” Flaherty said. “(Canning) claimed they were sent to Indiana but Ron claims they were told to punch out and they went in their own cars. No township vehicle made that trip.”
After Gordon cussed and said trustees should be ashamed of themselves, Trustee Mary Catuara harshly criticized Gordon for his language.
“Shame on you,” Catuara told Gordon. “You don’t even know us.”
Dean Erickson, of Orland Park, said he formerly worked for Bremen Youth Services. He praised the agency and said its operations should serve as a model for others.
“If every city, every township had a place like Bremen Youth Services, the world would be so much better,” Erickson said.
When the township considered cutting Bremen Youth Services funding nearly three years ago, many former clients and employees of Bremen Youth Services turned out to show support, Erickson said. He understands the township has limited resources, he said.
“You have hard decisions you have to make,” he said. “You have limited amounts of money and you have a lot of people you have to serve with it.”
Yet if the township could renegotiate its lease with Bremen Youth Services, the agency would provide tremendous value for another 12 years in the community, he said.
“Their doors are going to close permanently,” Erickson said. “That’s a bunch of people who are going to lose light in their lives, and light in this world. I don’t want to see it happen. I don’t think you want to see it happen.”