Blue Island mayor questioned about vehicle buys
Alderman: ‘million more questions than answers at this point’
Mayor Domingo Vargas owes the citizens and taxpayers of Blue Island answers to several questions about the recent purchases of two vehicles.
Several City Council members want to know why Vargas allegedly endorsed a Hinsdale Bank cashier’s check made out to the city of Blue Island on Aug. 28 for $76,899.
Another question is, when the city received the payment, did anyone in the finance department question what the money was for and why the city was receiving it?
“There are a million more questions than answers at this point,” Ald. Kevin Donahue said Thursday. Donahue provided the Daily Southtown with a copy of the cashier’s check and other documents.
One of the documents is a Jan. 3 letter to Augustino Korkis, of Chicago, from Blue Island City Attorney Cary Horvath. In the letter, Horvath demanded that Korkis deliver two Chevrolet Tahoe vehicles to the city “for storage and safekeeping” until questions about the purchases are resolved.
The letter from Horvath accused Korkis of registering ownership of the vehicles in the name of the city of Blue Island.
“Your unauthorized purchase of the vehicles and registration of their ownership in the city’s name has caused a significant problem for which there is no readily discernable resolution,” Horvath wrote.
Horvath on Thursday confirmed he wrote the letter, which demanded Korkis deliver the vehicles to the city by Monday. As of Thursday morning, the city was still not in possession of the vehicles, Horvath said.
Reached by phone Thursday, Korkis said he was advised by attorneys to not discuss the alleged vehicle purchases.
“I have litigation going on,” Korkis said. “I would love to (talk about it) but they told me not to.”
Vargas did not respond Wednesday and Thursday to emails, phone messages and a request made in person to his assistant in the mayor’s office for comment.
I spoke with Vargas for several minutes Tuesday night prior to a city council meeting. Vargas granted permission to have his picture taken. I was not aware of council members’ questions about the vehicle purchases at that time, but learned about them on Wednesday.
City Clerk Randy Heuser said he first learned of the alleged purchases Oct. 30. That’s when Heuser received a phone call from a Niles police officer investigating an alleged hit-and-run collision involving two vehicles.
The officer told Heuser the vehicle that was struck was registered to the city of Blue Island, according to a Niles police report and a letter that Heuser wrote to the Cook County state’s attorney’s office.
Heuser said he was puzzled to hear about a Chevy Tahoe allegedly registered to the city.
“I explained my reason for calling and Heuser stated that Blue Island only uses Ford vehicles,” the Niles officer wrote in the report. “Heuser stated he approves and writes checks for all city purchases, and no purchase for a Chevrolet was approved.”
I spoke Wednesday with Heuser, who affirmed his authorship of the letter to the Cook County state’s attorney’s office. On Thursday, the state’s attorney’s office declined comment.
“We cannot confirm or deny an investigation,” spokeswoman Tandra Simonton said.
The Niles police officer wrote that he contacted Currie Motors in Frankfort, where a supervisor found a contract for the sale of the Tahoe whose apparent owner — the city of Blue Island — was described as the victim of a property-damage collision.
“The contract showed that the Tahoe in question was purchased directly by the office of the Mayor of Blue Island by the listed subject, Korkis,” according to the police report.
There are advantages to using a government purchasing account to buy vehicles for personal use, Donahue said.
“There’s a substantial discount for buying in bulk, and you pay no sales tax,” Donahue said.
Donahue said he and other council members want the Cook County state’s attorney or other independent agencies to investigate the purchases. Vargas fired the previous city attorney and hired Horvath, and Donahue said council members want to ensure an investigation avoids any appearances of impropriety.
“We don’t want to rush to judgment,” he said. “An outside investigation needs to be done.”
Donahue said he and other council members want to know why Vargas never informed them that the two vehicles were allegedly registered to the city, or that the mayor allegedly signed a check for $76,899 to the city.
“What else is he signing that we don’t know about?” Donahue asked.
Council members also want to know more about how Korkis and Vargas are connected.
According to an agenda and minutes for a 2013 Blue Island City Council Public Health and Safety Committee meeting, Korkis presented information about electronic billing and payment services offered through his company at the time, GPass Technology Solutions.
The company was dissolved in February 2018, according to Illinois Secretary of State records. Korkis is listed as the principal agent for a couple of parking businesses in Chicago, records show.
Council members also want to know whether other vehicles are registered to the city of Blue Island that they might not know about. In his letter to the state’s attorney, Heuser wrote that a Blue Island police sergeant also sought answers to questions about vehicle registrations.
“He was investigating why we had recently gotten two sets of permanent MP license plates for vehicles we didn’t own,” Heuser wrote.
I went to Blue Island City Hall early Thursday, before 8:30 a.m., because I learned from a recent video that Vargas often begins his day at City Hall before heading to work as a criminal defense attorney.
I learned this from a video titled, “A Day in the Life of a Mayor — Episode 2 — Domingo F. Vargas, City of Blue Island,” published Oct. 26 on YouTube by Southland TV.
In the 18-minute episode, a camera follows Vargas as he travels from City Hall to the Markham Courthouse and other destinations. He sits in the front passenger seat while someone else drives.
The vehicle transporting Vargas appears to be a Chevy Tahoe, Donahue said.