Riverdale residents blast officials for marina project
BY CASEY TONER ctoner@southtownstar.com June 13, 2012 11:14PM
Updated: July 15, 2012 3:29PM
Riverdale residents blasted village officials during Tuesday’s board meeting for their role in giving $900,000 to a company that promised to redevelop the marina.
The village has hired a firm to audit the company’s books, saying that taxpayer money used on the project is not properly accounted for.
More than 35 residents packed the board room and questioned the village’s involvement in the site, located at 13100 S. Halsted St.
“This is an outrage,” said resident Deniece Rogers, while pointing to Mayor Deyon Dean. “You are wasting my money.”
Dean said that he wasn’t solely responsible for bringing the company to the village and pointed out that the village board approved the deal with Nosmo Kings — the company hired to redevelop the marina.
He ordered a police officer to remove Rogers from the meeting when she began interrupting him.
He also said that board members as well as people in the crowd had relatives working at the marina’s restaurant, the Dixie Star.
“We do have an issue with the owner,” Dean said.
“If anything inappropriate happened with his expenditures, we’ll seek it back on behalf of the village.”
The managing partner of the marina, John Thomas, is a convicted felon who formerly wore a wire in the Tony Rezko case.
Village attorney Matt Welch said that the audit likely will be finished in the next two to three weeks.
He urged the village board to restrain from commenting about the marina’s financial troubles due to pending litigation.
“At this time, there are a lot of unanswered questions,” Welch said.
