Removal of Algonquin Township trustee with felony conviction sought

A past felony conviction precludes Algonquin Township Trustee Ed Zimel from holding his elected position, the McHenry County State’s Attorney’s Office said in a court filing that seeks to have Zimel removed from office.

But Zimel’s attorney argued in court filings this week that a 32-year-old conviction is far past any statute of limitations and that the window of opportunity to dispute his client’s right to hold office has closed. He also noted that Zimel served as a Hanover Park trustee for several years without the issue coming up.

The legal action filed Aug. 12 asks a judge to remove Zimel as trustee due to a 1990 felony intimidation conviction in Cook County. Zimel was elected in April 2021.

An Illinois township code provision states that if a person “has been convicted in any court located in the United States of any infamous crime, bribery, perjury or other felony,” he or she is ineligible to hold office.

That statute, added to the township code in 2016, “does not have any restrictions to the age of that felony conviction,” said Norman Vinton, chief of the civil division at the McHenry County State’s Attorney’s Office.

The state’s attorney was notified of Zimel’s past conviction by Michael Cortina, Algonquin Township’s attorney, Vinton said.

Zimel’s attorney, John Nelson, was hired by the township July 13 to represent the trustees in ongoing legal disputes with Supervisor Randy Funk and Cortina, according to published meeting minutes. Funk voted against the motion, while the four trustees voted in favor.

Nelson questioned how the felony was even discovered. It’s a “hatchet job” on Zimel, he said.

Calls to Funk at his township offices were not returned.

The Township Officials of Illinois, a state association for township officials, said the 2016 code change puts those boards on the same footing as other governing bodies.

“Counties and municipalities have the same rules,” Director Jerry Crabtree said. “We felt local government as a whole embraced it, and we were trying to make it even across the board.”

Vinton sent Zimel a letter in June 2021, informing him that if he was convicted of a felony, he is not eligible to be a trustee and should resign, according to the legal filing. Zimel did not resign or respond to that letter, Vinton said.

It was the first time in his memory that quo warranto complaint, asking whether a person has a right to hold a specific office, was brought to the state’s attorney, Vinton said.

A similar case is ongoing in Will County.

In June, a judge there ruled that Joliet Township Trustee Karl Ferrell could not hold office because of past felony convictions. Ferrell appealed to the appellate court based in Ottawa and remains on the board as that appeal is pending.

In Nelson’s response to the suit, which was filed Thursday, he noted that Zimel was twice elected to the Hanover Park Village Board. Zimel sat on that board from 2009 to 2015, when he resigned, citing a planned move out of the community, according to news reports.

Nelson also argued in his response that the statute of limitation on Zimel’s original charges would have passed in 1995. Zimel was sentenced to three months of home confinement and 30 months of court supervision at the time.

Nelson wrote in the response that there also was an “unreasonable delay in pursuing a right or a claim.”

The Illinois Supreme Court has ruled that this sort of delay – a laches claim – may be used in a quo warranto defense, Nelson said.

The proper time to dispute Zimel’s candidacy would have been when he filed his nominating petitions seeking to run for office, Nelson said. Illinois election code allows challengers to object to nomination forms before candidates are placed on the ballot.

“There is a process to disqualify candidates from the ballot,” Nelson said. “That was an opportunity missed.”

A hearing on the motion to dismiss is set for 11 a.m. Nov. 16 at the McHenry County courthouse.