Editor’s note: Shaw Local reporter Jessie Molloy and Crest Hill City Treasurer Jamie Malloy are not related.

The Crest Hill City Treasurer Jamie Malloy said the city needs to conduct a forensic audit of the city’s past events committee finances.

Malloy said she began investigating the past finances of the events committee after multiple residents had requested she look into it when she was elected last April.

“Residents asked me about this, and that’s what I was looking into,” Malloy said. “I found some information and just wanted to ask questions on it.”

Malloy produced large packets of documents for each City Council member at the March 2 council meeting as she began her regular report. The packet contained over 150 pages of financial records tied to a Numark Credit Union bank account registered to the Crest Hill Events Committee, as well as documents related to annual Crest Hill picnics.

According to records, the account was created in September 2017 and was closed in November 2021.

Finance Director Glenn Gehrke and City Administrator Blaine Wing said that after the account closed, the remaining funds, amounting to $14,371.88, were transferred to the city and deposited on Dec. 22, 2021.

The record of that deposit was not among the files provided by Malloy, though the same amount was shown withdrawn from the now-defunct bank account in the files.

Malloy pointed out that bank records of the account show that, while it was owned by the Crest Hill Events Committee, it was registered to the home address, email address, and home phone number of Ward 3 Alderwoman Tina Oberlin, who was the chairperson of the committee at the time of the account’s opening and worked at Numark’s Crest Hill branch.

Oberlin’s driver’s license was also associated with the account.

Malloy also produced copies of multiple checks affiliated with the account, including a 2018 check for $5,000 written by Christopher Burke Engineering to the city of Crest Hill, which was deposited in the Events Committee account.

Mayor Raymond Soliman suggested, before even opening his packet, that the topic should be moved to executive session “for personnel reasons,” though City Attorney Michael Stiff said he “had not heard anything that qualified as an executive session exemption.”

Oberlin noted that her private information, including her social security number, had not been properly redacted on one of the bank documents and threatened to take legal action against Malloy.

“I’m very appalled that this was done,” Oberlin said. “She had no right to put this out there. It’s a violation of my privacy, and you can bet your bottom dollar I’ll be pursuing this.”

Malloy said she had not realized there was any un-redacted personal information in the documents beyond Oberlin’s address and phone number. Other information in the packets had been redacted.

Oberlin did not offer an explanation as to why her information was linked to the committee’s account.

Malloy stated that she received the bank records from the Joliet branch of Numark Bank after first attempting to FOIA them from the city.

In the document packets, Malloy included a June 19, 2025, email from Wing in which he told Malloy “I spoke to Tina yesterday afternoon, and she shared that she recently went to Numark and requested records regarding the closed account. Unfortunately, she was told by Numark that after a certain amount of time the records are no longer saved. Numark then checked and advised that they had no records to provide.”

When Malloy stated at the meeting that she had received the records at the bank, Oberlin insisted it could not be true.

“You could not have gotten that from the bank properly because you’re not on that account,” Oberlin said.

Malloy later told Shaw Local that she was unable to access the Crest Hill Event Committee account records at the bank’s Crest Hill branch but was able to obtain them in Joliet because the account had the city’s name on it.

Soliman insisted the conversation be ended and the documents be collected for review and redaction by Stiff.

“It has to be redacted, just like if you FOIA’d something,” said Stiff, who, along with Wing, suggested the reviewed documents could potentially be reintroduced at a later meeting.

Second Ward Alderman Darrell Jefferson suggested that halting the report and not allowing it to fully enter the record was a violation of Robert’s Rules of Order and the Illinois Open Meetings Act, however, this was dismissed by Stiff, who said the record could show simply that documents were distributed and collected.

Only Oberlin retained her copy of the packet.

Questions about funds

When Shaw Local later reached out to Oberlin for comment, her attorney, Joe Giamanco, responded, calling Malloy’s actions “reckless” and stating “the subject account was established at the direction of the mayor and city attorney. The city and city council were well aware of it at the time and wanted it to be separate from city funds and accounts. Following their direction, my client and another person established the account as instructed. All funds were accounted for and spent on village events, and the account closed without issue.”

When asked why the account was not established with the city’s contact information, Giamanco did not reply.

He also did not reply to a question about why he and Oberlin insisted Malloy, who was elected treasurer in 2025, was “not authorized” to view records of a city committee account.

Days after the meeting, Malloy reiterated to Shaw Local that she “had questions” about the account and that she felt more transparency was needed.

Malloy said she began her investigation of the events committee shortly after taking office after multiple residents asked her to look into the Crest Hill picnics, which took place for several years in August under Oberlin.

Several members of the City Council verified to Shaw Local that there have been questions about the finances of the picnics and if they were private or city functions for years.

“For years questions were raised on the City of Crest Hill’s picnic. Questions such as how much the picnic made,” said Ward 1 Alderman Scott Dyke in an email, in which he stated he would be in favor of the forensic audit. “As a council member, many residents were asking. I had no answer to give them because we were never told. When the council members asked the mayor and the events chairman, we were told it was not a City picnic, but all city vendors were used, which was confusing. There was no transparency ever regarding the City of Crest Hill picnics.”

Ward 2 Alderwoman Claudia Gazal, who along with Jefferson has been the Events Committee Co-Chair since 2025, gave a very similar account to Dyke.

“For years I’ve questioned why we don’t see information,” Gazal said. “I asked the mayor about the picnic, and he kept saying it wasn’t a city event, it was a private event, but he talked about it at city council, and the picnic used city vendors and insurance. I was never comfortable with it.”

Gazal’s claims about the insurance were also verified in Malloy’s packet, which included a copy of a city insurance document guaranteeing coverage for a special event at St. Joseph Park and a rental agreement with the city for the park on the corresponding date.

The packet also included a check to the church for the rental of the space, written from the Events Committee’s account. The rental agreement was signed by Soliman.

When reached for comment on those agreements, Soliman said “this issue is under investigation, and I have no comment at this time.”

According to Jefferson, the issue under investigation is Malloy’s actions at the meeting and the unredacted document, not the unusual finances.

“I would 100% be in favor of the audit if it was put to a vote,” Gazal said. “It would help to put closure to this, and if you have nothing to hide, why not do it?”

Getting a vote for a forensic audit could be a challenge, though, as Jefferson said he has requested a similar action three times since 2022, to no avail.

“I’ve always wanted a forensic audit,” Jefferson told Shaw Local. “The last time was in 2023 after construction was completed on the new city hall, because the city never showed us a full construction report of the costs of the project. Usually that comes in from the contractors, but we never saw it because the city acted as its own general contractor.”

Financial transparency “has been a big problem in Crest Hill,” he said.

Jefferson and Gazal said that as the new co-chairs of the Events Committee, they do not have access to funds for events, and there is no separate bank account. Both co-chairs said they receive funding for events, including the Winterfest event and a new Easter Egg hunt this spring, by requesting it through the Finance Department.

“We’re not allowed to touch any money,” Jefferson said.

Both also said they have never seen financial information on the picnics, which stopped happening in 2022, after Oberlin closed the bank account and handed over control of the Events Committee to Alderman Nate Albert.

The role of chairman was also held by Alderman Mark Cipiti before being passed to Jefferson and Gazal. Neither Cipiti nor Albert offered a comment when contacted.

To their knowledge, both Malloy and Jefferson said they were unaware of any other city council member having access to committee bank accounts.

In addition to the questions about the picnic finances and the $5,000 donation, Malloy has raised questions about several other checks written from the account, including two $1,000 checks written on Sept. 14, 2021, from the Events Committee account to both Crystal Lawns School in Joliet and Richland Elementary School, a check for $1,000 to Family Outreach, and one written to a printer for $560 for a new Lidice sign.

“I believe the people of Crest Hill are owed an answer about what this money was used for,” Malloy said.

Oberlin and her attorney have declined to comment.

When asked by Shaw Local when and if the documents would be redacted and allowed to be reintroduced to the City Council, Stiff said he was not able to comment on the matter due to the investigation. He did not elaborate on the subject of the investigation.