Dolton mayor questions operators of struggling senior center
Taxpayers in cash-strapped suburb have paid $7 million to subsidize rehab project, operations since 2007
Federal investigators are looking into a $10 million renovation of the Dorchester Senior Center in Dolton, records show. Some local administrators question how the money was spent. (Zbigniew Bzdak, Chicago Tribune)
Battles for control of a struggling, village-owned senior center have roiled politics in south suburban Dolton for years, and that tradition appears to be continuing under newly elected Mayor Riley Rogers.
Since Monday, when the Tribune published an investigation that found taxpayers in the cash-strapped suburb have paid $7 million to subsidize a renovation project and operations at the struggling Dorchester Senior Center since 2007, Rogers has made at least three visits to the 126-room converted hotel.
The longest was a 90-minute question-and-answer session Friday at a hastily called special board "fact-finding" meeting where it was clear the mayor was looking to oust LL Care, a firm co-owned by Angelique Lewis, daughter of Ronnie Lewis, the man Rogers replaced as mayor.
In a series of testy exchanges during the meeting, Lewis and co-owner Tom Lekavich rebutted claims that the Dorchester has been mismanaged since they took over 2010. They said shortfalls in their budgets would have been largely erased if payments from state government had been received.
Lekavich pointed out many instances where the Dorchester's expenses were driven up by allegedly botched work completed several years ago during a $10 million renovation — a project overseen by the son of then-Mayor William Shaw.
After the meeting, Angelique Lewis' attorney, Mark Daniel, said LL Care has nearly a year left on its deal with the village, adding that the company has done nothing to breach its contract. Daniels criticized the mayor for a series of statements released by the village saying the Dorchester was mismanaged and rife with patronage.
Angelique Lewis "is not (just) the former mayor's daughter," Daniel said. "She is a person that has a profession and a state license."
The Tribune investigation found that a $10 million renovation completed in 2009 left out key improvements to the facility and has drawn scrutiny from federal investigators, but that project was led by Victor Shaw, who was ousted as administrator of the Dorchester after his father, Mayor William Shaw, died and Ronnie Lewis took over as mayor.
Village records show a consulting company linked to Victor Shaw received payments totaling $1.4 million from the village for the renovation project. Victor Shaw also received another $200,000 in salary in little over a year after a management company with political ties to his father hired him to run day-to-day operations at the Dorchester, village records show.
The number of residents at the Dorchester plummeted during the renovation work and has never rebounded despite improvements that allowed the facility to tap into state and federal programs for housing low-income seniors.
Rogers has claimed LL Care has not provided budgets and management plans to the village.
Rogers has pledged that any new contractor that would take over the Dorchester would have no ties to his family or his administration.
agrimm@tribune.com
Since Monday, when the Tribune published an investigation that found taxpayers in the cash-strapped suburb have paid $7 million to subsidize a renovation project and operations at the struggling Dorchester Senior Center since 2007, Rogers has made at least three visits to the 126-room converted hotel.
The longest was a 90-minute question-and-answer session Friday at a hastily called special board "fact-finding" meeting where it was clear the mayor was looking to oust LL Care, a firm co-owned by Angelique Lewis, daughter of Ronnie Lewis, the man Rogers replaced as mayor.
Lekavich pointed out many instances where the Dorchester's expenses were driven up by allegedly botched work completed several years ago during a $10 million renovation — a project overseen by the son of then-Mayor William Shaw.
After the meeting, Angelique Lewis' attorney, Mark Daniel, said LL Care has nearly a year left on its deal with the village, adding that the company has done nothing to breach its contract. Daniels criticized the mayor for a series of statements released by the village saying the Dorchester was mismanaged and rife with patronage.
Angelique Lewis "is not (just) the former mayor's daughter," Daniel said. "She is a person that has a profession and a state license."
The Tribune investigation found that a $10 million renovation completed in 2009 left out key improvements to the facility and has drawn scrutiny from federal investigators, but that project was led by Victor Shaw, who was ousted as administrator of the Dorchester after his father, Mayor William Shaw, died and Ronnie Lewis took over as mayor.
Village records show a consulting company linked to Victor Shaw received payments totaling $1.4 million from the village for the renovation project. Victor Shaw also received another $200,000 in salary in little over a year after a management company with political ties to his father hired him to run day-to-day operations at the Dorchester, village records show.
The number of residents at the Dorchester plummeted during the renovation work and has never rebounded despite improvements that allowed the facility to tap into state and federal programs for housing low-income seniors.
Rogers has claimed LL Care has not provided budgets and management plans to the village.
Rogers has pledged that any new contractor that would take over the Dorchester would have no ties to his family or his administration.
agrimm@tribune.com
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