A lawsuit has been filed against Calumet City Clerk Nyota Figgs seeking Declaratory Judgment and Injunction, and for a Restraining Order.
Per the lawsuit, the Calumet City has been conducting a forensic audit to account for city finances. During the course of the audit, the Auditor instructed the Clerk and others to refrain from destroying any public records. Despite the order, the Clerk ordered a document destruction company to destroy public records, including financial records, of the city without the required approval from the Mayor and the Local Records Commission.
The records destroyed by the clerk included a whopping thirteen 96-gallon containers of documents. The Complaint also alleges that Clerk Figgs admitted to the destruction of records while the audit was in progress.
Destroying records at the inception of an audit is disobeying a required order and the most logical motive for doing so would be to inhibit the ability of the auditor to find wrong doing. The actions of the Clerk are also a clear violation of The Illinois Local Records Act.
From the Complaint:
- The City has filed this lawsuit seeking a declaration that the City Clerk has no authority to destroy City records without approval of the City, to enjoin her from the further destruction of City records
- To the extent that Defendant Figgs has destroyed public record, such acts are beyond the scope of her official duties and she is, therefore, also sued in her individual capacity
- To identify potential areas of concern and to gain knowledge about the City’s finances and financial practices with an eye towards improving them, the City embarked upon a forensic audit
- The City hired an outside auditor, Alyssia Benford, to review the City’s financial records
- Ms. Benford directed City staff and officials, including Defendant Figgs, to retain and preserve the City’s public records and not to destroy any documents, especially documents from the previous administration that could contain evidence of wrongdoing or criminal activity
- In June 2021, Defendant Figgs was given explicit direction by the auditor to refrain from destroying any city records while the audit was pending
- Notwithstanding this explicit direction, and further notwithstanding that the Defendant does not have the discretion to determine that the City’s records should be destroyed, Defendant Figgs surreptitiously and without approval from the Mayor or City Council disposed of and destroyed City approximately two truckloads of the City’s records without any legal authority to do so whatsoever. Upon information and belief, this action was undertaken to destroy evidence of wrongdoing by the previous administration
Full complaint can be downloaded here FILED-Comp-for-Dec-Judgment-and-Injunctive-Relief-102921-4862-4746-2401