Will County Gazette

Concerned Joliet resident said the recent incident in which Joliet Township Supervisor Angel Contreras allegedly went solo to capture a grant from the state of Illinois that would pay for harboring illegal immigrants in the community is a step too far.

“This rises to the level of the questions behind this rise to the level of questioning whether or not fraud is involved,” Tina McGrath told Will County Gazette.

“And I believe at the council meeting, Mayor D’Arcy is the one who said this smacks of fraud. I’m paraphrasing, but the word was brought up and I think we’ve seen enough. Between his three DUIs and everything else somebody needs to step up and ask the gentleman to step aside and let somebody else run the township.”

McGrath said it is indecent that illegal immigrants would get government assistance before taxpayers and needy Americans.

“Our own tax dollars, they’re going to be spent on foreign nationals who’ve never spent a or paid a cent of taxes in this country,” she said. “And we just found out the Will County Health Board, the new 708 board, is going to ask for $10 million to fund this ‘volunteer board.’ I mean, at some point I’d like to see somebody actually look out for the folks paying the bills.”

“He’s asking for $8.6 million or he was approved for $8.6 million. That is a pittance. We all know that the real dollars are the real number associated with housing. We have no idea how many people. Nothing. But that’s how long. It’s $8.6 million going to last, not very long...there were also rumors that there was a piece of property being talked about to house these migrants and that that that property was a building that the Veterans Council was looking at the house homeless veteran and if you want to see outrage let that happen there will be you know we will be at every council meeting, we will be at every township meeting. Enough is enough. I think the American people and the Joliet taxpayer, we’ve had enough. We want a rest. We want to see that our needs are being met or at least being addressed, and that’s just not happening.”

The mayor of Joliet and council members are distancing themselves from the grant application.

“They’re making it sound like Angel Contreras solely wrote this grant, submitted this grant for $12 million is what he asked for initially and that, you know, absolutely nobody within the city of Joliet government was aware,” she said.

“It’s just very hard to believe. In this country, we’re at an all-time low in trust for our government and these are the reasons why we don’t feel like anybody pays attention to the American taxpayer and the American citizen, enough is enough. We’ve got to start asking way more of our elected officials and expecting them to at least respect the people that pay the bills. We don’t have that. It is they’re they’re blatantly spending our money with complete disregard for the people who have to write these checks. It’s just – it’s enough. We’re done. We have to we have to start really holding them accountable. I think this is a good time to start. This is a good time to start. We’re a year out from the elections and we could send a powerful message.”

The fact Kristina McNichol, now a Housing Finance Specialist for the City of Joliet, was involved makes McGrath wonder even more about the process.

McNichol was the head of the Veterans Assistance Commission of Will County when it was investigated for $495,000 in Covid relief funds was found to be directed to political insiders.

“Kristy was involved with the Veterans Affairs Commission. She issued a no-bid contract to a friend of hers to handle some marketing that nobody can figure out where that half million dollars. When Kristy left, the Veterans Commission was hired by the city of Joliet. And here she is involved again in a dubious financial situation,” McGrath said.

The Veterans Assistance Commission of Will County is in hot water after an investigation into a $495,000 contract awarded to Hey G Consulting, owned by Geriann Wiesbrook. The report, spanning 21 pages, reveals that the services provided by Hey G did not align with the agreed Memo of Understanding (MOU). The investigation highlights a lack of oversight from the Executive Committee, particularly McNichol, who failed to ensure funds were spent appropriately. The report urges the VACWC to recover unspent funds, exercise greater supervision over its superintendent, and emphasizes that committee members involved should not hold future public positions handling taxpayer money, according to Edgar County Watchdogs.

Contreras said he would respond to constituent queries at the Joliet City Council meeting to be held Oct. 10 at 5 p.m.

Contreras released a letter noting the grant application.

“Joliet Township applied for a grant administered by the Metropolitan Mayor’s Caucus, The intent was to reduce the (economic constraints) experienced by health and social service providers in the region due to the influx of asylum seekers that have arrived over the last year,” he said in the letter.

“We know that the Spanish Community Center alone has already provided casework for more than 2,200 people seeking services since last August.”

“The Township, in partnership, submitted a 40-page, detailed grant, and implementation plan for $12.1 million and we were awarded a total of $8.6 million. We are in the process of providing grant revision to meet the awarded amount.”

“The Township Government office is in the process of communicating with regional social and health service providers who need fiscal support to serve the current number of individuals and families needing assistance.”

Joliet City Councilman Joe Clement spoke out against the drive to house possibly thousands of illegal immigrants in Joliet.

“I follow what’s going on all over the country and I knew it was a matter of time before we would have to address this,” Clement, the at-large Council representative, told Joliet Patch.

“But I was completely taken off guard that the Joliet area was participating. This is the first I’m hearing about it.”