City pact violates ethics law

From The Chicago Tribune:

City pact violates ethics law
Brother of Solis 1 of 2 workers who own security firm

By Gary Washburn and Laurie Cohen
Tribune staff reporters
Published June 13, 2002

The city has canceled a $2.9 million contract with a security firm partly owned by the brother of Ald. Danny Solis (25th) after discovering that both of the company's owners, including Santiago Solis, are city employees, officials announced Wednesday.

The city's ethics ordinance outlaws contracting with any firm in which a city employee has a financial interest.

Termination of the lucrative pact came after inquiries about Monterrey Security Consultants by the Tribune and Exito!, a sister Spanish-language newspaper.

Monterrey is owned jointly by Santiago Solis, a Chicago firefighter, and Juan Gaytan, a police officer on a leave of absence.

Danny Solis, a staunch ally of Mayor Richard Daley's who was named president pro tempore of the City Council last year with Daley's support, said he knew of the Monterrey contract but was unaware of the ethics ordinance provision that prohibited its award.

"I had told [Santiago] in the past not to look to the city for contracts because, if it wasn't illegal, it might look bad seeing I am an alderman," Danny Solis said Wednesday. After cancellation by the city's Procurement Services Department, "my brother called me and apologized to me for any embarrassment he may have caused me."

Last July, Monterrey was fined $22,000 by the Illinois Department of Professional Regulation and put on two years' probation for operating without a license. Beginning in March 2000, the company employed 38 workers who were not properly registered and one "in an armed position without a firearm authorization card," according to a consent order issued by the department.

Monterrey was the low bidder for the city contract, providing unarmed security guards for $11.49 an hour per worker, said Jessica Maxey-Faulkner, Procurement Services Department spokeswoman.

The contract, which was to have run until Nov. 30, 2003, was awarded last December, but services did not begin until April. The firm was paid $76,000 before the cancellation.

No billing irregularities have been found, Maxey-Faulkner said.

Monterrey was to provide security at several locations, including a city health facility at 44th Street and Evans Avenue, a Fire Department building at 95th Street and the lakefront and salt storage facilities at Cermak Road and Federal Street and at Ferdinand Street and Tripp Avenue.

The company also guarded a bus that serves as a mobile command center for the city's Department of Streets and Sanitation. Maxey-Faulkner could not say whether the service was provided while the vehicle was stored overnight or while it was in use.

Coincidentally, the bus was prominently displayed on Wednesday at a South Side park where Daley announced it is being used this summer in neighborhoods where residents are being invited to request tree-trimming, pothole repair and other city services.

City officials refused to identify Santiago Solis and Gaytan by name because of collective bargaining agreements, but their names were listed on contract documents.

As city employees, both men face possible discipline ranging from reprimand to termination pending study by their departments, officials said.

"Anybody who breaks rules has to pay the consequence," Danny Solis said. "Therefore, I am supporting the city's decision on it."

The city's investigation into Monterrey was spurred by two things, said Jennifer Hoyle, a Law Department spokeswoman.

"There were media inquiries about this company," she said. "Aside from that, the Board of Ethics received information that there was a possible violation of the ethics ordinance in relation to a security company that was doing business with the city that was owned by city employees. . . . After looking at it, we put two and two together."

The Tribune reported in April that Monterrey, under a non-city contract, provides security for the construction site at Soldier Field.