Naperville Mayor Steve Chirico has some explaining to do after recently recusing himself on a downtown development that includes the old Nichols Library.
With just a week remaining before voters go to the polls on April 2 to decide if Chirico is deserving of a second term, Naperville City Council members are calling on Chirico to provide more clarity about the project as rumblings about a potential conflict of interest continue to reverberate. While Chirico has maintained that his Great Western Flooring company will have no role in developing the Central Park Place condominiums, council member Becky Anderson argues in a new video that he has “changed his story” on the issue on more than one occasion.
"I think what we have right now is not as full or descriptive as it should be," Anderson said in the video. "It doesn't have much descriptive language to put forth what is a conflict of interest and what are the code of ethics that all of us who are elected . . . should have."
Naperville Mayor Steve Chirico
Chirico moved to recuse himself after unequivocally denying that his flooring business would financially benefit from the project and branding assertions to the contrary "a political stunt." While a lawyer for Great Central Properties III, developers of the site, backed Chirico’s assertions, the attorney added that a potential customer did consult with Great Western on a price quote.