The owners of an apartment complex are suing village officials for allegedly conspiring to make false and malicious claims against them and the complex.
Michael Slinkman, president of SKS & Associates, and Mark Slinkman, property manager at SKS’ Colonial Court Apartments, filed the federal lawsuit Wednesday against the village and four of its officials – village manager Larry Deetjen, trustees Robert Streit and Alex Olejniczak and Jean Galzin, the village’s code enforcement officer.
The suit follows a nasty public dispute last fall between village officials and the Slinkmans, who accused the village of targeting their three apartment buildings in the 9300 block of Harlem Avenue for code violations because the buildings have many minority tenants.
The village conducted three inspections at the complex in August, finding several building code violations, according to the suit. It says Michael Slinkman met with Deetjen on Sept. 15, telling him the inspections were conducted improperly and claiming they were racially motivated.
When Slinkman attended a village board meeting a week later to complain about the flawed inspections, Streit and Olejniczak made several false statements – including that the Slinkmans are absentee landlords, that police answer many calls at the complex and that 17 registered sex offenders reside there, according to the suit.
Distributed via Chicago Press Release Services