In a lawsuit brought by Calumet City alleging she illegally destroyed records, city clerk Nyota Figgs testified Tuesday that she was given proper authorization.
Though Figgs’ supporters claim the records lawsuit represents a targeted political attack from Mayor Thaddeus Jones, its trial has continued, with closing arguments scheduled for June 18.
Judge Joel Chupack heard attorneys’ questioning of Figgs in a Richard J. Daley Center courtroom in Chicago Tuesday afternoon.
While the lawsuit argued that Figgs destroyed two truck loads of documents “surreptitiously and without approval” shortly after Jones first became mayor in 2021, Figgs explained that she had previously received permission to shred the documents from the Illinois local records commission.
She also said she received mixed messages from those working within Jones’ administration over the course of several months.
Figgs testified that she disengaged from the record destruction process in June 2021, after a city attorney requested via email that she “hold off.” But a few months later, she resumed after a city employee and close friend of the mayor’s directed her to destroy the records to clear out a city owned building.
Figgs said she was not directed by the mayor or others within his administration to keep the records. Her attorney, James P. Kelly, presented email correspondence between Figgs and members of Jones’ administration related to the records disposal.
Some of Figgs’ testimony focused on the deterioration in her relationship with an auditor hired by Jones to review the city’s finances, Alyssia Benford. Figgs said Benford threatened her multiple times upon being hired and refused to remove a camera she placed in Figgs’ office that made the clerk uncomfortable.
The lawsuit claims Benford explicitly told Figgs not to destroy any records while the audit was pending, which Figgs denied upon questioning.
“I did not destroy any records that had to do with the forensic audit,” Figgs said. “They were old records.”
Calumet City attorneys Daiana Man and Robert Homan provided an email sent to from Benford to Figgs confirming that Figgs was not to destroy records that Figgs denied having seen due to interferences with her email. Several elected officials have claimed to have their emails deleted or access to their accounts disabled by Jones.
Meanwhile, Figgs’ own lawsuit brought against the city and Jones remains ongoing. Judge Sophia H. Hall on Friday dismissed five of the seven counts brought, such as sex discrimination, violation of free speech and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
Hall chose not to dismiss Figgs’ claims that Jones made it impossible for the clerk to perform her duties after requiring her staff report to him and hiring employees to interfere with those duties. The next hearing is scheduled for July 23.
In response to the dismissals, Jones said in a statement that the clerk “has wasted taxpayer dollars on frivolous claims that were baseless and without merit.”
“It speaks volumes to her inability to perform her duties. Clerk Figgs continues to offer no professional accountability for the misfunctions of her office,” Jones added.
Jones and Figgs both won reelection this year, with the overall race characterized by political divisions.
Jones beat out former Ald. James Patton for mayor after Patton led a charge to dismiss the records case he brought against Figgs without council approval.
In December, Patton called a special meeting on the steps of City Hall to dismiss the lawsuit after repeated failures to place the motion on regular city meeting agendas. However, the alderman and mayoral candidate failed to garner the votes required to override Jones’ veto of the decision.
ostevens@chicagotribune.com