The Reader is publishing this story in partnership with the Better Government Association.
The former Lyons mayor assembled a team of candidates to retake the village government. In 2009, his son Chris, then just 26 years old, became mayor and has held the reins of power ever since. Over his two-plus terms, Chris Getty has built up a political army with campaign funds currently holding more than $400,000, restored the family fiefdom and transformed the financially ailing government under his control into a stronghold of nepotism and cozy deals, a Better Government Association and Fox 32 investigation found.
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“They’re trying to get as much out of this job as they possibly can,” complained Patti Krueger, a former village trustee who lost to Getty by 96 votes in the 2009 mayor’s election. “It’s using the village of Lyons as their own personal ATM.”
Over the past five years, Skyway and the sister company, M & F Masonry, have built four additional homes on vacant land purchased from Lyons, with one recently selling for $427,000. As with Getty’s home, the developers were the only bidders for those properties and the village sold some of them at a loss to taxpayers.
