Despite concerns from some area residents that he no longer lives in the area, Lakewood Village President Paul Serwatka said he hasn’t moved away.
Serwatka, elected in
May 2017, said he still resides at his Turnberry home in the
9800 block of Palmer Drive, and that his critics are spreading misinformation.
“I’ve always been completely forthright about everything,” Serwatka said Wednesday, adding that he’s on vacation. “Nobody has any reason to think that if anything changed I wouldn’t communicate it to people.”
Neighbors reported seeing moving trucks outside his home that were filled with furniture during the Memorial Day weekend.
Serwatka declined to state where his belongings were headed and why he was moving them.
“I own my home. My home is not for sale. We are probably going to be moving, and we moved some furniture out, but we have not moved,” Serwatka said.
A knock on his door went unanswered Tuesday.
Serwatka likened himself to President Donald Trump.
“I feel like Donald Trump in a way here. It’s uncanny the way it is,” he said. “We have two trustees on the board that just want to try [to] fight and fight and fight.”
Trustee Phil Stephen said he believes Serwatka.
“If he was moving, he’d make it public,” Stephen said, adding that he hopes he stays. “He’s been great for the community.”
Some residents aren’t convinced.
“I’m curious,” former Trustee Ken Santowski said. “The 3,000 people in Lakewood deserve to know what’s going on.”
Records from the McHenry County Recorder’s Office show that Serwatka bought his home in 2011 and pays the real estate taxes.
Although a co-owner is listed on the papers and the house is in that owner’s name, Serwatka said in an email last year that he uses the home as collateral for other acquisitions and renovations in his real estate portfolio.
