Thanas Questioned Over Failure to Disclose Report, Sources Say

Joliet City Manager Tom Thanas faced city council criticism this week for not disclosing information about drug-related illnesses tied to the promoter of the Electric Daisy Carnival before the council vote to hold the music festival here, sources said.

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The closed-session confrontation reportedly incensed Thanas, who allegedly threatened once again to resign his position, sources said.

The information in question was a 2010 report issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which warned of the potential risks posed by electronic music festivals. It cited an event produced by Los Angeles-based Insomniac at which 18 people had to be transported to the hospital and one died after taking MDMA, more commonly known as ecstasy.

Insomniac is the producer of the three-day Electric Daisy Carnival, which is being held this weekend at Joliet's Chicagoland Speedway. The council approved permits for the event two weeks ago.

Council members reportedly knew nothing of the CDC report prior to approving the festival. It came to light only after a Chicago Tribune reporter began making calls for a story about potential problems.

However, Thanas told council members after the fact that he was aware of the report, sources said. He said the same thing in the Tribune story, which was published Wednesday.

Thanas did not return a Joliet Patch call.

Council members questioned Wednesday did not want to discuss the content of the closed-session meeting, which also covered other topics not related to the Insomniac event.

At-large Councilwoman Jan Quillman declined to discuss the situation other than to say she did not know Thanas was aware of the CDC report at the time she was interviewed for the story.

District 1 Councilman Larry Hug also would not discuss the specifics of the meeting but said he had spoken to Thanas about it on his own.

The issue is not so much the report itself as the fact that the council was not given all of the information available prior to voting on the festival permits, Hug said.

In fact, even if council members had been aware of the report, it's likely they would approved it regardless since the potential for such incidents exist whenever you hold an event that attracts thousands of people, he said.

"I can't speak for other people, but I'm disappointed (that Thanas failed to disclose everything he knew about Insomniac)," Hug said. "You can never give me too much information before I vote on something."

Hug said he wants to give Thanas the benefit of the doubt because the city administration was allowed to "operate with a lower lever of oversight" for many years and now the "dynamic is changing."

It began with his election and that of Bob O'Dekirk two years ago -- both replacing long-serving council members -- and now newly elected Jim McFarland has been added to the mix, he said.

Thanas is a "confident" leader who's not used to being questioned or challenged, and it makes him defensive, he said.

Hug acknowledged it's possible that Thanas deliberately kept the CDC report from the council because he wanted the festival approved, but he has no proof of that, nor does he want to believe it.

"I'd like to think it's an oversight," he said.

As for Thanas' future, he was on the job Wednesday and despite the threat, no letter of resignation was tendered.

In March, after another tense face-off with council members over what he did and not disclose during the city's purchase of a building at 10 S. Chicago St. for the under-construction transportation hub, he did .