East St. Louis official has different story than what’s told in housing authority lawsuit

A day after he learned he was named in a lawsuit filed by a former housing authority commissioner and her police officer husband, the East St. Louis Democratic chairman relayed a much different version of events than what were alleged against him.

Michael Collins said Shonte Mueller did not tell the truth when she alleged in her recently filed lawsuit that she came to him with concerns that a former interim executive director of the East St. Louis Housing Authority was not following HUD guidelines and could jeopardize federal government money.

“She told me no such thing. Shonte is a big liar,” he said.

Nick Mueller and Shonte Mueller filed a civil rights and defamation lawsuit in the U.S. Court for the Southern District of Illinois claiming they were wrongfully removed from their positions by City Manager Robert Betts.

Shonte Miller served on the East St. Louis Housing Authority Board of Commissioners and her husband, Nicholas Mueller, was the assistant chief of police. Their four-count lawsuit claims they were fired in retaliation for reporting problems with the housing authority and its interim executive director.

Shonte Mueller said she received documented information from an employee in 2023 showing shoddy work being done at the housing authority. In some cases, she said, the work did not get done at all.

And in October, she reported to city officials that the interim director was not following federal, regulations and procedures, according to the lawsuit. But upper-level leaders in the East St. Louis city government told her “to leave it alone,” the lawsuit said.

Mueller’s concerns were also reported to HUD Director William Dawson and the housing board attorney, who recommended the interim director be suspended, pending the outcome of an investigation.

The lawsuit said Betts, the city manager, told Shonte that if she did not resign, she and her husband, a 30-year veteran of the department, would suffer consequences.

Collins was identified in the lawsuit as Betts’ “agent.” The suit alleges he called Mueller to confirm that she had contacted the HUD director and asked if she intended to resign from the housing authority board. Mueller replied that she did, in fact, contact HUD, but that she would not resign.

According to the lawsuit, Collins got angry and yelled, “You want to go to war? I’ll tell the mayor Nick’s ready to go,” the lawsuit alleged.

Mueller was later removed from the Housing Authority Board of Commissioners and Nicholas Mueller, her husband and assistant chief of police, was subsequently fired.

Collins denied having that conversation with Mueller.

“I don’t have a role at the city. I don’t have any involvement in personnel actions,” Collins said.

Shonte and Nicholas Miller did not respond to requests for comment.