Joliet City Council members renewed calls Tuesday for the Joliet Area Historical Museum to lift property bans against seven former employees and volunteers. Four of the seven attended the meeting to ask city officials to help resolve a dispute that has persisted for years.
The bans followed the museum’s 2023 dismissal of 13 employees and volunteers, according to Shaw Local. Among those seeking to return are Christine Johnson, a former employee, and Michael Johnson, a longtime volunteer. He and Ron Trujillo worked as guards at the Old Joliet Prison and led tours there before their dismissals. The museum manages the prison property, which Joliet leases from the state.
Christine Johnson asked the council to intervene, saying the city had not acted on complaints about what she described as broad and arbitrary bans. She and Michael Johnson were removed from an exhibition Joliet Slammers baseball game at the Old Joliet Prison on April 30. According to Christine Johnson, museum CEO Greg Peerbolte asked Joliet police to help remove them.
A Dismissal Letter Tied to Online Threats
In Michael Johnson’s dismissal letter, Peerbolte cited the former volunteer’s alleged association with a webpage and social media group that the letter said had targeted museum employees and their families. Christine and Michael Johnson deny involvement in threats posted online. Other dismissed workers and volunteers have also said they were wrongly linked to a website that disparaged Peerbolte and his wife.
Christine Johnson told the council that the city attorney’s office had been involved in the 2023 dismissals. She said correspondence she obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request showed Peerbolte consulted the office while preparing Michael Johnson’s dismissal letter. Peerbolte has declined to discuss the dismissals, calling them personnel matters.
Council Members Signal Growing Frustration
Council members again urged a resolution, while the question of what authority the city has over the museum’s decisions remained central. Larry Hug asked City Manager Beth Beatty to use whatever leverage the city has to seek an end to the bans. Suzanna Ibarra said she wanted the dispute resolved and noted the banned individuals’ attachment to the old prison. Jan Quillman supported Christine and Michael Johnson and proposed a meeting between city management and the museum board.
Terry D’Arcy told Christine Johnson that officials had heard her concerns and encouraged her to keep pressing for a resolution. Johnson said afterward that Beatty and the mayor had each told her they would work on the matter. Michael Johnson said the council’s comments made him more confident the bans would eventually be lifted. The two Johnsons also met with Beatty privately before the meeting.
A Years-Long Impasse Over City Funding
The dispute has not produced a resolution despite earlier appeals. In July 2025, the ban on two retired prison guards had entered its third year, and the city said it would try to find a solution. City officials, including Beatty, have maintained that personnel and volunteer decisions belong to the museum board. Beatty previously said the board acted on legal recommendations and that the city does not make its staffing choices.
The dispute has also coincided with scrutiny of the city’s $250,000 in annual funding for the museum. Former volunteers raised concerns about museum management as the council narrowly delayed a funding decision, according to Audacy. The city has described grant funding as supporting preservation of Joliet history, including tours of the Old Joliet Prison and Union Depot Rail Tower.
What the lease and grant records clarify
Joliet has leased the former prison from the state since 2017, and the museum manages tours and events there, according to Shaw Local. That operating arrangement does not establish that the city can overturn the museum’s access ban. In July 2024, when two former prison guards asked the council for help, some officials expressed support but said they could not order museum staff to lift the bans, Shaw Local reported. A proposed 2024 city grant agreement divided the $250,000 among museum events and educational programs ($25,000), Old Joliet Prison operations ($125,000), and the museum campus and Union Depot Tower Rail Museum ($100,000), according to Joliet Patch. The breakdown identifies the proposed uses of the grant but does not settle who controls access to the prison site.
Tuesday’s calls for action put the focus back on a practical question: whether Joliet can influence a museum decision it says it does not control. The seven people barred from the property are still waiting to learn whether renewed public pressure will lead to a change.
