The Village has released edited audio recordings from the May 28 Village Board meeting. To access the menu of the meeting’s topical audio recording segments, click here.
The full public portion of the meeting lasted a somewhat grueling 3 hours and 56 minutes, so we’ll try to cut to the chase of the significant points of the meeting.
Twenty-five residents and non-residents spoke before the board during the public comment session, most voicing concern about the status of all horse boarding in the Village.
Prior to public comment, however, assurances were given by Village officials allaying the false rumors that had brought so many to the meeting. A direct link to that recording can be found here.
Trustee Messer, during his Building and Zoning report, referenced a 2011 court decision finding flaws in our Village Code pertaining to horse boarding. We must remind readers Trustee Messer has liaised with our Zoning Board since before that time, so it reinforces our concern as to why horse boarding codes have not been addressed until recently. Click here for his report.
Likely the most significant recording segment is the administration report and discussion. There was a fascinating discussion on new protocols for nominating residents to appointed bodies. A copy of the unnecessary proposed hurdles for volunteers can be downloaded here.
This proposal and ensuing dialog once again demonstrates extreme hypocrisy, as well as a complete lack of respect towards the President by the majority of the board. Those exchanges can be heard here.
The other major topic for public comment which drew residents to the podium was the consideration of adding bicycle lanes to Haegers Bend Road in return for upwards of 1.5 million dollars in grant money for essentially rebuilding the roadway. Village Hall staff discovered the grant opportunity and conveyed it to Roads and Bridges Trustee Patty Meroni who brought it before the Village Board many months ago.
Things got a little awkward, to say the least, when a relative of Trustee Meroni made the last public comment of the evening against adding bike lanes to Haegers Bend and referencing the lack of documentation of a petition against them in minutes to be approved. Her pointed remarks can be heard here.
Dear Observer,
This comment is related to the problem of “vetting” candidates for “volunteer” positions on community commissions and boards that serve at the discretion of the President and the Board of Trustees.
First, I bristle that Mr. Harrington would mention that a Caucus be formed “like they have in Lake Forest” to find suitable candidates for appointment. I moved here because Barrington is not Lake Forest so why would emulating the North Shore be in our best interests. Our problem is not a lack of qualified candidates but rather who is appointing them. We are a smaller populated community than LF so perhaps Mr. Harrington should spend more time at the Jewel. He is right that a caucus can solve an impasse but we would have to form a committee to pick the members of the Caucus. That too would be a contentious mess is my guess.
The problem we have is not qualified people who want to serve but a particular club membership that is a prerequisite for consideration. Sadly, at one time in our short but lively history, this club may have been the BHCC. The pendulum for membership has swung in a different direction. Now, if you are not a member of the riding club, you are nameless and faceless.
We have a serious problem here folks. Spending 3 1/2 hours arguing about petty, nonsense such as making our little town more complicated is ridiculous.
Too many lawyers and silly laws make law suits the norm instead of being good neighbors in Barrington Hills. We need some humble pie served up in this community.
Harrington and Messer are nothing but obstructionist squatters in the way of our village president trying to heal our community after eight long years of autocratic rule. All the Save 5 Acres trustees are upset that “Short Round” lost the election and it should be clear to everyone they’re still taking his direction in filibustering any progress to balance appointed boards, particularly the ZBA where we have five (5) out of seven members belonging to the Riding Club. That ratio needs to be completely reversed if the ZBA is to truly reflect the wishes of all the residents of our community.
Comment on dedicated bike lanes:
In addition to the stated reasons for moving forward with bike lanes such as the revenue to help with road project, there is another reason the Village is considering this. It’s part of a thought process creeping into our village which is less focused on maintaining the integrity of Barrington Hills and more focused on following the trends set nationally and by other communities. I suggest those in the Village government with this PC, trend-following mindset relocate to South Barrington or Hoffman Estates. For, the current choices being made will result in a community that looks more like a mash-up of those 2 suburbs. Barrington Hills is a unique rural community and we should keep it that way.