Last week our Village Board considered zoning code action items recommended via memo from our appointed Legal Committee. This committee reports to Village President, Robert Abboud, and liaises with Trustee Fritz Gohl, according to published committee assignments and the organizational flow chart below:
This memo, authored by the Village Administrator Bob Kosin, included recommendations that would lead to groundwater conservation, contractor licensing requirement(s) and property maintenance codes – the last of which would presumably apply to vacant properties in the Village.
We can debate whether any of these recommendations are reasonable and necessary, particularly the contractor licensing requirement that will surely produce increased pass-through costs to Village residents who hire contractors to work on their homes and properties. We will explore that issue further on another day. But for now, the real bugaboo here is that the recommendations were not those of the Legal Committee, but those of the committee’s lone Chairman (see “Legal Committee Meeting Notes February 16 2012” memo). The meeting of the Legal Committee on February 16th was attended only by the chair of that body along with Bob Kosin, and some concerned residents in the audience.
There is no reason this meeting should have occurred without a quorum, whether or not a quorum is required by law. Mr. Kosin purports to be fully trained and certified in the Illinois Open Meeting Act (see completion certificate). He knows (or should know) better.
But the real shame here is that, during the subsequent Board of Trustee meeting on February 22, the Board deliberated the proposed recommendations as if they were presented by the full Legal Committee. Of course, Mr. Kosin or his boss Bob Abboud could have ended the charade by disclosing to the full Board that the “committee” was a party of one. But, perhaps not surprisingly, they did not.
At the end of their meeting, when public comment was allowed, a patient resident informed the Board of what had transpired at the Legal Committee meeting. After that, a revised memo by Bob Kosin was published for public view on the Village FOIA site.
The major lesson coming out of this gaffe: Resident vigilance is necessary at all future meetings to ensure honesty and transparency in Village government, particularly when new ordinances and regulations are being proposed and discussed. We simply cannot trust the current administration to act in the best interests of the community.
We owe a big thank you to the residents who attended the Legal “Committee” and Board of Trustee meetings last month. Even more, though, we owe it to ourselves to begin planning for a change in our Village Administration.
– The Observer
Well said Observer …..reminds me of a quote of which I cannot remember the author.
Apathy is the glove into which evil slips its hand
I now live in a town that can be compared to Cicero.
If we only had a speak-easy!
For a village of 4000 residents, we sure have a lot of bureaucracy! Seems like we could do with a much smaller group of officials and a much closer relationship to the residents interests.
Thank you for the update, Observer. Very interesting that in most, if not all Villages, the hierarchies displayed on their organizational charts place the residents above all. Odd that the Barrington Hills Village President places himself above all? No wonder he behaves not as a servant of the people but as a petty little lord over his grand fiefdom of 1500 households.
Great reporting and a shout out of “Thanks” to the patient resident. The agenda for the “Legal” committee was posted on this blog and our resident sat through an illegal “Legal” meeting. It comes as no surprise that the Public Comment portion of the February BOT meeting was moved to the end. Her patience paid off but I really doubt that some members of the board got the “illegal” part of the proceedings because they just do whatever Mr. Abboud tells them to do.
Can someone tell me: How many other “committees” have made recommendations to the Board, without a quorum present? how many of these “committees” are acturlly defunct? e.g. Development Committee; S Knoop Chairman (said he spent 1000 hours meeting with the big players); result – 0 people agreed to “the plan”; hardly unexpected. Is the Equestrian Committee anything but lobbyists to the Board? or are they just horsing around ? (bad joke for this early in the morning) and before my caffeine wears off, does the Communications Committee do anything but nod “yes” to Abboud’s version of the Village Newsletter, which is actually an ongoing campaign piece? What is the Technology Committee, another vehicle for Abboud to expound on servers, hosts, and on and on? Finally, what does the Electrical Committee do? Not much, I guess. No electrical outlets in the Board Room. Beautification Committee floods our emails with directives from P Denise; latest email roadisde pickup reminder shows BACOG Janet Agnoletti as a recipient, Is this P. Denise’s (Abboud neighbor) way to prop up the BACOG image? the Village organizational flow chart looked more like the seattng of the British Parliament; A bit overdone for a Village of 4000.
Why are there no comments on any of the articles I’ve seen supporting the powers that be? These politicians had to have won my a majority of votes right? Just sayin’…
Could it be that they feel as disappointed and betrayed as the rest of us?
Occam’s Razor
Why are there no comments on any of the articles I’ve seen supporting the powers that be? These politicians had to have won my a majority of votes right? Just sayin’…
Thank you Bob for your input!