A Daily Herald article published on July 30, 2012 predicted that horse boarding was likely to be an election issue in Barrington Hills—yet again (see Horse boarding likely to be an election issue in Barrington Hills). In that article, Barrington Hills Village President Robert Abboud was quoted as follows:
“Given the kind of body politic that we have, I don’t see that these kind of things are going to end. It was lighting before; it’ll be something else. I hope these experiences give our community some pause to look at these things with a critical eye.”
On this, Abboud is right. These experiences should give our community pause to examine the recent years, and controversies, with a critical eye. And when they do, they should see that these controversies have one thing in common—they’re always churned by Bob Abboud and his administration at the expense of residents.
There have been many views, ideas and arguments expressed by all sides in the commercial horse boarding dispute. Unfortunately, tempers and egos over this contentious issue were on display again at the last Village Board meeting on July 23. But no matter where you stand on commercial horse boarding, we should all be able to agree that our Village leaders should have done something to resolve the issue now. One way or the other, our Village administration should have put this issue to rest, rather than allow the controversy to continue through yet another election cycle.
What does this tell us about our current Village leadership? From our own “critical eye,” we see either inept leadership (quite possible) or a desire to keep a controversy alive solely for political gain. Whether it is one or both of these things, the fact that commercial horse boarding remains an issue for yet another election cycle gives us another reason to call for Bob Abboud to step down from government when his current term expires. He should not seek re-election.
As we have said before in these pages, it is time for new leadership to restore integrity to Barrington Hills (see A profile of new leadership to restore integrity to Barrington Hills). We didn’t need the Daily Herald, quoting Bob Abboud, to tell us that controversy follows our current administration. But we do appreciate the reminder.
– The Observer
Thank you for your article and for taking a stand. Speaking openly and with my name in full view, I was one of those residents whose temper was displayed at the last Village BOT meeting. It was fully my intent to calmly address the BOT and question why there was no response to the ZBA’s request by Judy Freeman to address the issues of enforcement that have been raised in the community. In my words – her concerns centered around potential uneven enforcement by the Village and that the ZBA requested guidelines on how the Village was deciding Home Occupation standards on commercial boarding so that they could properly write code. For instance, does Oakwood Farms meet the test for Home Occupation (they do according to the letter from the Village), then that’s a “slippery slope” for commercial operations of all kinds in the Village.
The Board Trustee liaison to the ZBA (Mr. Messer) denied that this discussion took place and both he and Mr. Abboud expressed to me at the public meeting that there isn’t a horse boarding problem in the Village beyond isolated issues. Furthermore, their input reinforced that there are few complaints and that the current code is acceptable to the community as evidenced by their lack of providing suggestions on the proposed Amendment. That is not true. The position of the community that we witnessed at the ZBA public hearing and from the abundance of residents taking the time to write to the Village included deep expression of concerns and many with suggestions (horse limits) that were just not acceptable to Mr. Abboud and his interests.
It is difficult to keep emotions checked when your Village public officials so cavalierly and easily speak untruthfully. I for one believe that the Village also used the powers of their office as personal retribution to me and my family when we opposed certain interests in commercial boarding and those concerns were expressed again at the Village BOT meeting.
Video recordings of the ZBA meeting support that this request for enforcement guidance took place. We do not have a horse problem in the Village (equestrians and our trail systems are an important part of our community), but we do have a problem (at least disagreement) with defining the limits of commercial horse boarding. I believe that there are good people on both sides of this honest debate who could find a solution that is good for Barrington Hills if only asked.
It is difficult to resolve neighbor disputes that will occur, let alone legitimate code issues for the Village with an administration that speaks untruthfully so easily and favors special interests in enforcement practices. Those heavy handed politics do not belong in our Village and the Observer’s call for Mr. Abboud to step down would go along way to stop the polarization that has invaded Barrington Hills under his administration.
Jack
It took some chutzpah for you to write that Jack. Thanks.
Abboud has clearly polarized our Village on a number of issues over the years he’s been in office, and he’s always had a “fall guy” to throw under the bus when things break bad for his ideas but why not this time? Has he run out of scapegoats or are people in his inner circle finally coming to their senses after witnessing the previous political skid marks he’s left?
Jim Kempe, where are you now that we need you so desperately?