Last month during a special Village Board meeting, the Board of Trustees had the opportunity to ask questions of three law firms who were invited to present their qualifications to serve Barrington Hills. Board members asked representatives of Zukowski, Rogers, Flood & McArdle their opinion on whether the Village should undertake legislation changing our Village Code related to horse boarding when there is active litigation occurring between two private parties if such legislation might affect one party over the other.
David McArdle, a partner with the firm, responded, “We wouldn’t recommend that you pass a rule, pass a law, that favors one party over another.” When asked again in a different way, he stated, “We wouldn’t recommend that.” (A link to the recording of that discussion can be accessed here)
Mr. McArdle is not alone in his opinion. Other attorneys, including current Village special counsel Patrick Bond, have expressed the same when asked.
Yet tonight, the Zoning Board of Appeals will hold a public hearing on the Anderson horse boarding amendment which distinctly favors one party over another. On Wednesday evening, they are scheduled to vote on the amendment. If approved, it will then go to the Village Board.
If the latest Anderson text amendment clears all three hurdles with approvals and becomes part of our Zoning Code, the next likely step will be an expensive legal defense of the unethical and biased actions by both boards that will significantly drain Village financial resources. And who could begin to blame the adversely affected party if they did decide to sue the village?
For these reasons, we believe it’s time for this obvious charade to stop immediately. As we’ve pointed out in our editorials “Here We Go Again. . . . Commercial Horse Boarding Drama Returns” and “Conflicted,” the only way to fairly draft sensible horse boarding codes that benefit all residents is to create a committee representing a fair and proportional cross-section of Village residents. But even that process should wait until the private litigation between two residents regarding boarding is resolved.
– The Observer
One only has to look at the Village of Mt. Prospect which was sued by a business owner (Pizza Parlor) under the Federal RICO statute alleging Board members had fraudulently “worked in concert” denying him rightful use of his property in favor of a preferred developer. Mt. Prospect settled this lawsuit for about 6 Million Dollars.
The Schuman Letter was issued by Abboud 34 days after a secret (illegal) campaign donation by LeCompte to Messer, Meroni & Selman. This is referenced in the Drury Amended Complaint against LeCompte seeking relief under the Illinois Adjacent Landowners Act.
My concern as a VBH taxpayer is if LeCompte is able to render Drury’s case moot by raising “new” VBH boarding legislation as a defense, will Drury then turn his sights on the VBH under RICO claiming majority Board members on the ZBA and BOT worked in concert denying him available relief under “current” VBH zoning code supported by two Appellate Court decisions.
This is why from the onset of these proceedings, I have been calling for VBH to stay legislating horse boarding for a fee until the Drury/LeCompte lawsuit is completely adjudicated. If VBH continues to ignore this advice, at a minimum, Messer, Meroni and Selman must recuse themselves from participating in the horseboarding legislative process for the sake of VBH taxpayers.
It is time VBH counsel review VBH insurance policies to ascertain whether taxpayers will be covered from Messer’s, Meroni’s and Selman’s participation and RICO claim and to what maximum dollar amount. it is time VBH counsel point out the legal risk to VBH if Messer, Meroni and Selman continue to participate in this process.
The better part of valor requires VBH elected officials immediately stop these obviously AGENDA driven commercial horse boarding proceedings. The risk posed by the Drury Lawsuit is simply not worth it to VBH taxpayers.
David Stieper, ZBA member
90% of this town agrees with you David but we are at a loss as to what to do. Thank you for your ongoing concern.
David……You need to run for office again. Now that the majority of people know who you are and what you stand for, you are a LOCK!