Following are some of the articles published by The Observer for the month of April in recent years. These articles, gathered from various publications and editorials, are noteworthy for residents in that they remind us of where we’ve been as a community.
$200,000 spent in Barrington Hills on election – 2011
More than $200,000 was spent by candidates for Barrington Hills Village Board in the April 5 election, compared to less than $5,000 for board seats in Barrington, where the population is almost three times greater.
But it’s not the number of potential voters that dictates spending, candidates say, but the issues and how contentious the campaign becomes.
Read the original TribLocal article here.
New Barrington Hills trustees hope to heal rift – 2011
Newly elected Barrington Hills trustees are hoping to put recent political divisions in the village behind them in a new spirit of cooperation.
But first, the winning candidates from the Save 5 Acres slate still have at least one more area of contention to resolve: an April 19 hearing before the State Board of Elections over their admitted violation of a new campaign finance law.
Read the original Daily Herald report here.
Village Police schedule “Home Security Informational Meeting” – 2012
The Barrington Hills Police Department has scheduled a “Home Security Informational Meeting” at 6:00 PM this Thursday, April 19, at Village Hall. According to a prerecorded message phoned to residents, the topics of the meeting are recent burglaries and “ruse” burglaries in the Village as well as current crime trends including identity theft scams. The message further advised residents to lock all doors and windows and enable home security systems when leaving their homes.
Editorial note: As we recall, this meeting was well attended and well received by residents three years ago. Perhaps the Village should consider holding another such meeting in the near future.
Voter turnout varied greatly in Northwest suburbs – 2013
While voter turnout in suburban Cook County on Tuesday averaged 18.9 percent, it ranged from a high of 56.7 percent in McCook to a low of 3.8 percent in Elk Grove Village, Cook County Clerk David Orr said Thursday.
The strongest turnout in the Northwest suburbs was 26.3 percent in the Cook County part of Barrington Hills, where the incumbent village president was turned out of office.
More of the Daily Herald report on local voter turnouts in 2013 can be viewed here.
Offer BACOG a fair lease price – 2014
For nearly two years now, Barrington Hills has provided virtually no-cost office space to the Barrington Area Council of Governments (BACOG). The current two-year lease will expire on June 30, and last month, our Village Board began discussing terms of a potential two-year renewal of the lease of 220 square feet of office space in Village Hall.
During their April meeting, the four Village Board members who were present were informed via a memo from Trustee Harrington, who was not present at the meeting, that the going rate for local office space ranged from $12-25 per square foot of office space per year. Trustee Harrington’s recommendation for approval was at the minimum of the scale at $12 per square foot.
Read the full Observer editorial here.
Appellate court decision sends local commercial horse boarding complaint back to lower court for further proceedings – 2014
In the latest chapter of what is becoming a longstanding saga of a dispute between neighbors regarding commercial horse boarding operations within the Village, last month an Illinois appellate court reversed a decision made by the circuit court and remanded the matter for further proceedings before that court.
Read more of The Observer article here.
Cook forest preserve closer to taking over Horizon Farms – 2014
A Cook County judge’s ruling Wednesday put the Forest Preserve District of Cook County one step closer to taking over the 400-acre Barrington Hills horse farm and estate known as Horizon Farms.
Judge Thomas R. Allen ruled against the four plaintiffs, Horizon Farms owners Richard Kirk Cannon and Meryl Squires Cannons and Todd Baker and Wanda Dziopek, both of Chicago, who claimed the forest preserve district unlawfully inserted itself in a foreclosure action involving one of the largest privately held properties in Cook County. They claimed the district spent $14.5 million in public funds to acquire an interest in Horizon Farms from BMO Harris Bank, which initiated foreclosure proceedings against the Cannons in 2009 after they failed to repay a $14.5 million loan.
Read the full Daily Herald article here.
– The Observer
