Posted in Agendas, Algonquin Rd, Animal Welfare, Barrington Hills Farm, Barrington Hills Park District, Barrington Hills Polo Club, Bicyclists, ComEd Four, Commercial Horse Boarding, Countryside Elementary School, Deception, Ethics, Fox River Valley Hunt, FPDCC, FRVPC, Horizon Farm, Horse Boarding, Intergovernmental agreements (IGA), Land Use, Lighting Ordinance, Longmeadow Parkway, Mad Cow, Massbach Hounds, Politics, Pritzker’s Rules of Order, Property Taxes, Public Safety, Riding Club of Barrington Hills, Transparency, Unions, WTF on May 10, 2023| Leave a Comment »
The Barrington Hills Park District Board will hold a, “Park Board & Decennial Committee on Local Government Efficiency,” meeting this evening in person and via Zoom at 7:00 PM. Topics on their agenda include:
A copy of their agenda can be viewed here. Instructions for accessing the meeting remotely can be found here.
Posted in Agendas, Algonquin Rd, Animal Welfare, Audio recordings, Barrington Hills Farm, Commercial Horse Boarding, Conflict of interest, Equestrian Commission, Fox River Valley Hunt, FPDCC, FRVPC, Horizon Farm, Horse Boarding, Intergovernmental agreements (IGA), Land Use, LeCompte/Anderson Commercial Horse boarding amendment, Massbach Hounds, Politics, Property Taxes, Riding Club of Barrington Hills, Unions on September 7, 2022| Leave a Comment »
The Equestrian Commission will hold a special meeting this evening at 6:30 PM to review. The sole topic on their agenda is, “Village Equestrian Trails.”
A copy of their agenda can be viewed and downloaded here. Recordings from the August 19th, 2021, meeting (the most recent recordings available) can be found here.
Posted in Barrington Hills Farm, Barrington Hills Polo Club, Big Red, BraveHearts, Conflict of interest, Cook, County, Crime, Deception, Equestrian Commission, Ethics, Fox River Valley Hunt, FPDCC, Friends of Forest Preserves, FRVPC, Fundraisers, Horizon Farm, Land Use, Politics, Property Taxes, Public Safety, Riding Club Commission, Riding Club of Barrington Hills, Transparency, Unions on June 12, 2022| Leave a Comment »
The Riding Club of Barrington Hills (RCBH) recently released their April newsletter. Topics covered this month include:
A copy of the RCBH newsletter can be viewed and downloaded here.
Posted in Agendas, Barrington Hills Farm, Barrington Hills Park District, BH Polo Club, Commercial Horse Boarding, Countryside Elementary School, Deception, Equestrian Commission, Fox River Valley Hunt, FPDCC, FRVPC, Horizon Farm, Horse Boarding, Intergovernmental agreements (IGA), Land Use, Plum Farm development, Politics, Property Taxes, Public Safety, Riding Center Advisory Committee, Riding Club of Barrington Hills, Transparency, Unions on June 8, 2022| Leave a Comment »
Posted in Animal Welfare, Barrington Hills Farm, Commercial Horse Boarding, Equestrian Commission, Fox River Valley Hunt, FPDCC, FRVPC, Horizon Farm, Land Use, Politics, Property Taxes, Public Safety, Real Estate, Riding Club of Barrington Hills, Unions, Well Water Quality on April 14, 2022| Leave a Comment »
The Riding Club of Barrington Hills (RCBH) recently released their April newsletter. Topics covered this month include:
A copy of the RCBH newsletter can be viewed and downloaded here.
Posted in 2021 Elections, Barrington Area Library, Barrington Hills Farm, Barrington Hills Park District, Commercial Horse Boarding, Equestrian Commission, Going green, Horizon Farm, League of Women Voters, Lighting Ordinance, Organizations, Plan Commission, Politics, Property Taxes, Real Estate, Riding Club of Barrington Hills, Topics Of Interest, Transparency, Village Board, Village Code, Village Government, Village President, Well Water Quality, Zoning Board on March 8, 2021| 4 Comments »
Posted in Barrington Hills Farm, County, McHenry, Politics, Property Taxes, Uncategorized on July 24, 2020| 1 Comment »
(Click on image to enlarge)
McHenry County Board Chairman Jack Franks sent a letter to Algonquin Township officials on Thursday calling for a referendum on the elimination of the township to be added to the Nov. 3 ballot.
According to the letter, the next meeting of the township’s board of trustees falls just five days before the Aug. 17 deadline for local governmental entities to add referenda to the November ballot.
“I firmly believe that taxpayers should have the ultimate say to choose how they are governed – or in the case of township government, whether it is still needed in the 21st century,” Franks said in a news release sent out Thursday.
In response, Algonquin Township Supervisor Charles Lutzow said Franks could have taken it upon himself to petition to get a referendum on the November ballot if he felt strongly about it.
“He had months to get this on the ballot, all you have to do is get some signatures,” Lutzow said Thursday, remarking that the request seemed a bit last-minute.
Read more here.
Posted in Barrington Hills Farm, Commercial Horse Boarding, Horse Boarding, News Media, Riding Club of Barrington Hills on December 22, 2018| Leave a Comment »
CHICAGO – A state appeals court will allow residents and government officials in suburban Barrington Hills to resume their court fight over a now-repealed village ordinance governing horse-boarding challengers assert was enacted to benefit one particular property owner.
On Dec. 12, a three-justice panel of the Illinois First District Appellate Court State reversed part of a Cook County judge’s ruling in the long-running litigation involving the village, plaintiff James Drury III and a group of residents.
The judge had rejected a settlement agreement between Barrington Hills and Drury and also granted a motion to dismiss filed by a group of residents who intervened in the case. Drury challenged these findings.
The appellate court agreed with the rejection of the settlement agreement, but reversed the dismissal ruling.
Read more here.
Posted in 2015 Elections, 2017 Elections, 2019 Elections, 220, Algonquin Rd, Barrington Hills Farm, Bicyclists, Commercial Horse Boarding, Deception, Elections 2011, Elections 2013, Ethics, Heritage and Environs Committee, Hoffman Estates, Horse Boarding, IDOT, Intergovernmental agreements (IGA), Land Disconnection, Land Use, Lighting Ordinance, Longmeadow Parkway, Organizations, Plum Farm development, Politics, Riding Club of Barrington Hills, Save 5 Acres, School Districts, South Barrington, Topics Of Interest, Uncategorized, Unite Barrington Hills, Village Board, Village Director of Administration, Village Government, Village President, Your Barrington Hills on August 26, 2018| Leave a Comment »
Once again, supporters of former Village President Bob Abboud have taken to the social media networks to begin creating a false controversy to stir the pot prior to the 2019 Village Board Elections.
Recently, some Facebook pages have started publishing information about the proposed Plum Farms Development in Hoffman Estates. One of these pages is purportedly run by the same individual who publicly cast aspersions upon the character of the Village President and members of the Board of Trustees in April of 2017 (but was unwilling and unable to provide any corroboration of her ridiculous accusations). See April 24th Board meeting recordings released.
Long-time readers of the Observer will recognize the same tired tactics of the Abboud-o-philes: create a false controversy, then stir up resident sentiment against current leadership and against those whom they may support in the upcoming elections. Save 5 Acres! Save Horse Boarding! Ban the Bikes! Save Open Space! Save Polo!
The Plum Farms Development in Hoffman Estates was used as a major 2017 campaign issue by Trustees Paula Jacobsen and Robert Zubak, but both have been eerily silent on the issue for well over a year. As candidates, Jacobsen and Zubak were so adamant about the Village having legal standing, authority and ability to impact this development, and they vowed to be the voices to vigorously “oppose harmful development”.
Today, as it was then, they chose to remain ignorant to the simple fact that this issue was over in 2004 when Bob Abboud and former administrator Bob Kosin botched the chance to work with the landowner to come to a development compromise that would have kept the property within the village, and would have protected our community from the dangers of deannexation of the parcel into an adjacent town with an insatiable hunger for more tax dollars.
But in fact, the current administration has been working in concert with South Barrington and District 220 to slow the progress of this development. Strange that this hasn’t been reported by any of the social media outlets managed by those folks who enjoy stirring the pot. Accusations of inaction and mismanagement by President McLaughlin and others on the Board will be aired, but nary a word of criticism of Jacobsen or Zubak.
And speaking of Jacobsen, the more vocal of the less-than-dynamic duo, what has she personally done with regard to Plum Farms as a Trustee? Nothing. She bemoaned the Longmeadow Parkway project as a candidate, but did she volunteer to be on the IDOT advisory board for Route 62? Nope.
Does anyone remember the laundry list of issues that she & Zubak used as their campaign platform? We do.
The only issue they are truly interested in is commercial horse boarding, which wasn’t in their campaign platform at all. Strange…
And back to that lengthy list of issues — what have they accomplished from that list? Nothing. And why? Because none of those “problems” actually existed.
Paula Jacobsen with former trustee Fritz Gohl
However, Jacobsen, who has been absent from more than 26% of the fifteen Board Meetings held since she was elected as trustee, has had the opportunity to advocate for some other interesting issues. As stated in our previous articles, May and June 2017 Board meeting recordings released and July Board Meeting recordings released , she has found time to question the meeting minutes which characterized her friend’s public comments at the April 24thboard meeting as slanderous. She has questioned why the Village couldn’t have employed a warmer and fuzzier process to inform a property owner of their violation of a cease and desist order with regard to illegal demolition of a residence and violation of the tree ordinance. It should be noted that the property owner in that case was a prominent donor to her trustee campaign.
Jacobsen has pondered the complexity of the Exterior Lighting Ordinance and wondered if it shouldn’t be revisited and revised, oblivious to the divisive history of the ordinance. Coincidentally, her interest in lighting ordinance enforcement occurred only when another friend of hers had filed a complaint against a neighbor.
Paula has also suggested giving landmark status to historical homes in the village. When asked to explain who would be the arbiter of this distinction and the mechanics of implementation or enforcement, she had no suggestion.
She also has given detailed reports of Arbor Day plans by the Heritage & Environs Committee at no fewer than three meetings. Let’s hear it for the oak sapling giveaway!!
And there has been advocacy for costly live video-streaming of Village Board meetings, which are only attended by a handful of the same residents each month.
It is not surprising that NONE of these issues were in the Jacobsen/Zubak campaign platform and that NONE of the issues in the platform have been pursued by the duo in any meaningful way in the past fifteen months.
And why is that? Because a quiet village operating harmoniously is not something the Abboud-o-philes can tolerate. They must have controversy and they will create controversy were none exists. And when faced with the reality that President McLaughlin & this Administration have delivered on each and every promise they have made to the community, they pivot back to the old worn-out talking points. The village is operating better than it ever has, spending has been slashed and services are more efficient. And that makes some embittered people very unhappy. Change is not easy for some. And they are desperate to regain control.
So the pot stirring will continue. With a little eye of newt and toe of frog mixed in for good measure. Here’s hoping that this bad spell will be broken soon.
Posted in Barrington Hills Farm, Commercial Horse Boarding, Conflict of interest, Ethics, Gewalt Hamilton, HARPS, Horse Boarding, Land Disconnection, Land Use, Organizations, Roads and Bridges, Topics Of Interest, Trotter & Associates, Uncategorized, Village Board, Village Engineer, Village Government on January 22, 2018| 3 Comments »
Tonight’s Board of Trustees meeting will be the first official meeting for the village’s new engineering firm, Trotter & Associates. We look forward to seeing their approach to municipal engineering and we hope that taxpayers will benefit from lowered costs and fresh ideas.
While researching future content for the Observer, we stumbled across some interesting correspondence regarding Barrington Hills Farm (BHFW LLC) and our village’s former engineering firm, Gewalt Hamilton. What we found is shocking, but it certainly makes the Village’s decision last year to change engineering companies very wise indeed.
According to documents found on McHenry County’s website, in December 2015, BHFW’s Chairman J. R. Davis was applying to McHenry County to convert part of an existing wetland on the property into a recreational pond. As a result, some mitigation of the wetlands was necessary. The specifics of the mitigation and request for credits from the Wetland Restoration Fund are not important.
What is important is the engineering firm that BHFW had hired to create their Wetland Mitigation Plan was Gewalt Hamilton. And not just Gewalt Hamilton, but Dan Strahan himself , who was Barrington Hills’ Village Engineer at the time, was personally involved in the project.
Strahan is cc’ed on the Gewalt Hamilton letter to McHenry County on behalf of BHFW and Strahan’s signature even appears with Davis’ signature on the Wetland Restoration Fund application as the Design Engineer.
To be clear, this was a project undertaken by a private property owner in unincorporated McHenry County immediately adjacent to the Village, and Strahan and Gewalt Hamilton were hired by that individual. All at the same time when Strahan and Gewalt Hamilton were also employed by the Village of Barrington Hills.
We find it shocking that Gewalt Hamilton and Dan Strahan did not decline employment by BHFW & Mr. Davis in 2015, seeing as the firm had been serving Barrington Hills for decades. Gewalt Hamilton & Strahan were well aware of the history of the Davis property, and in all likelihood would be called up by the Village to consult on the property in the future. It would be bad enough for any engineer employed by Gewalt Hamilton to have taken this job, let alone Dan Strahan.
Not surprisingly, Strahan indeed did end up personally involved in discussions on behalf of the Village regarding new driveways and dedicated easements and right-of ways for the proposed HARPS facility on BHFW property in 2016 & 2017. It certainly gives us pause to wonder about the quality of the service the village and taxpayers received on that assignment.
Did Strahan and Gewalt ever divulge to the Village of Barrington Hills that they had been previously employed by Davis?
How could Strahan and Gewalt maintain any impartiality when they had been paid by both the Village and Davis?
Are there other projects that Gewalt has worked on for Davis and BHFW?
Did Strahan and Gewalt ever divulge this conflict of interest while they were applying for retention as the Village’s engineering firm?
Right now, we have more questions than answers. We’ll leave it to our readers to draw their own conclusions. We think the documents speak for themselves.
Click on the following links to view the complete PDFs of the documents BHFarm_Gewalt_Wetland_1 and BHFarm_Gewalt_Wetland_2.
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