Posted in Agenda, Audio Recordings, Cuba Rd Bridge, Cuba Township Road District, Ethics, FUBAR, Mac's Property Management, Property Taxes, Real Estate, Roads & Bridges Committee, TMI, Transparency, Village Director of Administration, Village Engineer, Village Government, Village President on March 16, 2023| Leave a Comment »
The Roads & Bridges Committee meets today at 4:00 PM at Village Hall. This will be the first time the Committee has met November 8 (See, “Special Election Day Roads & Bridges meeting today”).
A copy of their agenda can be viewed here.
Related: “Some perspectives on the proposed 2023 Appropriations Ordinance”
Posted in Agenda, Cuba Rd Bridge, FUBAR, Road construction, Roads & Bridges Committee, TMI on March 2, 2023| Leave a Comment »
A Special Roads & Bridges Committee meeting scheduled for 1:15 PM today has been cancelled (again). A copy of the agenda to have been covered can be found here.
The next regularly scheduled committee meeting is March 16th. The last time the committee met was November 8th, 2002.
Posted in Agendas, BACT, Board of Health, Building Department, Cuba Rd Bridge, ePacket Agendas, Financial Reports, Land Use, Minutes, Plan Commission, Resident Surveys, Roads & Bridges Committee, VBHPD, Village Attorney, Village Board, Village Clerk, Village Code, Village Director of Administration, Village Engineer, Village Government, Village President, Zoning Board on May 23, 2022| Leave a Comment »
Our Village Board of Trustees will be conducting their regular monthly meeting beginning this evening at 6:30 PM. Some of the topics on their agenda include:
The two gentlemen being recognized for decades of service on the Zoning Board of Appeals and the Board of Health have our utmost gratitude and respect for their commitment to the residents of our Village.
A copy of the agenda can be viewed and downloaded here.
Posted in 2015 Elections, Cuba Rd Bridge, Financial Reports, OP/Ed, Public Safety Committee, Road construction, Roads & Bridges Committee, Roads and Bridges, Uncategorized, Village Board, Village Government on January 2, 2017| 4 Comments »
We are very pleased to announce that we have two outstanding recipients of the 2016 Shining Star Award – Trustee Brian Cecola and Village Treasurer Margaret “Peggy” Hirsch. Each of them, in their own way, has been a force for positive change in our village government.
As many of our readers know, Brian Cecola was elected as a Trustee in 2015 after another brutal campaign season. Voters hoped that Cecola, having been a fireman and with real-world job experience in paving and snowplowing, would be an asset on the village board. Recognizing this strong resume, Village President Martin McLaughlin assigned Cecola the chairmanship of the Roads and Bridges Committee as well as Public Safety.
Brian took to both roles easily, but he has definitely had the biggest impact when dealing with infrastructure issues. The village has made great strides in catching up on the backlog of road resurfacing projects which accumulated under the past administration. And Cecola repeatedly has gone to bat for residents to stretch their tax dollars farther. For example, the Village Engineer suggested prioritizing resurfacing the Village Hall parking lots when a surplus in the Roads and Bridges Budget emerged this year. Instead, Cecola instructed the engineer to move forward to this year other future road projects which would be more beneficial to residents, after confirming with the engineer that delaying the parking lot project would not lead to dangerous deterioration in the short term. And, in 2015, Brian requested a new bid proposal for restriping the village hall lots after determining the original bidder was much too high, again saving taxpayers money.
During the process of the reconstruction of the Cuba Road Bridge (now named Veteran’s Crossing Bridge), when it was discovered that numerous utilities had been relocated incorrectly, Cecola took a pro-active role in meeting with Com Ed to discuss the problems their crews had caused by their newly installed, but misplaced, utility poles. Corrective action was expedited by ComEd, and a potentially significant delay in the completion of the bridge project was averted due to Brian’s intervention.
Brian has also pushed for Village membership into the Northwest Municipal Conference, which was approved by the Board of Trustees via an Intergovernmental Agreement with Cook County. As a result, the schedule for the direly needed rehabilitation of Brinker Road should be accelerated, and Federal funds should be available to help with the costs, without any need for bike lanes to be integrated into the project.
In addition to his service on the Barrington Hills Village Board, Brian is also very active in the community – he is immediate Past-President of the Barrington Lions Club and is instrumental in the annual Fourth of July Brat Tent and Barrington Fourth of July activities, along with his wife Stephanie.
Our second 2016 Shining Star is Margaret “Peggy” Hirsch. Peggy took on the part-time role of Village Treasurer in March 2016, and has impressed us with her high level of skill and competence. She has brought an impressive resume to the office, having earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting from Notre Dame and an MBA from the University of Chicago. She has held numerous high-ranking financial positions at top firms in the Chicago area, and has also served as Treasurer for the Village of Lake Barrington since 2013, bringing much needed municipal experience to her new position in our village.
Hirsch makes it a point to attend Board of Trustee meetings where she capably and easily fields questions from the trustees on a myriad of complex monthly financial reports. Her thoroughness and professionalism are apparent and the village should consider itself lucky to have an individual of her caliber on its staff.
Peggy and her husband David are also Barrington Hills residents, and they both dedicate their talents to TeamDad, LLC, created by David in 1998 to support the efforts of Illinois Fatherhood Initiative and other non-profit fatherhood organizations across the United States.
We should be proud as a village to have Brian Cecola and Peggy Hirsch volunteer their talents to serve their hometown community. These 2016 Shining Star award recipients are to be commended for the time and energy they devote on a daily basis to making Barrington Hills a better place for us to live. Thank you from your neighbors and from all of us at the Observer!
Posted in 2017 Elections, Agendas, Barrington Hills Farm, Commercial Horse Boarding, Conflict of interest, Cuba Rd Bridge, ePacket agendas, Horse Boarding, LeCompte/Anderson Commercial Horse boarding amendment, OP/Ed, Special Use Permits, Topics Of Interest, Uncategorized, Village Board, Village Code, Village Government, Zoning Board on January 1, 2017| Leave a Comment »
The Observer takes a look back at another year gone by, as we present the most frequently read news stories and editorials for 2016. Click on any title to read and revisit stories from this past year.
August 30th Zoning Board public hearing recordings published
Our most read and most commented upon story of 2016, this article summarized the August 30th Zoning Board meeting which concluded the public hearings on the latest text amendment proposal for commercial horse boarding codes.
WARNING: Beware of phantom developers!
This story discussed a fear-mongering letter that was mailed to residents throughout the village, containing unsubstantiated claims of Barrington Hills once again being imperiled by greedy developers.
In October, the Observer reviewed the myriad of flaws in the Anderson II commercial boarding ordinance and explained the importance of reinstating boarding under the Home Occupation Ordinance.
Despite the misinformation repeated at many recent meetings, archived Village Board minutes from 1960 show that village leaders then did not approve of commercial equestrian activities on residential properties, having shut down a riding school for being in violation of village code. This feature also drew the second most comments of any story for 2016.
June Village Board Meeting Recordings Released
Our review of the Board of Trustees June meeting covered several topics, but focused primarily on the ongoing delays with the reconstruction of the Cuba Road Bridge (now known as Veteran’s Crossing Bridge). The article highlighted the lack of proper oversight of the project by Gewalt Hamilton, as well as some confusing explanations of the situation by Village Administrator Bob Kosin.
As the Zoning Board of Appeals was about to begin a review of the commercial horse boarding code, the Observer dispelled a long list of oft-repeated fallacies, fictions and lies concerning equestrian activities and horse boarding in this column from July.
Candidates file for April 2017 Village Elections
The title speaks for itself in this most recent top story, highlighting the high level of resident interest in our village government.
Park District to begin charging user fees for Riding Center
The July announcement by the Park District of its intention to set up a fee structure for resident and n0n-resident users of the Riding Center drew a large audience.
Documents added to ZBA horse boarding code hearing package
In the days leading up to the August 30th ZBA meeting, readers were eager to review the 291 pages of documentation that had been submitted to the Zoning Board in the form of court documents, resident and Village official emails, affidavits, Village engineering and Illinois Environmental Protection Agency reports and form letters.
Posted in Cuba Rd Bridge, Land Disconnection, Land Use, News Media on December 30, 2016| Leave a Comment »
As 2016 comes to a close, we asked Northwest suburban mayors to to look back on something their community accomplished in the past year and look ahead at something they hope to accomplish in 2017. Here are their replies, in some cases edited for length.
Martin J. McLaughlin, Barrington Hills
In 2016, Barrington Hills reduced the tax levy, while increasing the village’s cash reserves, and accomplishing more roadway improvements per year than had been done in the prior 10 years. In addition, the village budget has been reduced from $8.4 million in 2013 to $7.5 million forecast for 2017, with village spending again projected to be below what was budgeted, as operational efficiencies continue to benefit our residents.
Our village finalized the construction of our largest capital project in village history — the former Cuba Road Bridge, which we have named Veterans Crossing Bridge to honor those men and women in uniform who protect our freedoms.
In 2017, we will be communicating with owners of large parcels of land bordering our community in an attempt to reclaim rural open space acreage lost under the prior administration. We will be rolling out a new village website which will make it easier for residents to get the necessary information, records and permits required directly from our site, as well as providing a Village Lifestyle section where current and future residents can be introduced to all of the events, organizations, clubs, and freedoms that rural open space living with limited government oversight affords in Barrington Hills.
Read the full report from the Daily Herald here.
Posted in Agenda, Cuba Rd Bridge, Road construction, Roads & Bridges Committee on September 22, 2016| Leave a Comment »
The Roads & Bridges Committee meets this afternoon at 4:00 PM. A copy of the agenda can be viewed here.
Posted in Algonquin Rd, Audio Recordings, Cuba Rd Bridge, Equestrian Commission, Longmeadow Parkway, Road construction, Roads & Bridges Committee, Well Water Quality on September 7, 2016| 2 Comments »
Audio recordings from the August 25th meeting of the Roads & Bridges Committee meeting are available for review on the Village website. There was no public comment during a fairly routine meeting, however, we are pleased to report Trustee Gohl, who is assigned to the committee, attended the meeting for the first time in well over a year.
Finishing touches are being completed on Veteran’s Crossing (formerly the Cuba Road Bridge), including trash cleanup and seeding and grading where grass was disturbed. Dan Strahan, Village Engineer, also reiterated that the Village will receive a discount off of the final invoice for the bridge reconstruction due the Contractor’s delay in the completion of the bridge.
Spring Creek Road west of Haegers Bend Road will be closed until December due to road work. This is primarily due to work Algonquin is performing on Highland Avenue, however, Barrington Hills is paying for a small portion of the work to resurface the road within our border.
It was reported that the 2016 roads and drainage projects as well as engineering fees are coming in at or below budget even with the addition earlier this year of resurfacing a portion of River Road which was scheduled for 2017.
IDOT issued a transportation bulletin which included a request for proposal for “Phase I” engineering feasibility study in 2017 for the widening of Algonquin Road (IL 62) to four lanes in Barrington Hills in anticipation of the Longmeadow Parkway Project going through. Strahan noted this planning project was specified as a 48-month task, so even this first step would likely take over four years.
Trustee Cecola mentioned that in a prior meeting with an IDOT official on the matter it was agreed that some form of crossing to allow horseback riders would be considered over the widened roadway in the form of a bridge or an underpass to prevent the disconnection of trails. That full IDOT discussion can be heard here.
To access the menu of edited recordings by agenda topic, click here.
Posted in Agendas, Building Department, County, Cuba Rd Bridge, Heritage and Environs Committee, Kane, Plan Commission, Road construction, VBHPD, Village Attorney, Village Board, Village Code, Zoning Board on August 29, 2016| Leave a Comment »
The Village Board of Trustees will hold their regular monthly meeting this evening beginning at 6:30 PM. A copy of the agenda can be viewed here.
Posted in Agenda, Cuba Rd Bridge, Longmeadow Parkway, Road construction, Roads & Bridges Committee on August 24, 2016| Leave a Comment »
The Roads & Bridges Committee will hold their monthly meeting tomorrow at 4:00 PM. A copy of the complete agenda can be viewed here.
 | M Crowe on Two term District 220 Board of… |
 | Thomas Paine on Illinois House passes bill res… |
| Thomas Paine on Illinois families pay highest… |
 | Thoughts and Prayers on 2-Alarm fire in Barrington Hil… |
 | David Eitel on Bill prohibiting cat declawing… |
| Stop child exploitat… on Chicago’s Morning Answer hosts… |
| David R Eitel on 22 states, including every Ill… |