Posted in Agendas, Animal Welfare, Barrington Hills Park District, Barrington Hills Polo Club, Big Brother, BraveHearts, Citizens for Conservation, Conflict of interest, Countryside Elementary School, Deception, Elections, Equestrian Commission, Ethics, Financial Statements, Fox River Valley Hunt, FPDCC, FRVPC, Horizon Farm, Horse Boarding, Intergovernmental agreements (IGA), Land Use, Massbach Hounds, Politics, Property Taxes, Public Safety, Riding Club of Barrington Hills, Taxes, Unions on October 12, 2022| 1 Comment »
The Barrington Hills Park District Board will hold their regular monthly 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 Appointments, Better Government Association, Big Red, Board of Health, BOHICA, Building Department, Conflict of interest, Contests, Crain's Chicago Business, Cuba Township Road District, Deception, Elections, Equestrian Commission, Ethics, Illinois State Board of Elections, LeCompte/Anderson Commercial Horse boarding amendment, Mac's Property Management, OMA, One Barrington Hills, OP/Ed, Politics, Property Taxes, Real Estate, Riding Club of Barrington Hills, Road construction, Roads & Bridges Committee, The New Normal, The Other Half, Transparency, Village Attorney, Village Board, Village Code, Village President, Village Treasurer on September 30, 2022| 1 Comment »
Last Winter, the Village of Lake Barrington published the following in their seasonal newsletter:
“Lake Barrington’s Ethics Commission
Did you know that the Village has an Ethics Commission? The independent commission adds to the overall transparency of our government and serves to investigate complaints alleging violations of the Ethics Chapter of the Village Code. We are proud to report that this 3-member Commission has never once had to meet regarding a violation!”
Their Municipal Code actually devotes a chapter to ethics, and the main page of their website contains a link to, “Report a Concern.”
As previously chronicled in this publication, if one searches our Village Code, keying in the word “ethics,” the result reads, “No Matches Found.”
Our Village needs an Ethics Commission. How else could parties involved in complaints present their respective cases to determine if ethics violations did, or did not, occur? Listed below are typical practices that might arise in our Village, and in our opinion, may warrant investigation, understanding that there are no implications as to guilt or innocence of any on the list:
For these and other reasons, our Village needs to appoint an Ethics Commission to act as ombudsmen, when any question of potential maladministration or ethics violations is considered or occurs.
Candidates for this proposed commission could come from existing appointed Village bodies, ones whose objectivity would be unquestioned.
The perfect candidates for this roll are the incumbent members of the Board of Heath. They are highly qualified, underutilized, and would prove to be an effective force in maintaining ethical governance of the Village of Barrington Hills.
Related: “Our predominantly pusillanimous Village Board (Part 1),” “Our predominantly pusillanimous Village Board (Part 2),” “Better Government Association Commends Passage of Chicago Ethics Ordinance–Sees More to Do,” “What happened to ethics reform in Illinois government? Why watchdogs have some hope,” “Meanwhile, One Barrington Hills makes amends, extinguishes website and turns the volume down,” “Learn from your (big) mistake, Laura, Bryan, Dave and Tom,” “Agreed”
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 Building Department, Conflict of interest, Deception, Elections, ePacket Agendas, Ethics, Minutes, Plan Commission, Politics, Property Taxes, Roads & Bridges Committee, Unions, VBHPD, Village Attorney, Village Board, Village Clerk, Village Code, Village Director of Administration, Village Government, Village President, Village Treasurer on August 22, 2022| Leave a Comment »
Our Village Board of Trustees will be conducting their regular monthly meeting beginning this evening at 6:30 PM. A copy of the agenda can be viewed and downloaded here.
It’s doubtful the telephony issues have been corrected by the Cecola administration, but readers are welcome to call in and try once again to listen to the meeting.
Posted in 220, Accidents, Agenda, Conflict of interest, Cuba Township Road District, District 220 referendum, Ethics, Mac's Property Management, Politics, Property Taxes, Public Safety, Road construction, Roads & Bridges Committee, School Districts, Topics Of Interest, VBHPD, Village Engineer, Village Government, Village President on August 11, 2022| 1 Comment »
The Village Roads & Bridges Committee meets for the first time in four (4) months this afternoon at 4 PM. The two topics on their agenda are:
A copy of the agenda can be viewed and downloaded here.
Related: “Roads & Bridges Committee meeting canceled (again),” “County Line Road work to begin in Barrington Hills Monday,” “Hart Road in Barrington closing for five months beginning June 2”
Posted in Agendas, Algonquin Rd, Animal Welfare, Barrington Hills Park District, Barrington Hills Polo Club, Big Red, Cell Towers, Conflict of interest, Deception, Equestrian Commission, Ethics, Fox River Valley Hunt, FRVPC, Horizon Farm, Horse Boarding, Intergovernmental agreements (IGA), Land Use, LeCompte/Anderson Commercial Horse boarding amendment, Massbach Hounds, Politics, Property Taxes, Public Safety, Real Estate, Riding Center Advisory Committee, Riding Club of Barrington Hills, Unions, Village Government, Well Water Quality on August 10, 2022| Leave a Comment »
The Barrington Hills Park District Board will hold their regular monthly 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
*The Hills Are Alive Fall Festival returns to the Riding Center September 18th.
Posted in Audio Recordings, Conflict of interest, Deception, Ethics, FUBAR, One Barrington Hills, Politics, Property Taxes, Roads & Bridges Committee, Topics Of Interest, Transcripts, Transparency, VBHPD, Village Attorney, Village Board, Village Government, Village President, Zoning Board on August 3, 2022| 1 Comment »
Nope!
It’s been some time since we posted recordings from Board if Trustee meetings. But considering it’s been some time since residents could phone in to meetings and actually hear anything remotely audible, we thought we’d go “old school” again.
Since it’s been nearly impossible to dial in to meetings to participate for months, the only conclusion we can arrive at is the Cecola admiration would rather we didn’t. As a result, no effort has been made to remedy the documented technology issues. None.
The recording of the July 25th Board of Trustees meeting can be accessed here.
Posted in 220, Building Department, Conflict of interest, Crime, Deception, EJ&E/Canadian National, Ethics, Fundraisers, Horizon Farm, Intergovernmental agreements (IGA), Land Use, Mówimy po polsku, One Barrington Hills, Politics, Property Taxes, Resident Spotlights, Roads & Bridges Committee, School Districts, Traffic, Transparency, VBHPD, Village Board, Village Clerk, Village Director of Administration, Village Government on July 29, 2022| Leave a Comment »
The Summer 2022 edition of the Village Newsletter was recently released. Topics covered include:
A copy can be viewed and downloaded here.
* Event participant results (no First Lady listed??), by category, can be found here.
Posted in Agendas, Building Department, Conflict of interest, Elections, Ethics, Intergovernmental agreements (IGA), Land Use, OMA, One Barrington Hills, Personnel Committee, Plan Commission, Politics, Property Taxes, Roads & Bridges Committee, Transparency, Unions, VBHPD, Village Attorney, Village Board, Village Clerk, Village Code, Village Director of Administration, Village Engineer, Village Government, Village President, Zoning Board on July 25, 2022| Leave a Comment »
Barrington Area Conservation Trust officers
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:
A brief statement of Matthew Vondra’s qualifications for consideration can be viewed here. Without too much detail, we’ll expound on his experience a bit.
Matt is currently Vice President of the Barrington Area Conservation Trust (BACT). Their President is Brian Croll, who is also a Trustee of the Village of Barrington Hills. The BACT Treasurer is Loren Ekstrom, the husband of Village of Barrington Hills Trustee Laura Ekstrom.
The BACT is responsible for, “…creating the largest permanent land preservation easement in the state of Illinois,” known as Horizon Farm, which is now owned and managed under that easement by the Forest Preserves of Cook County.
A copy of the agenda can be viewed and downloaded here.
Note: For the third month in a row, it’s unknown if the telephony issues that have plagued recent meetings have been remedied yet, so callers might encounter issues again.
Posted in Better Government Association, Conflict of interest, Ethics, One Barrington Hills, Politics, Transparency, Village Board, Village Code, Village Government, Village President on July 25, 2022| Leave a Comment »
City Council passage of improvements to Chicago’s government ethics ordinance is a welcome step toward reform–with more work yet ahead, the Better Government Association said Wednesday. The research and policy arm of the 99-year old civic watchdog organization assisted Ald. Michele Smith and the city’s Board of Ethics in drafting the reform measure.
Among other changes, the new ordinance:
“Passage of this ordinance is important for the city, and it’s important for voters and other residents who have a right to expect honest, transparent government,” said David Greising, president of the Better Government Association.
Read the full statement here.
Note: A keyword search for “ethics” on our Village Code web page resulted in “No Matching Records” as seen below:
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