Posted in Agendas, Animal Welfare, Aunt Blabby, Barrington Hills Park District, Barrington Hills Polo Club, BraveHearts, Commercial Horse Boarding, County, Deception, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI), Equestrian Commission, Ethics, Fox River Valley Hunt, FPDCC, Goat Rodeo, Horizon Farm, Horse Boarding, Intergovernmental agreements (IGA), Land Use, Lighting Ordinance, Massbach Hounds, McHenry, Open Meetings Act, Organizations, Overhead, Politics, Privacy, Property Taxes, Public Safety, Riding Club Commission, Riding Club of Barrington Hills, The Land Conservancy of McHenry County, The Other Half, Unions, Well Water Quality on March 16, 2026| Leave a Comment »
The Equestrian Commission/Riding Club will be meeting this evening at 6:30 PM. Topics on their agenda include:
A copy of the agenda can be viewed here.
Posted in Agendas, Algonquin Rd, Audio recordings, Aunt Fat Ass, Barrington Hills Park District, BCFPD, Clown Car, Commercial Horse Boarding, Conflict of interest, Deception, Equestrian Commission, Ethics, Fox River Valley Hunt, FPDCC, FRVPC, FUBAR, Goat Rodeo, Horizon Farm, Land Use, Look For The Union Label, Mad Cows, Massbach Hounds, New Normal?, Open Meetings Act, Plan Commission, Politics, Privacy, Public Safety, Real Estate, Riding Club of Barrington Hills, Traffic, Transparency, Unions, Unite Barrington Hills, VBHPD, Village Attorney, Village Code, Village Director of Administration, Village Government, WTF, Your Barrington Hills, Zoning Board on August 7, 2024| Leave a Comment »
The Village will be hosting a special meeting of the Riding Clan/Equestrian Commission this evening at 5:30 PM. Items on the meeting outline include:
At the time of this posting, no detail was published other than that shown above in advance of the meeting. The one-page outline the Village has provided can be found here, but who are we kidding?
One Clan/Commission member informed the Village Administrator at the last meeting, “I don’t think you can tell us what we can and can’t discuss!” Clearly, it’s “anything can happen” Wednesday (as usual) tonight.
Related: “Village hosted Riding Club meeting recordings released,” “Special Equestrian Commission meeting today,” “Special Plan Commission meeting this evening”
Posted in Agendas, Barbarian Migrants in Busses at the Gate, Barrington Hills Park District, Clown Car, Deception, Equestrian Commission, Ethics, Fox River Valley Hunt, Fox River Valley Libraries, FPDCC, FRVPC, Horizon Farm, Horse Boarding, Land Use, Look For The Union Label, Mad Cows, Massbach Hounds, OMA, OP/Ed, Open Meetings Act, Plan Commission, Politics, Privacy, Property Taxes, Public Safety, Riding Club Commission, Riding Club of Barrington Hills, Roads & Bridges Committee, SNAFU, Transparency, Uncategorized, Unions, Village Attorney, Village Code, Village Director of Administration, Village President, Your Barrington Hills on June 21, 2024| 1 Comment »
On June 10th, members of the Riding Club of Barrington Hills met at the Barrington Hills Village Hall. The agenda may have read it was a meeting of the Equestrian Commission, but the audio recordings prove otherwise.
After voting on a temporary chair for the meeting, the public was invited to comment, which is relatively standard. Next, there was confusion as to who actually called the meeting. That determination was never made, but it was agreed the one purpose was to hear what the Village attorney had to report.
With that, Mary Dickson stated:
“At the last meeting of the Equestrian Commission, one primary question arose which is can the Village actually mandate as part of this subdivision process that equestrian trails be dedicated, easements be dedicated, and the Village authorized me to research that and a result of the research that I did, my conclusion is cannot author…, we cannot demand a subdivider provide a trail easement as part of the subdivision process. And this is predicated on a review of both federal law and state law.”
Dickson’s comments continued, but this was the most important to convey to readers. Her comments begin at the 9:45 mark in the recording.
It should be noted that prior to Dickson’s statements, some present were under the impression that when a parcel was subdivided, the Village would somehow require easements be dedicated for the private use of the Riding Club of Barrington Hills only.
Commission members had questions and comments, but then attendees in the audience began chiming in with their own comments. Commission members let this continue for roughly ten (10) minutes before one said audience members would have to wait until public comment at the end of the meeting (that began with public comment).
Midway into the meeting, a commission member asked if they could vote on recommending action be taken on a specific property in the Village. When the answer was not what she wanted to hear, here’s what came next:
Commission member: “Why can’t we talk about this property?”
Village Administrator: “Because that was not the agenda item”
Commission member: “Well, I don’t think you can tell us what we can and can’t discuss.”
To heck with Roberts Rules of Order, apparently.
Then, the Equestrian Commission liaison (and conversational narcissist), Trustee Laura Eckstrom, just had to weigh in on the conversation. This, despite the fact it was not her place to do so (really, Brian, you need to get her to stifle!).
Toward the end of the meeting, Commission voted to reopen public comment (third time), and two people who had previously commented were invited to speak again.
The link to the recording can be found here.
Editorial note: In the last two club/commission meetings, members discussed involving the Barrington Hills Park District in this matter. When the District convened two days later on June 12th, their Zoom remote participation app was turned off, despite the fact it was posted as available for the meeting.
Clearly, this was a private Riding Club meeting and outsiders were not permitted to listed in (pay your taxes, though).
As for the property owner caught in the middle, we suggest they carve out a minimal easement for the use of the Riding Club for a nominal fee of $1,000 per month (in advance, of course).
Related: “Special Plan Commission meeting this evening”
Posted in Agendas, Animal Welfare, Audio recordings, Barrington Hills Park District, Barrington Hills Polo Club, Commercial Horse Boarding, Deception, Equestrian Commission, Ethics, Fox River Valley Hunt, FPDCC, FRVPC, Goat Rodeo, Horizon Farm, Horse Boarding, Intergovernmental agreements (IGA), Land Use, Look For The Union Label, Massbach Hounds, Plan Commission, Politics, Privacy, Property Taxes, Real Estate, Riding Center Advisory Committee, Riding Club Commission, Riding Club of Barrington Hills, TMI, Topics Of Interest, Transparency, Unions, Village Attorney, Village Code, Village Director of Administration, Your Barrington Hills on June 10, 2024| 1 Comment »
The Village Equestrian Commission will be meeting at 5:30 this afternoon. Items on their agenda include:
A copy of the agenda can be viewed and downloaded here. Recordings from their May 24th meeting can be reviewed here.
Editorial note: The May 24th meeting recordings reveal Trustee Laura Ekstrom (a high-functioning talkaholic) actively participated in that meeting as though she was a sitting commission member. However, Ekstrom was appointed as a liaison to the Equestrian Commission. As such, what we’ve experienced over many years is that her role should be that of an observer, to answer questions posed by the commission and to report back to the Board of Trustees with commission meeting activity.
* Approval of minutes from prior meetings traditionally precedes items to be discussed and voted on in the current agenda.
Posted in Agendas, Audio recordings, Barrington Hills Park District, Big Red, Conflict of interest, Deception, Entertainment, Equestrian Commission, Ethics, Fox River Valley Hunt, FPDCC, FRVPC, Horizon Farm, Horse Boarding, Land Use, Lighting Ordinance, Massbach Hounds, Organizations, Politics, Property Taxes, Real Estate, Riding Center Advisory Committee, Riding Club of Barrington Hills, Save 5 Acres, Topics Of Interest, Unions, Village Director of Administration on September 12, 2023| Leave a Comment »
The Equestrian Commission will hold a meeting this evening at 6:30 PM. Though scheduled to meet quarterly, this will be their first meeting in a year.
Topics on this evening’s agenda are:
A copy of the agenda can be viewed 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 Agendas, Animal Welfare, Barrington Hills Polo Club, Commercial Horse Boarding, Conflict of interest, Deception, Equestrian Commission, Ethics, Fox River Valley Hunt, FRVPC, Horizon Farm, Horse Boarding, Land Use, Massbach Hounds, Politics, Property Taxes, Riding Club of Barrington Hills, Transparency, Village Government on October 27, 2021| Leave a Comment »
The Equestrian Commission will hold a special meeting tomorrow at 6:30 PM to review, and perhaps vote on, a draft of the, “Equestrian Trail License,” text amendment to our village code. A copy of their agenda can be viewed and downloaded here.
We’ll reserve comments until it reaches the Board of Trustees (as difficult as that may be).
Related: “September Riding Club newsletter released“
Posted in Agendas, Barrington Hills Park District, Barrington Hills Polo Club, 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, Riding Club of Barrington Hills, Topics Of Interest, Transparency, Unions, Village Government, Well Water Quality on September 10, 2021| 3 Comments »
The Riding Club of Barrington Hills (RCBH) recently released their September, 2021 newsletter. One of the sections provides an “update” on the August meeting of the Village Equestrian Commission regarding, Equestrian Trail Licenses:
“The Equestrian Commission met on the 19th of August to discuss the continued need for the Equestrian Trail Licenses issued by the Village for the purpose of riding on the Village deeded easement trails.
By Ordinance in June in 2005, certain trails traversing private land in the Village exist as easements recorded in favor of the Village. The easements are generally in and around the newer subdivisions in the Village where the Village and the Equestrian Commission worked successfully with developers subdividing tracts of land to protect the continuity of the trail network and to maintain the unique character of the Village. Easement trails are maintained by the RCBH. As set forth in Title 6 and Section 8-5 of the Village Code, equestrian use of easement trails is allowed solely by licenses issued by the Village of Barrington Hills.
There is an ongoing discussion with a need for further information. As soon as the Equestrian Commission has that information a date will be determined for the next meeting.”
In other words, they’d rather not reveal anything that was discussed. No surprise.
A copy of the RCBH newsletter can be viewed and downloaded here.
Posted in Agendas, Animal Welfare, Barrington Hills Polo Club, Entertainment, Equestrian Commission, Ethics, Fox River Valley Hunt, FRVPC, Land Use, Politics, Public Safety, Riding Club Commission, Riding Club of Barrington Hills, Unions, Village Government on August 19, 2021| Leave a Comment »
The Village Equestrian Commission meets this evening at 6:30 PM. Topics on their agenda include:
The chair has submitted her summary of the “Equestrian Trail License” topic beginning on page three of the agenda which can be found here.
We have our own perspective(s) on the license matter, but for now, we’ll sit back and observe.
Related: “Riding Club August newsletter released”
Posted in Agendas, Animal Welfare, Commercial Horse Boarding, Deception, Equestrian Commission, Ethics, Fox River Valley Hunt, FPDCC, FRVPC, FUBAR, Horizon Farm, Intergovernmental agreements (IGA), Land Use, LeCompte/Anderson Commercial Horse boarding amendment, Politics, Riding Club of Barrington Hills on June 7, 2021| Leave a Comment »
The Equestrian Commission meets this evening for the first time in a year at 6:30 PM. The agenda the commission submitted (and NO, we are NOT kidding) is as follows:
Click here to view and download the agenda as submitted.
 | joefargo3767 on Pritzker could unlock $1 billi… |
 | joan g Abboud on Appeals court says it will rev… |
 | M Crowe on Illinois bill would override l… |
| joefargo3767 on Illinois bill would override l… |
 | Aravindh on Editorial: As AI turns classma… |
| M Crowe on Wisconsin sheriff sues Skokie… |
 | D220 Insider on Wisconsin sheriff sues Skokie… |