Posted in Agendas, Barrington Education Association, Board of Education, Deception, District 220 referendum, Ethics, FOIA, Politics, Pritzker’s Rules of Order, Property Taxes, School Districts, Taxes, Unions, What the Ficke (Bradford)? on December 5, 2023| Leave a Comment »
The District 220 Board of Education meets this evening at 7:00 PM at the District Administration Center, 515 W. Main Street. Topics on their agenda include:
A copy of the agenda can be viewed here. The meeting will be live-streamed on the district YouTube channel.
Related: “District 220 Board approves estimated 2023 tax levy”
Posted in Deception, Ethics, FOIA, One Barrington Hills, Politics, School Districts, Village Government, Village President on November 30, 2023| Leave a Comment »
Illinois Supreme Court Chief Justice Mary Jane Theis | BlueRoomStream
By Greg Bishop | The Center Square
In September, the Illinois Supreme Court heard a case brought by two individuals who used the Freedom of Information Act to try and get records regarding why their FOID cards were either revoked or suspended.
During oral arguments, Chief Justice Mary Jane Theis raised the prevailing point that was ultimately issued unanimously Thursday.
“These documents are not subject to FOIA, can’t be inspected or copied, but there are other avenues that people can get information,” Theis said.
Representing the plaintiffs, attorney Thomas Maag said getting such information by calling Illinois State Police is not efficient.
“I invite this court to go to their website and dial the telephone number and see how many hours it takes to get a person, if you even can,” Maag argued.
More here.
Posted in Clown Car, Conflict of interest, Deception, ePacket Agendas, Equestrian Commission, Ethics, Finance Committee, FOIA, FUBAR, Insurance Committee, Mad Cows, Minutes, Mówimy po polsku, Plan Commission, Police Pension Board, Politics, Property Taxes, Public Safety, Real Estate, Roads & Bridges Committee, Topics Of Interest, Transparency, VBHPD, Village Attorney, Village Board, Village Clerk, Village Code, Village Director of Administration, Village Engineer, Village Government, Village President, Village Treasurer, Zoning Board on January 23, 2023| 1 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.
This month’s agenda now has two options for residents to attempt to listen in to tonight’s meeting:
Would those with the time and inclination try listening to both options and report back which one sucks less in terms of sound clarity? It would be ever so much appreciated!
Posted in Agendas, Audio Recordings, Big Red, Building Department, Clown Car, Conflict of interest, Deception, Elections, ePacket Agendas, Finance Committee, Financial Reports, FOIA, FUBAR, Legal Expenses, Mac's Property Management, Minutes, Pension Funding, Politics, Property Taxes, Public Safety, Real Estate, Road construction, Roads & Bridges Committee, Roads and Bridges, Taxes, The New Normal, Transparency, VBHPD, Village Board, Village Engineer, Village Government, Village President, Village Treasurer on November 17, 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 their agenda can be viewed and downloaded here, however residents should take special note of their draft 2023 Budget, particularly as it relates to Roads & Bridges where at least one expense is up over 100%.
By far one of the largest increases is in, “Road Maintenance Contracts.” This year’s budget is $661,000. But the proposed amount next year is $1,059,200. That’s an increase of $398,200.
“Mowing/Cleanup Contracts,” is going from $70,00 this year to more than double that in 2023 at $150,000.
In an effort to understand the underlying reasons for these and other increases, we listened to the recordings of the nearly two (2) hour November 8th Special Meeting of the Roads & Bridges Committee yesterday. What we found revealed largely incoherent rambling (as usual) by the chair. As of this posting, the audio now states, “Unsupported audio,” as seen in this link, unfortunately, but some who heard the recording might consider this a blessing.
Hopefully this evening we’ll learn why such exorbitant roads increases are being proposed, but beforehand we’d like to share some advice with the Roads & Bridges Chair in the form quote from a famous Thanksgiving movie that goes, “…when you’re telling these little stories, here’s a good idea. Have a point. It makes it so much more interesting for the listener!”
Posted in 2021 Elections, Appointments, Building Department, Conflict of interest, Deception, Ethics, FOIA, FUBAR, OMA, One Barrington Hills, Politics, Village Board, Village Government, Village President on May 6, 2022| Leave a Comment »
Readers may recall we twice bumped the One Barrington Hills (OBH) committee (Brian Cecola, David Riff, Laura Ekstrom and Tom Strauss) pretty hard when they were delinquent in two consecutive filings required be the Illinois State Board of Elections (ISBE):
We decided to check in on the committee’s 2022 first quarter reporting (or lack thereof in recent history), and we discovered some very hurried fillings by OBH occurred after our second delinquency post. The last of those ISBE postings was a long overdue final report submitted and filed by OBH on January 26th, thereby closing their account.
From the time OBH filed their Statement of Organization on February 9th, 2021, to when they submitted their Final Report on January 26th, 2022, they had posted:
To view and print a copy of these reports, click here.
Having closed that error fraught chapter in their 2021 campaign, the One Barrington Hills committee expunged all records on their campaign website. When visiting the former OBH website (click here to attempt), a message appears, either “Warning: Potential Security Risk Ahead” or “This connection is untrusted”. To view the report, the user must tap, “Accept the Risk and Continue” or “Proceed to (unsafe) site.” Is stonewalling now their new norm?
And just last month, residents reported they couldn’t hear April’s Board of Trustees meeting due to low or no volume when they phoned in, so what are they to make of this?
If the OBH party is sending a less than subtle message to residents, consider it received, Brian, David, Laura, and Tom. But you’re in for a LONG three (3) more years in office.
Posted in Commercial Horse Boarding, Finance Committee, FOIA, Fox River Valley Hunt, FRVPC, Guest Essay, Land Use, LeCompte/Anderson Commercial Horse boarding amendment, Legal Expenses, Plan Commission, Politics, Property Taxes, Public Safety, Real Estate, Riding Club of Barrington Hills, Topics Of Interest, Transparency, Village Government on February 22, 2022| 2 Comments »
Earlier today we published the agenda (seen here) for tonight’s Board of Trustees meeting. We included links to both the approved 2021 Appropriations, and the proposed 2022 Appropriations, and a longtime subscriber shared the following:
“Of the total decrease in Legal Expense ($948,937), decrease in Litigation, Planning/Zoning and FOIA expense ($446,000) represents 56.3 % of the total decrease.
Unless one examines the budget items in detail, one might conclude that the current administration is doing a pretty good job of managing the finances of the Village. That would be an incorrect assumption. It hides other areas of the budget (such as Permit Administration) where improper management may be concluded.
It should also be noted that much of the huge legal expense incurred in recent years revolves around the desires of one resident to impose a huge commercial horse boarding operation on residents, in effect having residents subsidizing equestrian amenities and lifestyle to non-residents by giving access to the Equestrian Trail System.”
Related: “Village Board of Trustees meets tonight“
Posted in Building Department, Conflict of interest, Ethics, FOIA, OMA, OP/Ed, Plan Commission, Politics, The New Normal, Village Board, Village Clerk, Village Engineer, Village Government, Village President on January 28, 2022| Leave a Comment »
Monday we posted a letter written by former Village President Martin McLaughlin to members of our Board of Trustees (BOT) advising them of a conflict of interest at Village Hall (a copy can be found here). Less than two months later, a resident sent a similar letter to the BOT, which she also read in public at the June 28th, 2021, BOT meeting.
Robin VanCastle, who is Deputy Village Clerk of our Village and Vice Chair of the Plan Commission, wrote the following:
“Board of Trustees of Barrington Hills###
I am concerned with the conflict of interest in the building permit coordinator, Stephanie Cecola, being the wife of the Village President, Brian Cecola. It is completely inappropriate for an elected official to supervise and sign the paycheck of a family member. This is a question of ethics, not legality. It is not just about impropriety; it is about the appearance of impropriety.
I volunteer as the Deputy Village Clerk and serve as a member of the Plan Commission. I do this because I love the Village and I do this for free. I am surprised that the building permit coordinator did not step down from her position after her husband was elected as Village President. If the residents of the Village knew about this conflict, I believe they would not approve. I support the hiring of a new building permit coordinator that is not related to any of the Trustees.
I have filed a FOIA request for any documentation pertaining to questions of conflicts of interest between elected officials and their spouses.
I plan to attend the Board of Trustees meeting on Monday, June 28th to emphasize my commitment to this issue.
Sincerely,
#####
Robin VanCastle”
A copy of her letter can be seen here. Her comments to the BOT can be heard at the at the 00:40 minute mark of the recording here.
Once again, no comments were made in public by our BOT in any record we’ve found. None! Months would pass before corrective measures were taken.
It should be noted that Ms. VanCastle wasn’t backstopping McLaughlin’s private position with the BOT. His letter was only made public this past Monday, eight months after it was written. She chose to convey her feelings shared by most in our Village at the time in a very public way, and she has our utmost respect for that.
If readers are sensing déjà vu about now, it’s due to the fact that we posted her comments in July (see “Agreed”). We chose to remind readers now since it’s critical to reaching the conclusions we have when our series continues next week.
Related: “Our predominantly pusillanimous Village Board (Part 1)”
Posted in Building Department, Conflict of interest, Ethics, Financial Statements, FOIA, Insurance Committee, OMA, Pension Funding, Police Reports, Public Safety, Transparency, VBHPD, Village Attorney, Village Board, Village Clerk, Village Code, Village Director of Administration, Village Engineer, Village Government, Village President, Village Treasurer, Zoning Board on June 28, 2021| 1 Comment »
The Village Board of Trustees will be conducting their monthly meeting this evening at 6:30 PM. Some of the topics on their agenda include:
A copy of the agenda can be viewed and downloaded here.
Posted in Cook, County, Crime, FOIA, Police Reports, Public Safety, VBHPD on April 20, 2020| Leave a Comment »
“I’m not sure what the address is … ,” one person said. “I’m scared. … Can you see my location? Please come. Please, please, please.”
A review of 911 calls made on the night of a fatal Barrington Hills rental home shooting in early March offers a glimpse into the chaos of the night as party-goers called for help as they reported hiding in closets, bathrooms and other areas in and outside the sprawling house.
The 20 minutes of audio, which Pioneer Press received through a Freedom of Information Act request from Barrington Hills police, features 911 dispatchers fielding about two dozen calls. They were mostly from panicked party-goers, following early-morning gunfire March 7 in the 300 block of Old Sutton Road.
The emergency calls began with dispatchers asking for the address of the incident. Most who had dialed 911 didn’t immediately know where they were and said they had to check. A number of callers were hoping dispatchers could get the location using information from the callers’ cell phone.
Read more from the Chicago Tribune/Pioneer Press here.
Posted in Agendas, Building Department, ePacket Agendas, Finance Committee, Financial Reports, FOIA, Heritage and Environs Committee, Legal Expenses, Minutes, Police Pension Board, Police Reports, Roads and Bridges, Uncategorized, VBHPD, Village Attorney, Village Board, Village Code, Village Government on June 24, 2017| Leave a Comment »
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The Village Board will meet on Monday June 26th at 6:30 PM. The agenda can be viewed