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Archive for the ‘FOIA’ Category

Village Board of Trustees meets this evening

Posted in Aunt Blabby, BCFPD, Board of Health, Building Department, Clown Car, Conflict of interest, County, Dumb and Dumber, ePacket Agendas, Equestrian Commission, Ethics, Finance Committee, FOIA, Folds of Honor, Goat Rodeo, Horizon Farm, Horse Boarding, Intergovernmental agreements (IGA), Land Use, McHenry, Minutes, Open Meetings Act, Plan Commission, Police Pension Board, Politics, Property Taxes, Public Safety, Real Estate, Riding Club Commission, Riding Club of Barrington Hills, RINO, Road construction, Roads & Bridges Committee, Topics Of Interest, Unions, VBHPD, Veteran's Crossing Bridge, Village Attorney, Village Board, Village Clerk, Village Code, Village Director of Administration, Village Engineer, Village Government, Village President, Village Treasurer, Yabba Dabba Doo on June 23, 2025| Leave a Comment »

The Village Board of Trustees will be conducting their regular monthly meeting this evening beginning at 6:30 PM. Topics on their agenda include:

A copy of their agenda can be viewed and downloaded here.

Related: “ADVERTISEMENT FOR BIDS – Village of Barrington Hills”

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Darby Hills Sworn In to Represent Illinois’ 26th Senate District

Posted in Animal Welfare, Appointments, Barrington Education Association, BOHICA, Clown Car, Deception, Dinky, Ethics, FOIA, FUBAR, Goat Rodeo, Look For The Union Label, Massbach Hounds, New Normal?, Politics, Press Release, Resident Spotlights, Springfield, The Chicago Way, Transparency, Unions, Village Government, Wikipedia on February 28, 2025| 2 Comments »

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 28th, 2025

BARRINGTON HILLS, IL – Darby Hills has officially been sworn in as the new State Senator for Illinois’ 26th Senate District, bringing a lifelong commitment to public service and advocacy for children and families to the Illinois Senate. A dedicated community leader, Hills has served as a trustee on the Barrington Hills Village Board and is the founder of Barrington Children’s Charity, which provides meals to hundreds of children each week.

“I am honored to officially represent the 26th District in the Illinois Senate, and my mission is clear— fighting for the families who make this community strong. We must support parents, create opportunities for kids to succeed, and ensure government works for the people, not against them,” said Hills. “I will fight to cut taxes, hold government accountable and advance policies that grow our economy. I will bring the voices of families to Springfield and work every day to build a better future for the next generation.”

Hills’ commitment to public service is deeply personal. Raised in a working-class household by a single mother, she understands the challenges families face and has dedicated her career to making a difference. Through Barrington Children’s Charity, she has helped ensure that 525 children receive meals each week in Barrington-area schools. As a Barrington Hills trustee, she has fought to keep taxes low, rein in wasteful spending, and hold government accountable.

A former Cook County prosecutor and attorney, Hills brings both legal expertise and real-world experience to the Senate. She is also a wife and mother of three, giving her a firsthand perspective on the issues that matter most to families.

As she begins her service in the Illinois Senate, Hills is focused on providing relief for taxpayers, ensuring government is transparent and accountable, and promoting policies that strengthen the economy. She is committed to supporting families, expanding opportunities for children, and making sure the voices of her constituents are heard in Springfield.

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Source

Related: “Darby Hills chosen — again — to succeed Dan McConchie in state Senate,” “’The Fix’ is in?,” “Darby Hills’ appointment to state Senate on hold as Republicans reopen applications for McConchie’s seat,” “26th Legislative District Committee meeting cancelled,” “State Senator seat at any price?,” ”26th Legislative District Committee meeting tomorrow,” “Do Over Scheduled for Meeting to Replace State Senator Dan McConchie,” “Restraining order sought to block 26th Senate appointment amid legal fight,” “Lawsuit challenges legality of GOP appointment to 26th State Senate seat,” “McConchie’s would-be successor isn’t a Republican and can’t serve, lawsuit alleges,” “Darby Hills Appointed as New State Senator for Illinois’ 26th Senate District”

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District 220 Board of Education meets tonight

Posted in 220, Agendas, Barrington Education Association, Barrington High School, Board of Education, DARCHED, Deception, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI), Ethics, FOIA, His Master's Voice, Look For The Union Label, Politics, Pritzker’s Rules of Order, Property Taxes, School Districts, Taxes, Unions, Video Streaming, What the Ficke (Bradford)? on June 18, 2024| Leave a Comment »

The District 220 Board of Education meets this evening at 6:30 PM at the District Administration Center, 515 W. Main Street. Items on their agenda include:

A copy of the agenda can be viewed here. The meeting will be live-streamed on the district YouTube channel.

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Two items of interest on Monday’s Board of Trustees meeting agenda

Posted in Agendas, Barbarian Migrants in Busses at the Gate, Big Red, Clown Car, Deception, Dumb and Dumber, Ethics, FOIA, Politics, Privacy, Property Taxes, Resident Spotlights, Topics Of Interest, Village Attorney, Village Board, Village Clerk, Village Code, Village Director of Administration, Village Engineer, Village Government, Village President on February 24, 2024| 3 Comments »

After nearly four (4) years, the Village will present, “Donlea Road (Lacey Lake) Drainage Investigation Final Findings,” Monday night at the Board of Trustees meeting. Since the item precedes Public Comment, one can assume attendees will be afforded the privilege of asking questions and commenting.

A copy of the, “DRAINAGE INVESTIGATION FINDING,” report can be found here, and this topic is first on the agenda.

Last on their agenda Monday, after the Board meets in Executive Session, comes:

“[Vote] Ordinance Annexing Territory Commonly Known as 15 Old Sutton Road, 188 Old Sutton Road, 190 Sutton Road, 191 Penny Road, 193 Penny Road, 545 Penny Road, 545 Penny Road, and Identified Railroad Property to the Village of Barrington Hills Ordinance 24 –“

This seems like a chickenshit tactic since attendees will be compelled to stay until the end of the meeting and be required to exit the MacArthur room while the Board confabs. In a way, this is likely beneficial, though, since they wouldn’t want to exhibit their ignorance (any more than usual) in public session.

Documentation on the agenda for this item includes:

Interested parties are strongly encouraged to attend this meeting since the Village Zoom audio quality is pa-thetic and comment and question features are disabled.

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District 220 Board of Education property tax levy public hearing and regular meets tonight

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 »

220 Admin

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:

  • Open Public Hearing On Property Tax Levy
  • Public Comment
  • Informational (FOIA) Reports
  • Revised Personnel Report
  • Second Reading of Board Policy

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”

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Illinois Supreme Court rules FOIA of FOID information not allowed

Posted in Deception, Ethics, FOIA, One Barrington Hills, Politics, School Districts, Village Government, Village President on November 30, 2023| Leave a Comment »

Mary Jane Theis

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.

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Village Board of Trustees meets this evening

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 »

VBH Village HallOur 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:

Audio OptionsWould 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!

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Village Board of Trustees meets tonight

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 »

11.22 BOT

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!”

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Meanwhile, One Barrington Hills makes amends, extinguishes website and turns the volume down  

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 »

OBH

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:

  • Two A-1 reports of contributions of $1,000 or more
  • Two D-2 Quarterly reports submitted on time
  • Two D-2 Quarterly reports submitted after the deadline
  • Eight (8) D-2 Quarterly reports submitted with corrections

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.

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Some observations on tonight’s Appropriations public hearing

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 »

App Cap

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“

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