Posted in BH Polo Club, Commercial Horse Boarding, Conflict of interest, ePacket Agendas, Ethics, FOIA, FRVPC, Horse Boarding, Land Use, Legal Expenses, Longmeadow Parkway, OMA, Politics, Riding Club of Barrington Hills, Road construction, Save 5 Acres, Topics Of Interest, Village Board, Village Government, Western Bypass on October 21, 2014| 3 Comments »
Our Village Hall staff have recently updated the ePacket agenda for this evening’s special Village Board meeting to include the three law firms allowed to present their capabilities for consideration by the board for Village attorneys going forward. The firms chosen were base on input from trustees based on a majority vote.
Those firms are:
A copy of the packet can be viewed here. The board meeting begins at 6:30 PM at Village Hall.
Posted in ePacket Agendas, Ethics, FOIA, Legal Expenses, OMA, Village Attorney, Village Board on September 4, 2014| 8 Comments »
The Village has posted a link to the ePacket agenda for this evening’s Village Board meeting. That agenda can be viewed here.
The only business before the board is the discussion and possible approval of a “Procedure for Soliciting Qualifications for Office of Village Attorney.” A copy of the document outlining that proposed procedure can be downloaded here.
Posted in 2015 Elections, Bicyclists, Building Department, Commercial Horse Boarding, County, Financial Reports, FOIA, Horse Boarding, Land Use, Legal Expenses, McHenry, Minutes, OMA, Pension Funding, Plan Commission, Public Safety, Roads and Bridges, Save 5 Acres, Taxes, VBHPD, Village Attorney, Village Board, Village Code, Village Government, Zoning Board on September 2, 2014| 1 Comment »
A copy of the recently posted July 28 Village Board meeting minutes can be downloaded here.
Posted in Accidents, Algonquin Rd, BACOG, BCFPD, Building Department, Commercial Horse Boarding, Cook, County, Crime, ePacket Agendas, Financial Reports, FOIA, FPDCC, Heritage and Environs Committee, Land Use, Legal Expenses, Longmeadow Parkway, McHenry, OMA, Pension Funding, Plan Commission, Police Reports, Public Safety, Road construction, Roads and Bridges, VBHPD, Village Board, Village Code, Zoning Board on April 29, 2014| 2 Comments »
Sometime after The Observer published a link to the ePacket agenda yesterday for Wednesday evening’s Village Board meeting, another topic for recommendation was added to the agenda under Building & Zoning.
Item 5.5 on the agenda is now “[Recommendation] ZBA Text Amendment Re: Horse Boarding.”
The updated ePacket agenda can be viewed here.
Related article: Appellate court decision sends local commercial horse boarding complaint back to lower court for further proceedings
Posted in Algonquin Rd, BACOG, BCFPD, Building Department, Commercial Horse Boarding, Cook, County, ePacket Agendas, Financial Reports, FOIA, FPDCC, Heritage and Environs Committee, Land Use, Longmeadow Parkway, McHenry, OMA, OP/Ed, Plan Commission, Police Reports, Public Safety, Road construction, Roads and Bridges, VBHPD, Village Board, Zoning Board on April 28, 2014| 2 Comments »
The April meeting of our Village Board will take place Wednesday evening beginning at 6:30 PM, and for the first time, the ePacket agenda the board members have access to prior to meetings has now been made available in advance to residents.
These ePacket agendas include:
The Observer applauds this landmark in transparency and appreciates the efforts of all who took part in making this significant enhancement to Village communications.
The April Village Board ePacket including links to document downloads can be viewed here.
Posted in BACOG, Elections 2011, FOIA, HALO, IAA, Kane, Land Use, Letters to the Editor, Lighting Ordinance, Longmeadow Parkway, OMA, OP/Ed, Politics, Topics Of Interest, Village Government, Well Water Quality on January 31, 2014| Leave a Comment »
Following are some of the articles published by The Observer in January in the last few years. These articles, gathered from various publications and editorials, are noteworthy for residents in that they remind us of where we’ve been as a community.
Barrington Hills’ long-controversial outdoor lighting ordinance could be up for its final vote on Monday, but even its most ardent opponents are at peace.
Read the Daily Herald story here.
FOIA, the Freedom of Information Act, is an enhancement of governmental transparency. FOIA provides access to information, including the village budget, costs, procedures, and the like. FOIAs are legitimately used by the media.
Read the original post with comments here.
Because East Dundee won’t hold a fifth hearing to discuss the merits of an auto auction business coming to town, neighboring Barrington Hills, which opposes the project, wants to host a town-hall meeting on the issue.
Revisit the original post with comments here.
If Kane County Board Chairman Chris Lauzen gets his way, Kane County residents may be asked whether the county should proceed with long-planned improvement of transportation on the county’s north end.
Lauzen told County Board members Wednesday he would be reluctant to support further work on the proposed Longmeadow Parkway project without a demonstration of public support for the large, regional road project.
Read the Northwest Herald story here.
– The Observer
Posted in Elections 2011, Financial Reports, FOIA, Newsletter, OP/Ed, Pension Funding, Save 5 Acres, VBHPD, Village Board on January 10, 2014| 12 Comments »
The most recent Village Newsletter was delivered at the peak of the holiday rush, just a day or two before Christmas, in mailboxes crammed with holiday cards and gifts. As a result, many residents may have missed out on what can only be described as the most self-serving and insulting gaffe any elected official ever published in a Barrington Hills newsletter. Trustee Selman, in her finance and 2014 budget update, buried on page 5, wrote the following:
“The 2014 Budget is lean, with a reduction in legal expenditures and over contributions to the police pension fund that combined equal a total of over $200,000. It will work, as long as everyone behaves.”
We assume from her obtuse writing style that the $200,000 referenced represents savings to taxpayers as a result of efforts she personally had little or nothing to do with, but we’ll give her a pass on that. As for the caveat she used regarding everyone behaving, that’s another matter.
Karen Selman is the last person on the board to preach about behavior to residents based on her own misbehavior in the last three years. Though it’s a matter of record, we believe some of her acts of misbehavior warrant repeating.
In her 2011 campaign for office, Selman accepted a $5,000 campaign donation check made out to her personally, and then donated the money to her campaign committee under her own name as though she was the contributor. As a result of her actions and those of her fellow candidates running as “Save 5 Acres” that year, the Illinois State Board of Elections penalized their committee with a two-year probation period that ended just last October.
Upon election to the Village Board in 2011, she was ironically appointed to the position of overseeing and reporting Village finances to the board and residents. That hasn’t worked out well either.
At numerous Village Board meetings, Selman is routinely incapable of answering some very rudimentary questions regarding bills for approval. Her utterance of “I’ll have to get back to you on that” has become an all too frequent response. Clearly, Selman enjoys the position, but does not do her homework before meetings, or at other times when it matters, and that’s clearly poor behavior.
Most recently, besides the newsletter gaffe, in October, Selman stood alone in voting against approving an overdue agreement with our sworn police officers after years of very costly losing litigation. Had her peers sided with her, our Village would have continued to hemorrhage legal fees and accrue more back pay due to our police force. More on this can be read in “Oh no she didn’t!”
Based on her history, many may wonder why Selman would even discuss behavior in her newsletter message. It’s hard to tell, but we think we have the answer.
A handful of residents exercise their lawful right, sometimes frequently, to file FOIA requests seeking answers to what occurs behind the scenes in our Village government. Fulfillment of some of these requests becomes costly due to what many believe is unnecessary reliance on Village counsel and inefficiencies with Village Hall staff.
Regardless of the costs, Selman chose to advise thousands of residents via the newsletter to behave themselves for the sake of budgets. This was another ill-advised, obdurate move on her part, and frankly, it was downright dumb.
In his book Timequake, Kurt Vonnegut wrote, “If your brains were dynamite, there wouldn’t be enough to blow your hat off.”
Based on everything we know now, Selman is clearly safe to wear hats anytime she wants. The bigger question, however, is if the ignition has already occurred, or when it will occur between now and when her term ends in fifteen months?
In the title of this editorial we asked, what was she thinking? Sadly, the answer seems to be, once again, she wasn’t thinking.
– The Observer
Posted in Audio Recordings, Board of Health, Communications Committee, Elections 2013, Finance Committee, FOIA, IAA, Land Use, Legal Committee, OMA, OP/Ed, Plan Commission, Politics, Riding Club Commission, Taxes, VBHPD, Village Board, Village Government on December 31, 2013| Leave a Comment »
The Observer takes a look back at the year gone by and presents our most frequently read editorials and news stories for 2013. Click on any title to read or revisit stories from this past year.
Editorials:
In May, the Observer anticipated the swearing-in of newly elected Village President Martin McLaughlin, and presented readers with a message of healing and reconciliation.
September Board recordings released and our observations
This was our most commented story of the year, and focused on the efforts of Trustee Patty Meroni to block the Inaugural Hills are Alive Fall Heritage Festival.
This editorial from August discussed the ongoing difficulties that Village Board member Karen Selman seems to have with her duties chairing the Finance Committee.
The IAA Battle: Why it was over before it began
After East Dundee approved the proposed IAA auto auction facility in July, the Observer reflected upon a multitude of reasons that Bob Abboud’s strategy was doomed to fail.
This editorial, leading up to the April Village Election, highlighted the financial issues which faced the Village, including exorbitant legal spending and high FOIA costs.
McLaughlin for Village President, Konicek Hannigan and Stieper for Trustee
This opinion piece featured The Observer’s endorsements for Village Board seats in the April 9 election.
News Stories:
McLaughlin Looks Ahead to Barrington Hills Presidency
The day after Martin J. McLaughlin’s surprise election victory over incumbent Robert G. Abboud, the Daily Herald interviewed the President-Elect, and discussed the challenges which lay ahead.
As was the case in 2012, the compilation of the results of this year’s annual resident survey was one of the Observer’s top five stories of the year.
Hills are Alive Heritage Festival draws big crowd
The first-ever Hills Are Alive Fall Heritage Festival drew a large crowd of over 800 residents, who enjoyed many activities at the Barrington Hills Park District Riding Center.
AG’s office reviews ex-mayor’s Barrington Hills appointments
Shortly before leaving office, and with little if any prior notice, the former Village President made over thirty nominations or renominations to nearly every Village non-elected board, commission and committee.
Ex-Barrington Hills mayor admits talking to ComEd about auto auction plan
Former Village President Robert Abboud admitted in July that he had contacted ComEd president and CEO Anne Pramaggiore and had urged her to deny Insurance Auto Auctions’ request to allow access to their East Dundee business using a ComEd easement.
– The Observer
Posted in FOIA, Village Government on May 15, 2013| Leave a Comment »
Illinois residents have the benefit of new laws aimed at opening up more government records — and when they don’t get the information they want, they’re raising a stink about it.
Appeals to the Illinois attorney general’s office for denied Freedom of Information Act requests jumped 22 percent last year. Most of those came from members of the public.
Read more here.
Posted in BACOG, Elections 2013, FOIA, OP/Ed, Save 5 Acres, Taxes, Unite Barrington Hills, Village Board, Village President on March 29, 2013| 4 Comments »
Now that early voting has begun in advance of the April 9th election, Barrington Hills residents are in the process of vetting candidates for Village President and the three Village Trustee positions. A comparison of incumbent President Bob Abboud and his “Save 5 Acres” slate to challenger Marty McLaughlin and trustee candidates Colleen Hannigan and David Stieper shows few differences in their positions on preserving five-acre zoning, protecting our natural environment or communicating better with residents. Where they dramatically differ, however, is in their stands on the state of our Village financial situation.
Abboud & Company believe that “no increases in tax levies” and so-called “balanced budgets” equal wise fiscal stewardship. However, a closer evaluation of the Village’s spending during Abboud’s eight years in office tells another story.
More waste. There are so many more examples of taxpayer money being wasted. Voters should think about the nearly $4000 dollars that the Village paid last summer for bringing in a tanker truck to water the landscape plants on the grounds of the Village Hall (despite the fact that there is a functioning irrigation system which we paid to maintain as well). Or there’s the $129 the Village pays each month for doormat rental. Yes, $1500 of our money each year is spent renting doormats. Taking a deeper look at our Village bills also shows $1559.00 spent annually on the calendar posted on the Village’s website. And, the village-wide mailing to announce last month’s “Mug Club,” which only four residents attended, cost us $523.It is abundantly clear to The Observer that an infusion of fresh leadership and vision is long overdue on our Village Board. If voters select Bob Abboud and his hand-picked slate, higher spending and higher taxes are virtually guaranteed. We urge residents to open their eyes to the real financial state of their village and to vote for the candidates who are not afraid to face facts and cut out the fat in Village spending.
– The Observer
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