Posted in 2021 Elections, Animal Welfare, Audio Recordings, Building Department, Commercial Horse Boarding, Conflict of interest, Deception, Ethics, Financial Reports, Land Use, Police Reports, Politics, Public Safety, Riding Club Commission, Riding Club of BH, Roads & Bridges Committee, VBHPD, Village Attorney, Village Board, Village Clerk, Village Code, Village Engineer, Village Treasurer, Zoning Board on January 8, 2021| Leave a Comment »
Recordings have been released from last month’s Board of Trustee’s meeting (12.17.2020), and the Village Attorney’s report contained the following update:
“Just really quickly, the Drury litigation versus the Village discovery is now closed. It’s moving in to motion practice, so we’ll hopefully get some kind of ruling in February, March-ish.”
To listen to the recording of the December 17th BOT meeting, click here.
Related: “Things may get very interesting after Thanksgiving…”
Posted in Property Taxes, Roads & Bridges Committee, VBHPD, Village Board on December 31, 2020| Leave a Comment »
Not much seemed business as usual in 2020, but one thing that hasn’t changed is our annual tradition of reaching out to Northwest suburban mayors and village presidents to ask them what their community accomplished in the year gone by and something they hope to accomplish in the year ahead. Today, we share the accomplishments of a challenging 2020. On Friday, we’ll share the mayors’ hopes for 2021.
Barrington Hills Village President Martin McLaughlin
We are pleased to announce to our residents that we will now have lowered our levy for the seventh year in a row, operating government as efficiently as possible. The village has improved our road resurfacing and drainage programs as well as achieving CALEA accreditation, the highest standard possible for our law enforcement.
Read the full Daily Herald wrap-up including Barrington, Hoffman Estates, Inverness, Lake Barrington and South Barrington among others here.
Posted in Cook, County, IDOT, Property Taxes, Roads & Bridges Committee, Village Engineer on November 23, 2020| 1 Comment »
Donlea Road runs from Old Sutton to County Line Roads in Cook County (Please click on image to enlarge)
The Cook County Board has approved funding for projects led by the Department of Transportation and Highways for the final design and right of way land acquisition for the Northfield Happ Road Corridor Improvement and for a Barrington Hills drainage investigation.
The Village of Northfield is planning a traffic circle on Happ Road between Willow and Winnetka roads to promote a safe, walkable environment around the downtown area.
In Barrington Hills, record rainfall three years in a row and drainage challenges forced the closure of Donlea Road from Butternut Road to County Line Road to close for more than a month. The village and the county will work with homeowners to address the water displacement issue.
Posted in Agendas, ePacket Agendas, Financial Reports, Minutes, Police Pension Board, Police Reports, Roads & Bridges Committee, Special Use Permits, VBHPD, Village Attorney, Village Board, Village Code, Village Director of Administration, Village Engineer, Village President, Village Treasurer, Zoning Board on November 17, 2020| Leave a Comment »
The Village Board of Trustees will be holding their regular monthly meeting this evening at 6:30 PM. A copy of their agenda can be viewed here.
Those wishing to try to listing in on the meeting can phone 508-924-1464.
Posted in Agendas, Audio Recordings, Building Department, Intergovernmental agreements (IGA), Land Use, Lighting Ordinance, Minutes, OMA, Plan Commission, Police Pension Board, Real Estate, Road construction, Roads & Bridges Committee, Special Use Permits, Topics Of Interest, Traffic, VBHPD, Village Attorney, Village Board, Village Code, Village Director of Administration, Village Engineer, Village Treasurer, Zoning Board on October 29, 2020| 1 Comment »
The recordings from October 26th Board of Trustees meeting have been released. Click here to access the link from the Village website.
Posted in Agendas, Algonquin Rd, Cellular Service, ePacket Agendas, Financial Reports, Intergovernmental agreements (IGA), Land Use, Lighting Ordinance, Property Taxes, Real Estate, Resident Spotlights, Roads & Bridges Committee, VBHPD, Village Attorney, Village Board, Village Code, Zoning Board on October 26, 2020| Leave a Comment »
The Village Board of Trustees will be holding their monthly meeting this evening at 6:30 PM. Some of the topics for discussion and/or vote include:
A copy of the agenda can be viewed here. Those wishing to try to listing in on the meeting can phone 508-924-1464.
Related: “Mosque replica planned for 160 Hawthorne Road?” and “Kane County sending $27.5 million in federal relief to communities”
Posted in BHPD, Equestrian Commission, Ethics, Horse Boarding, Politics, Public Safety Committee, Roads & Bridges Committee, The New Normal, Topics Of Interest, Village Code on July 8, 2020| Leave a Comment »
It was long considered illegal to leave your horse unattended on the streets of Arlington Heights without having it securely fastened somewhere.
How long ago? Until this week.
The village’s lawyer found the antiquated rule on unattended equines and other “draft animals” when she went to update village code about negligent and distracted driving, a far more common occurrence in 21st-century suburbia than horses running loose through the streets.
“I think this may be the last vestige of something that’s truly, truly, truly old,” said Robin Ward, the village’s in-house counsel.
Ward was surprised when she found the old section of municipal code because much of it had been cleaned up during a re-codification in 1995. Before that, the code was updated in the 1960s. But the horse rule likely predates that, into the 1920s, Ward said.
Read more here.
Posted in Audio Recordings, Building Department, Crime, Plan Commission, Police Pension Board, Police Reports, Roads & Bridges Committee, VBHPD, Village Attorney, Village Board, Village Clerk, Village Code, Village Engineer, Village Treasurer, Zoning Board on March 28, 2020| Leave a Comment »
Recordings from the remotely orchestrated Board of Trustees meeting Tuesday night have been posted and can be accessed for your listening pleasure by clicking here.
At the beginning of Trustee Brian Cecola’s Public Safety report, he read a letter he entered in to the record that we felt we should post now in light of the events on Old Sutton Road three weeks ago today.
His letter reads as follows:
“I want take this opportunity as public safety chair to personally thank our officers for the fine work they did with this recent incident. I also want to thank our surrounding communities police tasks force without their assistance and support it would be impossible tb investigate and handle situations like this.
As the public may or may not be aware when we have incidents, we rely upon intergovernmental agreements with surrounding communities to support each other in investigations.
In a recent meeting with the village president and administrator and in conjunction with the treasurer and the Police Chief I am advocating to move forward with presenting the· costs associated with this investigation for immediate reimbursement from the property owner the rental company agencies and the responsible party who rented this property.
As you may all be aware this village board tasked our Village attorney with notifying the owner of their non-compliance which they did promptly days prior to this incident.
It appears the property owner and rental agencies ignored our Instructions even after they agreed days prior that they were in violation.
They did so at their peril and if we do not recover our taxpayer’s costs then I suggest we take immediate legal action to do so.”
Hopefully Police Chief Joseph Colditz will have much more to report on this incident very soon.
Posted in Algonquin Rd, Cook, County, IDOT, Kane, Land Use, Longmeadow Parkway, Public Safety, Roads & Bridges Committee, Village Government, Village President on July 31, 2019| Leave a Comment »
The village of Barrington Hills is making plans to improve the 5-mile stretch of Algonquin Road between Routes 25 and 68.
Algonquin Road, also known as Route 62, is being studied to determine whether it should be widened.
The project is in Phase 1, which is expected to be completed by the end of 2020. Phase 1 should cost about $3.5 million, said Guy Tridgell, director of communications for the Illinois Department of Transportation.
The improvements are in response to the construction of the Longmeadow Parkway Tollway Bridge, Barrington Hills Village President Martin McLaughlin said. The bridge will span the Fox River and connect Randall Road in the west to Algonquin Road in the east, increasing traffic by about 8,000 cars on Algonquin Road.
Read more from the Northwest Herald here.
Posted in 2019 Elections, 2019 Trustee Elections, Audio Recordings, Board of Elections, Deception, Ethics, Finance Committee, OP/Ed, Police Pension Board, Politics, Public Safety Committee, Riding Club of BH, Roads & Bridges Committee, Village Board, Village Government, Zoning Board on April 1, 2019| 3 Comments »
Four years ago we asked readers of The Observer to trust our judgment when voting for 3 new trustees to be on our Village Board of Trustees (see Croll, Maison and Cecola for Barrington Hills Trustees).
In what turned out to be a hard fought, oft times contentious campaign, some may have thought we were asking for a leap of faith from our readers, and we continue to appreciate the confidence bestowed upon us by our readers. Though this year’s campaign is the quietest we’ve witnessed in 10 years, the stakes are no less high than they were four years ago.
Five residents are running for three seats on our Board of Trustees. Two residents are incumbent Trustees, one is a current member of the Zoning Board of Appeals, the other two ran unsuccessfully for village positions in 2017. Here are our thoughts on these five candidates:
Louis Iacovelli: Louis seems like an affable guy in the computer software business. His campaign website is well done, though it would be more suitable to have photo of a location in the Village on the home page and not unincorporated McHenry County.
We cannot support Louis candidacy for the simple reason his wife, Gigi Iacovelli, is the treasurer of the Barrington Hills Park District. Currently a candidate for election on the park board herself, she derives at least part of her income by providing lessons at the district. While this is not a direct conflict of interest, the potential for lack of objectivity may cause concern in a trustee position.
Linda H. Cools: Linda ran as a write-in candidate for trustee 2 years ago, and after two recent Board of Election hearings, she is running for trustee on the April 2nd ballot.
The best thing one can say about Linda is she will do anything to get elected. This was evidenced by the fact that she (‘misspoke’) under oath multiple times to the Village President, President Pro-Tem and the Deputy Village clerk (see Truth or consequences). We have no place in such a small village for unrepentant (misspeakers)!
Buettner
Debra Buettner: Debra had served on the Zoning Board of Appeals for nearly 4 years when President McLaughlin asked her to consider running for Trustee. When she asked if he needed her help, he replied “Yes.” And that’s why she’s running today.
Debra founded her law firm about the same time she moved to the village nearly thirty years ago. She is a graduate of Barrington High School, and she has her CPA as well as a law degree. Her confident attitude and her experience on the Zoning Board warrant our endorsement for Board of Trustees.
Cecola
Brian D. Cecola: Brian became a Trustee in 2015 and was given responsibility for Roads and Bridges as well as Public Safety. No one adequately prepared him for the conditions he would be inheriting, but as most residents now recognize, he was up for the challenge and then some.
Brian also graduated from Barrington High School and he also owns his own business. He and his wife, Stephanie, and their three children are active in the community, participating in the neighborhood clean up days and riding trail maintenance.
Brian is also very active in philanthropy, is President of the Lions Club, and helped found and run the Fourth of July tent and fireworks. Despite all this, when President McLaughlin asked him to serve another term, he agreed, and he has our wholehearted endorsement.
Bryan C. Croll: Bryan was also elected to the Board of Trustees in 2015. He has been in charge of monitoring the finances of the village with the day-to-day oversight Peggy Hirsch, Village Treasurer. He and Peggy also keep track of police pension fund performance.
Bryan and his wife Josie have three children and he manages his family business remotely in Arizona. He donates his spare time to causes such as Barrington Area Conservation Trust and the local riding club.
We had some concerns with Bryan’s willingness to work with others early on in his first term. We now are equally concerned with his motivations in seeking a second term, and this publication cannot in good conscience unreservedly endorse him.
Overall endorsements: The Daily Herald, Village President Martin McLaughlin and President Pro-Tem Colleen Konicek Hannigan have endorsed Bryan Croll, Brian Cecola and Debra Buettner for Trustees of Barrington Hills.
Cecola and Buettner have the unconditional support of The Barrington Hills Observer. Both have demonstrated a passion for our Village and willingness to serve our community. Both display the honesty, dedication and sound judgement that will represent the residents of Barrington Hills admirably for the next four years.
Early voting ends today, April 1. Election Day polls open tomorrow morning at 6:00 AM.
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