Posted in Agenda, Audio Recordings, Cuba Rd Bridge, Cuba Township Road District, Ethics, FUBAR, Mac's Property Management, Property Taxes, Real Estate, Roads & Bridges Committee, TMI, Transparency, Village Director of Administration, Village Engineer, Village Government, Village President on March 16, 2023| Leave a Comment »
The Roads & Bridges Committee meets today at 4:00 PM at Village Hall. This will be the first time the Committee has met November 8 (See, “Special Election Day Roads & Bridges meeting today”).
A copy of their agenda can be viewed here.
Related: “Some perspectives on the proposed 2023 Appropriations Ordinance”
Posted in Agenda, Audio Recordings, Clown Car, Elections, FUBAR, Mac's Property Management, Mad Cow, Property Taxes, Public Safety, Road construction, Roads & Bridges Committee, Traffic, Village Government on November 8, 2022| Leave a Comment »
No, that’s not a typo. It’s not a practical joke either.
Roads & Bridges Chair Laura Ekstrom chose the absolute busiest day of the year at Village Hall to have her own special Roads & Bridges meeting consisting of one (1) agenda item today. And, her special meeting is scheduled at 3 PM, a time when many people vote since they leave their workplaces early.
Turnout for early voting this year has been brisk. The parking lots have frequently been seen nearly full, and yesterday lines were forming to vote, thus increasing frustrations.
Common sense would dictate alternative dates be chosen by Ekstrom, or short of that, a Zoom meeting be scheduled if there was no alternative. Clearly, this escaped her.
A copy of her agenda can be viewed here, and if you find yourselves trying to vote this afternoon but unable to park, we know who you have to thank.
Posted in Agenda, Audio Recordings, Property Taxes, Roads & Bridges Committee, Village Director of Administration, Village Government on April 7, 2022| Leave a Comment »
The Roads & Bridges Committee will meet today at 4:00 PM. A copy of their agenda can be viewed here.
Today’s topic of discussion is a proposal to, “Apply CRF to approximately 4,000 SY of selected asphalt pavement.” Proposed prices are included in the agenda.
Unfortunately, audio recordings from the special March 22 Roads & Bridges meeting are unavailable for review. Eight companies bid for the 2022 roads program at that meeting, and Orange Crush, LLC was awarded the contract.
Posted in 2021 Elections, Agenda, Audio Recordings, Conflict of interest, Politics, Public Safety, Roads & Bridges Committee, Village Director of Administration, Village Government, Village President on February 16, 2022| 4 Comments »
The 2021-2022 Winter Season will be a topic of discussion today at 4 PM at Village Hall.
The Roads & Bridges Committee will meet today at 4:00 PM. The only two topics on their agenda are:
A copy of the agenda can be viewed and downloaded here.
Audio recordings from some previous R&B meetings are now available for review. The December 13th, 2021, recording can be heard here, and the recording from the October 14th meeting where a resident first voiced concerns over switching snow plow services can be heard here.
Residents who would like to publicly comment on the new snow plowing contractor’s performance this year or other items can do so at the meeting, or they email the committee chair at lekstrom@barringtonhills-il.gov prior to the meeting.
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 Barrington Hills, 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.
Posted in Audio Recordings, Road construction, Roads & Bridges Committee, Uncategorized, Veteran's Crossing Bridge, Village Government on May 4, 2017| Leave a Comment »
Audio recordings from the April 20, 2017 meeting of the Roads & Bridges Committee have been posted. To access the menu of recordings edited by agenda item, click here.
Posted in Audio Recordings, Barrington Hills Farm, Cook, HARPS, Kane, Longmeadow Parkway, Road construction, Roads & Bridges Committee, Uncategorized on March 3, 2017| Leave a Comment »
Audio recordings from the February 17th Meeting of the Roads & Bridges Committee have been posted to the Village website. To access the main menu of recordings edited by agenda topic, click here
There were two speakers during the public comment portion of the meeting who referenced the current fight against the Longmeadow Parkway, and their remarks can be heard here
Agenda items that were discussed during the short meeting included clarification of jurisdiction of the Green Rail Bridge which carries Oak Knoll Road over Flint Creek. It has been determined that the Village and Cuba Township each control 50% of the bridge and a memo will be prepared to reflect the agreed-upon sharing of on-going maintenance costs.
The long-discussed permit for the second driveway onto Church Road for the proposed Barrington Hills Farm/HARPS facility, located at the northeast corner of Church and Chapel has finally been issued. Thankfully, no representatives of the farm were in attendance to sling out their usual protests, accusations and innuendos.
The meeting proceeded smoothly to a review of upcoming 2017 construction projects within Barrington Hills which are planned by Cook and Kane Counties. Cook County Department of Transportation confirmed that resurfacing of Brinker Road, from Route 62 to County Line Road, and of Otis Road, from Old Sutton to Brinker Road is on the schedule, although construction may not begin until 2018.
Kane County has noted that the Longmeadow Parkway is their priority project for the year and the portion of the project in Barrington Hills from IL 62 to east of IL 25, was described as having a target letting of “late summer/fall 2017”, with construction in 2017 and 2018.
Seasonal posting of weight limit reductions on all village roads will begin on February 27th and is expected to last until the beginning of May. No overweight truck traffic (over ten tons) will be allowed on village maintained roads during this period in order to protect the roads from damage during the freeze/thaw cycle.
Lastly, Chapel Road is scheduled to be resurfaced on this year’s road program. A review of the history of water flooding over the road from the two wetlands located on either side of Chapel took place. Given the uncertainty of the construction schedule for the proposed HARPS facility, Chairman Brian Cecola suggested that perhaps work on Chapel Road should be delayed until the HARPS construction has concluded, in order to prevent damage from semis and other overweight construction related vehicles. Cecola directed that the engineers should suggest an alternate road for inclusion in this year’s program, should Chapel be deferred for another year. Fritz Gohl suggested speaking to the landowners to both the north and south of the road to see if they would be willing to perform some work on their properties to help lower the level of the water in the wetlands and to prevent, or at least reduce, some of the road flooding.
The recording of the full discussion section can be heard here
Posted in Audio Recordings, Barrington Hills Farm, HARPS, Kane, Land Use, Road construction, Roads & Bridges Committee, Traffic, Uncategorized on January 13, 2017| 1 Comment »
Audio recordings from the January 9th Special Meeting of the Roads & Bridges Committee have been posted to the Village website. To access the main menu of recordings edited by agenda topic, click here.
Representatives from Enbridge and their contractors attended the meeting and answered questions involving an upcoming petroleum pipeline maintenance project in Fox River Grove, which will begin the week of January 16th. The project will take place along Algonquin River Road (between Church and Braeburn Roads) on the northern border of the village. Expected to last several months, construction will impact local traffic and motorists will likely encounter prolonged lane closures on River Road during the height of the work.
Directly impacted residents should receive notification about the project from Enbridge, and the Village also expects to send out community alerts as needed. Click here to listen to the Enbridge discussion.
The committee was also updated on the Longmeadow Parkway (LMP). Kane County has started tree removal in conjunction with the project, with the Barrington Hills portion included in the early phases. However, the Village had notified Kane County that Autumn Trail is a private road, and not a village road and had suggested that Kane’s Resolution to assume maintenance responsibility of the portion of Autumn Trail affected by LMP be revised to clarify this. Review of the approved resolution showed that no changes had been made by Kane County to reflect the inaccuracy.
The last agenda item was an unnecessarily protracted discussion of the terms for the dedication of an easement to the Village for landscape, drainage and/or utilities on the western edge of the proposed HARPS facility located at the corner of Church and Chapel Roads in unincorporated McHenry County. Nearly 45 minutes of the meeting was devoted to the topic, with several tedious questions by Trustee Gohl. He questioned why the Village would have to grant the landowner any permitted easement at all. He was informed by the village engineer that this same access permit process would be required of any property owner wishing to create a roadway entry point for anything more than a typical single family residential use (e.g. a new subdivision or an accessory driveway), due to the increased impact to the road, the multiple access points, wider required access points, etc.
And once again, the father of the former village president, who is also a representative of Barrington Hills Farm, once again attempted to insinuate that the village was intentionally dragging its feet in approving the easement, thus delaying the start of construction of the entire project. However, he did admit that it was the trust’s own decision not to proceed with the other aspects of the project.
The Board of Trustees is expected to approve the agreement at their next meeting on Monday January 23rd. The full discussion of the easement matter can be found here.
Posted in Algonquin Rd, Audio Recordings, Longmeadow Parkway, Roads & Bridges Committee on November 18, 2016| 1 Comment »
Audio recordings from the October 20th meeting of the Roads & Bridges Committee have been posted to the Village website. To access the main menu of recordings edited by agenda topic, click here.
One person made public comments, however he was with a firm that will be submitting a bid to provide engineering services to Barrington Hills.
The 2017 road resurfacing program was discussed, and, for the second year in a row, Committee Chair Brian Cecola suggested that resurfacing of the Village Hall parking lot should be postponed in favor of further catching up on residential road maintenance. The village engineer stated he would look into which roads may be brought forward from the 2018 work schedule that would fit into the budget, if the parking lot resurfacing be postponed.
Drainage issues along a portion of Oak Knoll Road were discussed at the suggestion of Trustee Konicek, and that conversation can be heard here.
A Longmeadow Parkway update was provided that should be of interest to Autumn Trail residents. It seems Kane County was unaware this road is private and that homeowners own the right of ways, not the Village, as can be heard here.
This discussion later expanded to the ramifications of the Longmeadow Parkway project from already congested traffic on Algonquin Road/Route 62 and proactive efforts by Village officials to mitigate safety issues for residents should that roadway ever be expanded to four lanes. Intersections at Bateman and Old Sutton Roads, as well as horse trail crossings, are among the biggest concerns expressed during the meeting.
The next Roads & Bridges meeting is scheduled for December 15th.
Posted in Audio Recordings, Commercial Horse Boarding, County, HARPS, McHenry, Road construction, Roads & Bridges Committee on October 6, 2016| 3 Comments »
Audio recordings from the September 22nd Roads & Bridges Committee meeting are available for review on the Village website. To access the menu of edited recordings by agenda topic, click here.
Trustee Gohl managed to make an appearance for the second month in a row, after over a year of consistent absences. Perhaps the fact that he’s up for re-election next April has motivated him to fulfill his responsibility as a voting member of the committee.
The meeting began with a general discussion of the plowing services to be provided by Cuba Township for the upcoming winter season for Village roads. Randy Marks, Highway Commissioner for the township, provided an overview of how the township deploys plows based on varying forecasts and weather conditions.
Marks reviewed with the committee the township’s policy of replacing mailboxes that may be damaged by plowing, especially if the post is not properly set in the ground, or the mailbox is not properly secured. If a mailbox is damaged on a Village maintained road, residents can contact the Township Roads Department (website link here), and they will come out and replace it with a basic post, mailbox, or both as a part of their services free of charge.
Final detail work on the Veterans’ Crossing Bridge is nearly complete, and another ceremony is planned next month on Veteran’s Day at the bridge site. The committee discussed concerns expressed by residents regarding line of sight at the bridge intersections and plan to address them, including clearing plant growth obstructing views at stop signs.
The 2016 road resurfacing projects have been completed, and two additional roads (Hawthorne Lane and River Road) which were not scheduled until next year for resurfacing were included in this year’s program. Despite the addition of future projects, this year’s roads maintenance expenses still came in slightly under budget.
Chapel, Church and the northern portion of Haegers Bend Roads are scheduled for resurfacing in 2017. However, since this year’s program was so productive, the committee will be reviewing the overall long-term plan to evaluate future resurfacing projects than may be brought forward while asphalt prices are still reasonable.
The last discussion item was a right of way dedication along Church Road in preparation for Barrington Hills Farm’s planned development of a new HARPS facility – a topic Trustee Cecola has apparently received a number of questions about, specifically as to why approval is taking “so long.” The recording of the process necessary to make this happen can be heard here, and it involves more Village bodies than simply the Roads & Bridges Committee.
It’s unclear if any political hay is being made over any perceived delay, but the recordings bear out the fact that the time needed for approval involved plans submitted by the developer of the property to the county (not Barrington Hills), and the fact that the proposed development is not in Barrington Hills. It was mentioned that the Village requested to be involved when the HARPS plans were being considered by McHenry County, but county officials declined.
The next meeting of the Roads & Bridges Committee is scheduled for October 20th.
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