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 220, Barrington Education Association, Board of Education, Clown Car, Conflict of interest, Cuba Township Road District, Deception, Elections, Ethics, FUBAR, His Master's Voice, Mac's Property Management, One Barrington Hills, OP/Ed, Politics, Public Safety, Resident Spotlights, Roads & Bridges Committee, School Districts, Transparency, Video Recordings, Village Government, What the Ficke (Bradford)? on December 31, 2022| Leave a Comment »
Following are the eleven (11) most viewed posts published in The Barrington Hills Observer in 2022:
For those wondering why eleven and not an even number, we simply couldn’t end the year without reminding readers where we’ve been in 2022 by omitting #11.
Posted in Community Alerts, Mac's Property Management, Roads & Bridges Committee on December 24, 2022| Leave a Comment »
Despite the fact that only 1.4 inches of snowfall were reported in Barrington Hills yesterday morning, roads remain slick throughout our Village this morning. County maintained roads are among the “best” when it comes to driving conditions, but Village maintained roads are mostly covered with tight packed snow and pose the most risk to drivers.
Please be cautious when running your last-minute Christmas errands today!
Posted in BACOG, Board of Elections, Building Department, ePacket Agendas, Equestrian Commission, Ethics, Finance Committee, Mac's Property Management, Minutes, Plan Commission, Police Pension Board, Police Reports, Property Taxes, Roads & Bridges Committee, VBHPD, Village Attorney, Village Board, Village Clerk, Village Code, Village Director of Administration, Village Engineer, Village Government, Village President, Village Treasurer, Zoning Board on December 19, 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 the agenda can be viewed and downloaded here.
Posted in Barrington Hills Park District, Bicyclists, Big Red, Building Department, Clown Car, Conflict of interest, Ethics, Horse Boarding, LeCompte/Anderson Commercial Horse boarding amendment, Mac's Property Management, Mad Cow, One Barrington Hills, OP/Ed, Politics, Riding Club of Barrington Hills, Roads & Bridges Committee, Transparency, Village Board, Village President, Your Barrington Hills on November 24, 2022| Leave a Comment »
“TV families are a lot like real families. They always come together for Thanksgiving. For the ultimate TV Thanksgiving, look no further than the 1968 episode of The (Barrington) Hillbillies, “The Thanksgiving Spirit.”
The crossover episode not only features the Clampetts, it features the cast members of Green Acres and Petticoat Junction. The episode culminates with a shared dinner that includes characters from the three shows.” (Source)
Editorial note: Many preferred to use the phrase, “Barrington Hillbillies,” when referring to the political antics of some in our “oasis of another time” Village, but that subsided until recently when the Cecola Administration took office. Now the popularity of that phrase is experiencing a resurgence.
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 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 Agendas, BACOG, Big Red, BOHICA, Building Department, Conflict of interest, ePacket Agendas, Equestrian Commission, Ethics, Financial Reports, FUBAR, Mac's Property Management, Minutes, OMA, Organizations, Politics, Property Taxes, Public Safety, Road construction, Roads & Bridges Committee, Transparency, VBHPD, Village Attorney, Village Board, Village Clerk, Village Code, Village Director of Administration, Village Engineer, Village Government, Village President, Well Water Quality on October 24, 2022| Leave a Comment »
Our Village Board of Trustees will be conducting their regular monthly meeting beginning this evening at 6:30 PM. Some topics on the agenda include:
Also, for those who’ve endured the deplorable sound quality when phoning in to attempt to participate in board meetings conversations, a new phone number appears on tonight’s agenda. What’s just swell about this new number is an eleven (11) digit meeting ID is required to participate on the call.
One can only assume this added aggravation will result in significantly improved sound quality. We’re looking forward to being pleasantly surprised.
A copy of the agenda can be viewed and downloaded here.
Posted in Appointments, Better Government Association, Big Red, Board of Health, BOHICA, Building Department, Conflict of interest, Contests, Crain's Chicago Business, Cuba Township Road District, Deception, Elections, Equestrian Commission, Ethics, Illinois State Board of Elections, LeCompte/Anderson Commercial Horse boarding amendment, Mac's Property Management, OMA, One Barrington Hills, OP/Ed, Politics, Property Taxes, Real Estate, Riding Club of Barrington Hills, Road construction, Roads & Bridges Committee, The New Normal, The Other Half, Transparency, Village Attorney, Village Board, Village Code, Village President, Village Treasurer on September 30, 2022| 1 Comment »
Last Winter, the Village of Lake Barrington published the following in their seasonal newsletter:
“Lake Barrington’s Ethics Commission
Did you know that the Village has an Ethics Commission? The independent commission adds to the overall transparency of our government and serves to investigate complaints alleging violations of the Ethics Chapter of the Village Code. We are proud to report that this 3-member Commission has never once had to meet regarding a violation!”
Their Municipal Code actually devotes a chapter to ethics, and the main page of their website contains a link to, “Report a Concern.”
As previously chronicled in this publication, if one searches our Village Code, keying in the word “ethics,” the result reads, “No Matches Found.”
Our Village needs an Ethics Commission. How else could parties involved in complaints present their respective cases to determine if ethics violations did, or did not, occur? Listed below are typical practices that might arise in our Village, and in our opinion, may warrant investigation, understanding that there are no implications as to guilt or innocence of any on the list:
For these and other reasons, our Village needs to appoint an Ethics Commission to act as ombudsmen, when any question of potential maladministration or ethics violations is considered or occurs.
Candidates for this proposed commission could come from existing appointed Village bodies, ones whose objectivity would be unquestioned.
The perfect candidates for this roll are the incumbent members of the Board of Heath. They are highly qualified, underutilized, and would prove to be an effective force in maintaining ethical governance of the Village of Barrington Hills.
Related: “Our predominantly pusillanimous Village Board (Part 1),” “Our predominantly pusillanimous Village Board (Part 2),” “Better Government Association Commends Passage of Chicago Ethics Ordinance–Sees More to Do,” “What happened to ethics reform in Illinois government? Why watchdogs have some hope,” “Meanwhile, One Barrington Hills makes amends, extinguishes website and turns the volume down,” “Learn from your (big) mistake, Laura, Bryan, Dave and Tom,” “Agreed”
Posted in Cuba Township Road District, Deception, Ethics, Mac's Property Management, Politics, Public Safety, Real Estate, Roads & Bridges Committee, Traffic, Village Government on August 29, 2022| Leave a Comment »
Snow could be piled high around the suburbs this winter, if early predictions of a snowy and wet season prove correct.
A snowier, wetter winter may be in the cards for the Chicago region, according to the latest seasonal outlook from the National Weather Service’s Climate Prediction Center.
The forecast shows that — along with a wide swath of the Midwest, including Indiana and much of Ohio — Illinois could see more precipitation than normal, while temperatures are predicted to remain near average levels.
One of the strongest indicators of a wet Chicago winter is the earth is in its third year of the naturally occurring weather phenomenon known as La Niña, which brings cooler-than-normal sea surface temperatures in the tropical Pacific Ocean.
Its counterpart, El Niño, refers to warmer tropical Pacific sea surface temperatures.
Meteorologist Matthew Rosencrans said current forecasts are “very reflective” of past La Niña winters, which typically have favored above average precipitation for the Great Lakes region.
“On a year-to-year basis, El Niño or La Niña controls about 38% of your variance, and we are in a La Niña, a decently strong one, and very likely to be in a La Niña through the winter,” he said.
However, don’t load up on salt or buy a heavy duty snowblower just yet. Because we’re still four months away from the icy season, the center’s best models for the Midwest have a hit rate of just about 20%,
More here.
Related: “Farmers’ Almanac releases winter prediction for Illinois”
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