The Observer takes a look back at the year gone by and presents our most frequently read news stories and editorials for 2014. Click on any title to read or revisit stories from this past year.
NEWS STORIES:
Attorney General’s office determines April 2013 Village appointments violated OMA
This story from June reported the Attorney General’s office finding confirming that outgoing Village President Bob Abboud’s appointments made during his last official Village Board meeting in 2013 violated the terms of the Illinois Open Meetings Act.
Barrington Hills passes controversial measure on horse boarding
A reporter who attended the December 15th Special Village Board meeting called by Trustees Gohl and Selman provided her perspectives on the meeting as it related to the passing of the Anderson horse boarding amendment in this Chicago Tribune feature article.
Barrington Hills board debates horse boarding plan
One of the Observer’s most read and commented upon stories, this Daily Herald article reported on the September 22nd Board of Trustees meeting where a large crowd of residents in opposition to the Zoning Board’s first version of the Kurt Anderson-authored horse boarding ordinance spoke out.
13-year lawsuit of Sears vs. Barrington Hills, South Barrington settled
For over a decade, Barrington Hills had spent $1.4 million in legal defense costs over a lawsuit filed by Sears. With no progress in sight, Martin McLaughlin and South Barrington’s Paula McCombie, both newly elected Village Presidents, decided on a different approach and reached out to Sears executives directly instead of using lawyers to obtain a settlement in this suit that could have ultimately cost Barrington Hills taxpayers $15 million in legal fees and damages.
FPDCC discusses plans for Barrington Hills’ Horizon Farms property
In November the Forest Preserve District of Cook County held a second meeting with residents and interested parties to provide an update on their future plans for Horizon Farms and to gather more feedback from attendees regarding how they envisioned uses for the property. This Chicago Tribune article summarized the meeting.
EDITORIALS:
Here We Go Again. . . . Commercial Horse Boarding Drama Returns
In our most read editorial of 2014, The Observer suggested that given the irreconcilable conflicts of interest on the Village’s Riding Club-dominated Zoning Board of Appeals and Board of Trustees, the only way to rationally and fairly tackle the issue of commercial horse boarding would be to create a blue-ribbon panel of objective residents.
Of Bikes and Blame – Part One: The Phantom Menace
This story focused on the underlying issues regarding a proposal to add dedicated bike lanes to Haegers Bend Road in an attempt to gain federal funding for repaving the road which began in 2012. It also revealed the former Village President’s (The Phantom) participation in hosting a website used by a small anti-bike path group that couldn’t seem to get their stories straight.
Of Bikes and Blame, Part Two – Peter, Paul and Patty
This editorial followed up on the issue of bike paths and examined the reasons that Roads and Bridges spending in the past ten years, the last 3.5 years under the control of Trustee Patty Meroni, woefully failed to keep pace with the maintenance schedule created years ago, while excess spending on legal fees ballooned.
Why Barrington Hills must change
In this feature, the Observer opined on the reasons for the loss of Barrington Hills’ reputation due to in-fighting, fear-mongering and purposeful miscommunication on numerous Village issues and the desperate need for reform.
Last January we took a look at Trustee Karen Selman’s performance during her tenure as Finance Chair that was inspired by a gaffe she’d written in a Village newsletter in a well-read editorial.
– The Observer
