After the “2007 – A Look Back” post, I thought that I’d have one final post this year that would simply look forward with some optimism toward 2008. However, there’s been such activity in the comments with accusations and threats leveled against this blog that there were a few things that needed to be addressed.
Now we are getting a better idea of why some were so riled up in the past few days since my “Burning down the Village” post came out…
Carpentersville Trustees Paul Humpfer and Judy Sigwalt convene with members of the Fox Valley Citizens for Legal Immigration on Fridays before board meetings to go over the upcoming village board agendas.
The two trustees acknowledged the meetings, while attempting to downplay the significance (of course!). However, there appears to be admittance that they met with this group using their Board packets.
[Village President] Sarto and [Village Manager] Anderson said confidential material could land in the wrong hands since material regarding items discussed in executive session often are included in board packets.
They claim they didn’t plan out comments ahead of time. But … what about the following from September 5, 2006:
Michael Williams, 36 Elm Avenue; a resident who expressed concern over the manner in which this Board is addressing the issue of illegal immigration. President Sarto cautioned Mr. Williams that the Board has enacted Rules of Decorum and noted that only items relating to Village business are deemed to be appropriate to discuss under Public Comment. While Mr. Williams believes he has every right to discuss this at this time, President Sarto stated there are other channels for Mr. Williams to express his opinion. Discussion ensued regarding immigration laws and to what extent does federal, state and local governments have the ability to address this. Mr. Williams continued to state his right to express his opinion over this issue. Because Mr. Williams addressed Trustee Ramirez Sliwinski directly, President Sarto asked Mr. Williams to end his discussion. Many comments came forth from the audience and President Sarto subsequently requested certain people to leave the Board Room.
In video of the interaction, as Mr. Williams reads his statement before the Board and President Sarto explains why his comments do not meet the criteria for Village business, Trustees Humpfer and Sigwalt appear all too ready to jump in, in a scene that seems highly suspect:
They proceed to dismiss Sarto’s ruling … although without a vote. In later meetings however, on at least 3 occasions to my recollection, the ruling of the President is appealed, voted on and the person is allowed to continue comments that are outside the bounds of the Rules of Decorum and the express purpose of Village Board meetings, as set forth in the Municipal Code.
Here is one such incident from July 17, 2007, where the head of Fox Valley Citizens for Legal Immigration (FVCFLI), Bob Sperlazzo, comes before the Board to talk about illegal immigration. When President Sarto attempts to stop his comments for indecorum and explains that the Board has voted to not discuss the issue, and after Mr. Sperlazzo is unsuccessful in arguing his point that his comments should be allowed, he appears to make a gesture and look in the direction of Trustees Humpfer and Sigwalt. Trustee Humpfer then immediately calls to “appeal the ruling of the President”, and Trustee Sigwalt immediately seconds it.
These two incidents alone are evidence of a much more serious issue which I am glad that the Village Manager and Village Attorney are intending to look into. Something to consider is that, while it takes 3 trustees to make a quorum, it only takes two to bring an actionable item to the whole Board — as we saw in the above videos.
Another recent example occurred earlier this month, at the December 4th meeting, when the ruling of the President was again appealed (twice!) to allow Bob Sperlazzo and another member, Jay Radke, to speak about a matter that the Village Attorney also concurred did not fall under the criteria of Village business.
I encourage everyone to email the Village Board expressing your outrage at the behavior of these trustees. Or, do it during public comments at Wednesday’s Village Board meeting. Folks, these aren’t “lies” and “innuendos” as some have tried to paint them. This is evidence of the kinds of behavior that this blog has been reporting on for several months — part of a calculated effort to undermine and impugn the credibility of President Sarto, as well as manipulate and interfere with the business of the Village of Carpentersville.
Are you going to accept that?
21 comments
Dec 29, 2007 at 10:32 am
TED STAROSTA
Here are the e-mails list of trustees
ERitter@vil.carpentersville.il.us
KTeeter@vil.carpentersville.il.us
BSarto@vil.carpentersville.il.us
LRamirezSliwinski@vil.carpentersville.il.us
Khinz@vil.carpentersville.il.us
Dec 29, 2007 at 10:39 am
Chrysippus
I would also include Manager Anderson:
canderson@vil.carpentersville.il.us
Trustees Sigwalt and Humpfer’s emails:
jsigwalt@vil.carpentersville.il.us
phumpfer@vil.carpentersville.il.us
Dec 29, 2007 at 1:26 pm
Abby
I can’t beleive this! On the first video, the issue being discussed was illegal immigration, and the next thing I hear is Trustee Sigwalt saying that it is affecting our village because 45% of the village is “Hispanic”! What do Hispancis have to do with this??? I continue to hear Bob Sperlazzo say this is not about race, however Trustee Sigwalt, in her own words proved him wrong.
Dec 29, 2007 at 5:37 pm
TED STAROSTA
Hay chrys can you put the Daily Herald on the blog so every one can see the story
from Sat/12-29-07, thanks keep up the good work on this blog.Ted Starosta
Dec 29, 2007 at 5:43 pm
Chrysippus
The Daily Herald article is linked in the sidebar and both linked and partially quoted in the above article.
I will see what I can do about getting a scan of the front page.
Dec 29, 2007 at 6:11 pm
Paul Calusinski
I like what you are doing with your blog and we need to get as many things out there as possible to tell the truth and let every one know. Job well done. Keep up the good work, and don’t stop fighting till the fight is done.
Dec 29, 2007 at 6:13 pm
Grant Crowell
The obvious non-partisan solution to this foray is to push for online video broadcasts, so everyone can see what’s going on for themselves and make up their own mind. Very very small cost to educate, inform, and communicate with an entire Village.
But ANONYMOUS BLOGGER PLAGIARIZES STORY
That’s right – what you’re saying is really just a repeat of my own comments in the YouTube video clips of mine you’ve posted in your blog. Here is my own comments in the YouTube video clip, “Immigration battle begins in Carpentersville, Illinois”
The following is my text you can see in the “About This Video” field in YouTube, which I originally posted back on April 16, 2007 (The original video is from the September 5th 2006 board meeting.) – which is the very video you have featured in your post:
“Resident Michael Williams speaks to the Village Board of Carpentersville, complaining about illegal immigration and demanding hispanic trustee Linda Ramirez Sliwinski be removed, for allegedly being sympathetic to illegal residents in Carpentersville. Trustees Paul Humpher and Judy Sigwalt, who would afterwards draft an Illegal Ordianance proposal, appear to have planned and prepared in advance for a heated argument with Village President Bill Sarto. Mr. Sarto attempts a couple times to silence Mr. Williams, citing him for being in violation of Audience Comments policy.”
Since you’ve been very fond of featuring my video clips to make your own political points, I would suggest that encourage others to support posting all village board meetings, in their entirety, into online video. A good example can be found at Google Video, where I covered an entire event with immigration experts speaking at the Village on May 22, 2007
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7488317610353149707&q=carpentersville&total=173&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=7
And here’s another example of an extended piece:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5371119415173542897
This would normally be a very easy solution with a minimal budget spend. (Try $600-$1,000 month, which is still far less than the $10,000 a month spend for a lobbyist the Village spent for 12 months which has proved to be an entire bust.)
However, we’re talking about Carpentersville. In this case, both sides are guilty of inaction of this matter.
You see, I’ve already brought this to the attention of both trustee blocks. Bill Sarto refused and told me he believes that people don’t care to watch video online. Paul Humpher informed me that he would like the idea, but that it wouldn’t ever get approved by the Village’s “IT Director,” Kathleen Stoves. (Largely because it would expose the fact that she is really just an HR employee without any outside professional experience or skill at what is really a technical position, which is exactly why the Village is as technology-backwards as anywhere in the entire nation.) Both sides want the alliance of the Village Manager and key staff for their political games, so they have all been willing to not ever discuss it publicly. (Although Paul Humpher did invite me to a closed Village board meeting so he could set up a sparring match with me and Kathy Stoves, and when he found out that he couldn’t drum up the support of the other trustees he ditched the idea.)
That’s right – no professional work experience, no IT skills. Just a position created as a quick fill-in by the former acting Village Manager Jim Schuldt. But through pure cronyism, a completely non-qualified individual found herself a comfy position where skills and experience were not a requirement — only political connections. (Its funny how many of the trustees would call me up and complain about her incompetence – Bill Sarto included.) And with the backing of the current Village Manager Craig Anderson refusing to allow for even the smallest inquiry into her position, neither side will want to touch the issue and risk harm to their political careers. So they’re all willing to stay in the 20th century, not the 21st.
So what has the Carpentersville community been doing to take up the slack? Nothing. It certainly doesn’t seem that you or anyone else has taken up the mantle of featuring video clips of the board meetings since I left Carpentersville. You’ve had to rely on old clips of mine to make a point, and even using my old points without acknowledging my authorship. Not impressive at all.
Here’s a straight fact coming from a professional Internet video analyst – more than 170 million people use the web. 3 out of every 4 people who use the Internet watch video online. The majority of people who watch online video are over 25 years of age, not kids. The most watched video are news clips. Video is far more engaging than simple text. People who watch a video online are much more likely to take a productive action than those who watch it on television. If this was a Village government with any brains or real sense of community, those few stats alone would make it imminent for putting up all their board meetings online. But what does your Village President do instead? He calls up Comcast and tells to feature the last board meeting on your community cable channel 10 days early, thinking it will get him some new political backers.
Its hard to tell which is worse – that Carpentersville is full of people who choose to be willfully ignorant about using Internet technology to better their community, or that they seem to take such pride in it.
But I’m resigned to the fact that all you guys refuse to get past the political games you’ve ALL been playing. Your town has the government it deserves. All the smart, honest people left a long time ago.
“Carpentersville – Building a Better Today, Tomorrow.”
Grant Crowell
(P.S. – Had to laugh when you wrote in one of your posts that people needed to “come out of the shadows.” Couldn’t catch your own irony?)
Dec 29, 2007 at 7:13 pm
Chrysippus
Hi Grant,
Welcome back.
I think you know that I’ve always been appreciative of the work you did on the YouTube stuff.
Sorry if you feel that I “plagiarized” the comments. Honestly, I wrote the above article without even considering your comments. (Actually, my comments are rather distinct from yours.) Then, I embedded the video (which of course links back to you on YouTube) because it served to show what has really been going on — things that I’ve been writing about for several months.
With regards to the Village website, I’ve mentioned my opinions to you via email in the past. I have to say, though, that since I’ve been writing the blog, I’ve seen improvements in the information and timeliness of posting. Still what I would call sub-par in many ways, but improving.
Since you stopped posting Village stuff on YouTube it will probably give you some satisfaction to know that its been missed. I’ve received a few requests to do the same thing.
But, how practical is it with Board meetings that regularly run 3 – 4 hours?
Thanks again for the YouTube/Google videos.
Dec 29, 2007 at 9:26 pm
Grant Crowell
You’re welcome. Now I’ll respond to your question: how practical is it to feature board meetings that regularly run 3-4 hours?
Well, let’s examine that in the current scenario of how meetings are publicized. How practical is it then to feature meetings on Comcast Cable – especially when there you can only see a board meeting once a month, broken down in two segments? By comparison, not practical at all.
Your question is also reflective of someone who is unfamiliar with how online video works. You would assume that online video is displayed the same was as television video — in a linear fashion. However, this assumption is incorrect. On the video search engines, you can stream a video feed so you can jump to any position in that video. This can be done in Google by manually moving the video’s cursor (i.e., the marker that shows where you are current at in the video playback).
Now that’s helpful for those who might already know the meeting’s format in advance. But what about the many people who don’t? That’s where multiple markers come in handy. Other video search engines, such as Everyzing , provide speech-to-text recognition of submitted and indexed video content, where you can click on any section AND ANY WORD of a time-coded transcript. Here’s an example of one such piece:
http://everyzing.com/viewMedia.jsp?index=52&start=50&mc=en-vid&il=en&col=en-vid-public-ep&q=immigration+debate+&res=141693390&num=10&filter=1&expand=true&match=query,channel&dedupe=1&y=9&channel=42&x=27&e=14272710
Notice also that when you do a keyword search, every instance of that keyword shows up in the transcript that appears right along the video. And in the video browser, you will also see triangular markers that serve as visual representations of each instance that keyword (or related keywords) is heard in the video.
With a proper graphic interface, you could easily feature every agenda item as its own graphic button, which would provide an ideal visual navigation system for people who want to go directly to an agenda item. This is the same time of interface you’ll see on ESPN.com, which features all of its show segments in a navigation scheme so you know of the progressive order of what will be televised. However, online video gives the user more control of what they want to see, because the user gets to click on any button they want and watch the episode in any order they want. Combine that with clickable text transcripts and visual keyword markers, and you have now provided everyone with a completely user-friendly, time-efficient, and information-rich interface that merges technology with community.
This is not an experimental technology. This is already active and being used on major publisher sites, such as BostonGlobe.com. (Example):
http://multimedia.boston.com/pub/m/14845499/globe_10_0_can_the_knicks_survive.htm?pageid=8&match=query&seek=11.9
These sites, have their own video archives and video search tools, which many people are preferring to use for their news and information sources over text alone. This is all perfectly accessible for any municipal government that is producing video (or any multimedia for that matter) to take advantage of.
So to summarize my answer to your question, featuring online video of municipal board meetings can be very practical when you have someone who knows how to have the properly formatted for user-friendliness. It is not at all difficult thing to achieve, but it does require a real professional who understands the technology and audience behavior of this explosive medium, just like with any other marketing specialty.
There is no question that your Village Government has the money to do it if they wanted to. (They have already shown that with spending $120,000 on a lobbyist that turned up nothing.) An online video library would do the very thing that the Village Board has been claiming they want – to improve their image, their communication, resident awareness, and a better sense of community. Everything they’ve done so far has been such as a public relations disaster that people nationwide have been watching and commenting on the online videos of Carpentersville, at least as an example of what other municipal governments should avoid.
Carpentersville Village government has never been willing to acknowledge the web community, including the rapidly-growing online video community. These are the areas where many people get to be heard and dialogue, with a real record of discussion. You don’t have that when a municipal govern expects its citizens to wait around at a dark location in the dead of winter only twice a month, with only a few minutes at most.
Practical? Its going to be essential.
Dec 30, 2007 at 9:59 am
C'ville Mom
I watched the You Tube videos that were included above. Thanks for providing those. 1 question and 1 point I would like to make.
Why are those videos on You Tube cleaner or crisper than what shows up on Comcast? The ones on Comcast always seem so fuzzy.
Now to my point. I guess I’m missing how these videos show any type of preparation on the part of Sigwalt and Humpty Dumpty (since he seems poised to fall off the wall soon). What I found particularly disgusting was the behavior of Sarto and Slaminiski. We voted them into office to represent our interests on this stuff. What you just showed was ironclad proof of them abrogating their fiduciary or legal responsibilities. THEY WALKED OFF THE JOB!!! What is this a play yard? They didn’t get their way so they are going to run behind the screen and cry? Do your jobs and represent us or resign! Is that enough evidence to have them removed?
Dec 30, 2007 at 11:42 am
Paul Calusinski
Hey welcome back Grant thanks for opening ever ones eyes, we need to keep the heat on Paul and Judy you were right about every thing and now the truth is out. I am glad to have help Bill Sarto bring out the truth and there is more to come and its going to get hotter just you wait and see. The info is so hot it will burn you to read it so just sit back and enjoy the ride it is coming soon to a paper near you.Your friend Paul Calusinski THANK FOR ENCOURAGEMENT ON SPEAKING OUT.
Dec 30, 2007 at 12:06 pm
JJ
I am thankful for Grant Crowell’s in-depth description of what it would take for online video. He is absolutely correct that this is the wave of the future and C’ville would be smart to get on the band wagon. Having video’s twice a month on Comcast and availability thru the library is not really enough to keep up with current events in a timely fashion. Hopefully someone will come to their senses and check this out further.
Dec 30, 2007 at 1:14 pm
Chrysippus
I’d guess the clarity has something to do with them being made from a DVD/digital source.
In the first video, I think if you watch Trustee Humpfer’s reaction as Mr. Williams is making his comments, he seems to be anticipating Sarto’s ruling. Once Sarto begins to explain, you can see Humpfer repeatedly shaking his head and reacting to what Sarto is saying — he seems to have expected an argument.
As we know now, an argument was actually being invited by them. We know that things really were prepared.
Trustees Humpfer and Sigwalt then begin simultaneously arguing their points with Sarto. Humpfer starts, with Sigwalt’s voice of affirmation heard from off-camera. Then, Sigwalt adds her comments (about the number of Hispanics in the town, interestingly). (In fact, if I’m not mistaken, I even heard Trustee Teeter’s voice chime in while Sigwalt was talking).
Fortunately, hindsight is 20/20 at this point.
On the next video, we have Trustees Sigwalt and Humpfer making motions and seconding to appeal the ruling of the President, in order to allow the Chairman of an organization that they are members of (conflict of interest? Most definitely) to speak about the issue of illegal immigration which the Board had definitively decided it did not want to discuss. So, when Trustees Sigwalt and Humpfer (and other members of the Board who seemed to vote out of either political spite or collusion with those who held these illegal meetings) motioned and voted in conflict with the Rules of Decorum to allow the Chairman of Fox Valley Citizens to speak, this is how it appears that Sarto and Sliwinski chose to protest that action.
Such protests are fairly common in legislative bodies across the country (I witnessed something similar when watching a city council meeting in a suburb of St. Louis while out of town on business.) To me, it seemed a very proper move when these trustees were not following the rules for public comment and the corporate proceedings in the Carpentersville Municipal Code.
Dec 30, 2007 at 1:27 pm
Another C'ville Mom
Hey Mom,
What I saw was that both of them walked off to show that they do stand for upholding the laws of the Village. I was proud they walked off and wouldn’t let that guy waste their time. Why should they or anyone for that matter sit there and listen to someone speak without any regard for the rules of the meetings or the laws of the Village? I agree with what Sarto and Sliwinski did. It’s too bad the rest of the board does not resign. Perhaps then, more could get done.
Dec 30, 2007 at 2:25 pm
PAUL CALUSINSKI
Hey any who is speaking out on this blog you know that they will say it is not true, but I know that it is by phone call that I made… So at the meeting I will tell Judy that I know that this stuff on this blog is truth and nothing but the truth so HELP ME GOD and then ask for her to step down and same for Humpfer cuz EITHER WAY THEY WILL FALL sooner then later that is just the facts.
Dec 30, 2007 at 6:50 pm
Grant Crowell
The reason why the video on Comcast appears fuzzy is because they use a VHS copy, not DVD. Comcast’s Huntley location (which is where videos of Carpentersville are featured) can only play VHS, Super VHS, and 3/4 Beta tapes. They do not have the equipment to play DVDs. The work agreement with the Village of Carpentersville was to provide a copy for Comcast on VHS.
Dec 30, 2007 at 6:56 pm
Chrysippus
Paul,
I think many people are seeing that what I’ve been saying is true. And, I appreciate your comments of support.
However, I just want to advise that comments made to the Board are civil and appropriate. I have heard some of your comments in the past and, for the most part they seem appropriate, but there are sometimes at least bits and pieces that probably don’t belong.
I do believe that this is an issue that is wholly appropriate for the public to comment on at the meeting, as it relates to significantly questionable conduct on the part of two (or more) trustees.
My guess is that there will be a number of Sigwalt and Humpfer supporters who come forth to deny that there was anything that was done wrong, even in the face of facts.
Dec 30, 2007 at 8:03 pm
Bill Sarto
Mr. Crowell:
I want to remind you that you had tried [unsuccessfully] to have the Village board meetings in [Carpentersville] video taped, so that the residents would be able to watch them at their convience. The Village board [prior to my election] rejected that idea and would not allow this. It wasn’t until I had been elected Village President that this did in fact happen. I had given you my word that I would support this and I lived up to my promise.
The proof of the collusion between Trustee’s Sigwalt and Humpfer and the Fox Valley Citizens for Legal Immigration is documented on these tapes. This very well could become evidence in a legal matter brought before the proper authorities.
Grant, let me say this, this is not about illegal immigration. It never was. It’s about the same old “bad politics” that has held our Village back for many years. It’s about the politics that you supported me in the last election to end. That’s why I find your most recent comments so confussing.
I know you have an issue with our IT Director’s qualifications, you have made that very clear many times to me and apparently to others as well. We have far greater problems in Carpentersville than what is presented on our website.
Our website is far from where I’d like it to be, however, it has been improving since I’ve taken office. Some of the things you are proposing would most likely require us to go [outside] to find a vendor to do the types of things you are suggesting. Should we do them? I would say yes, we should. But, there are more pressing issues before us at this time that must be addressed. We do not have unlimited resources.
You mentioned the fact that we have hired a lobbyist that we are paying to get us some much needed money from Washington, DC. You are correct, to date, we have not realized any revenue from that situation. Was that a wise decision for the board to have made. At the time we voted for it, I would have said yes. Right now, the atmosphere in Washington has changed and in hind sight perhaps it was not a wise choice, but we are now in the game and we will not have to pay anything more than “expenses” for the up coming year. We have requests in for several of millions of dollars that are good programs that would benefit our community and that I would stand behind on the front page of any newspaper in America. These are not “pork barrel” programs. These are things that our Village needs. All of our requests are solid and benificial to our community and even our neighbors.
I’m proud of my record and will have no problem defending it if need be.
Dec 31, 2007 at 3:29 pm
Mark Phleger
Grant, I complete agree with you. I lived in Carpentersville for 5 years and moved to Schaumburg. I was around for both the previous Village President, Mark Boettger. Bill Sarto is hardly an improvement.
I watch a lot of online video to catch both local and national news. It works great with my busy schedule and I get a lot more accomplished. Even the local newspapers are now featuring lots online video. It would be a no-brainer for municipal governments to feature their own board meetings.
Whenever you hear a politician say “It’s not a priority,” that really their last possible excuse for not doing something that benefits the entire community. Sarto, Sigwalt,Sliwinski, and Humpher (and the rest of the board) can only think and operate in combative, partisan terms. Online video would be great for the citizens and benefit everyone, which unfortunately, is exactly why they won’t do it.
Keep up the good work, Grant, and I hope to see more of your stuff soon.
Dec 31, 2007 at 4:11 pm
Resident
I would like to watch the Board meetings online too.
I want to see streets fixed more and see things look good and my taxes be cheaper.
Boettger let my street fall apart. It got fixed last summer. Bill Sarto is a big improvement.
Jan 2, 2008 at 3:01 pm
Bill Sarto
I learned first hand from our Assistant Fire Chief, Steve Roesslein, that the Fox Valley Citizens For Legal Immigration (FVCFLI) have been meeting at Fire Station #3 in Carpentersville.
After hearing this from our Assistant Fire Chief; I contacted our Village Manager, Craig Anderson to let him know. He confirmed with me on the telephone that he had given permission for Trustee’s Paul Humpfer and Judy Sigwalt to hold “meetings with constituents”, but that was all.
I then later called Trustee Sigwalt and spoke with her on the phone. She confirmed to me in that conversation that her and Trustee Paul Humpfer had indeed been meeting each Friday evening before the upcoming Village board meetings to go over the agenda and go through the board packets with members of the Fox Valley Citizens for Legal Immigration. She also told me that they would discuss who would say what during the “public comments” portion of the Village board meetings.
The You Tube video is proof that these comments were planned. It appears very clearly that there very well may have been collusion between Trustees Humpfer and Sigwalt to encourage members of the FVCFLI to intentionally disrupt Village business and violate the rules of decorum at the board meetings. This is a very serious matter. If it’s true, they very well could be removed from office for violation of their sworn oath of office. The members of the Village board raise their right hand and pledge to uphold the Constitution of the United States of America, the Constitution of the State of Illinois and the laws of the Village of Carpentersville. Our meeting rules have been adopted by “ordinance”. Therefore, that is a law in which all members of the board are required to uphold and support. If these two Trustees and any others were undermining the very laws that they have voted to uphold and have taken an [oath] to enforce, that could cause the Illinois Attorney General to declare their position as trustee to be vacant and they could indeed be removed from office.
Since the Fox Valley Citizens for Legal Immigration is a group that was formed for the expressed interest of supporting certain candidates in the past Village election and still seem to be operating from a political agenda beyond the issue of of legal immigration it could be argued that they are indeed a [ad hoc] political organization established to promote certain candidates and oppose others. The latest evidence of this would be the fact that members of this group were speaking during public comments most recently on the issue of what Carpentersville should do with their [out of service] police weapons. These members of the FVCFLI took the same position as had Trustees Humpfer and Sigwalt. Some who came forward to speak did not live in Carpentersville. A further example of how the members of this organization can shift gears is that one of their members came from Harvard, IL to speak about Carpentersville creating TIF districts. The person who spoke on this issue did so from a prepared statement that was very much like what I’ve heard Trustee Paul Humpfer say on this same subject.
This is a very serious situation that must be dealt with in a serious manner. Laws may have been violated and if they have, proper procedures must be followed to correct this from happening again. Those involved must be punished. This may even involve certain staff members. If I find that to be the case I will also pursue all legal ways to have them removed from their positions and if warranted prosecuted.
I promise to uphold the laws and I will be looking at every option available to hold those responsible for this to have happened accountable. I will not allow a handful of people some from other towns to disrupt our Village business and stop progress. These people will not be given a pass.