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The Daily Herald sat down to talk to Ed Ritter about his plans and intentions as the newly elected Village President of Carpentersville.
In answer to a question about how his leadership style will be different, Ritter responded, in part:
[T]o be much more inclusive of the trustees. There were a lot of issues and decisions that we never heard about or never knew about. It was very frustrating. I am still learning about things that Bill made decisions on that we never knew about. Negotiations that were going on that none of us knew about.
So, how will Ritter handle “negotiations … going on that none of [them] knew about”? Here is a fresh challenge to see if Ritter will make good on his promise…
At Tuesday’s upcoming meeting, the current Village Board will be discussing whether to revise the Municipal Code allowing school buses to be parked overnight at residences. Setting aside the discussion of the actual issue for a moment, it seems that there have been some negotiations taking place.
Despite this being an issue the current Village Board is considering and will likely decide at the meeting on April 21, Judy Sigwalt did not inform Bill Sarto and Linda Ramirez Sliwinski of the outside discussions taking place, or include them on the email that appears in the correlated posting.
How will Ed Ritter handle this first test? Will he call out Judy Sigwalt the way he has Bill Sarto? (Yes, Ritter has made complaints at Village Board meetings about not having been informed.)
Or, will Ritter handle this situation with quiet acceptance the way he did with Humpfer’s domestic battery convication, violations of the Open Meetings Act, and other deceptions and unethical behavior by his allies?
In order for Ritter to do what he says he will do — “set a new course for Carpentersville” — he is going to have to stop this type of behavior. I would love for Ritter to surprise me and actually take on Judy Sigwalt and tell her that she was wrong for not including Sarto and Ramirez-Sliwinski. Unfortunately, I don’t think he will. And the pattern of double standards and backroom negotiations and corruption will continue to be “respected” in Carpentersville.
See the post below “Sigwalt’s exclusionary email” for the email mentioned above.
From: JUDY SIGWALT [mailto:newportt2000@yahoo.com]
Sent: Thursday, April 16, 2009 8:34 PM
To: Cindy McCammack ; Craig Anderson ; E Ritter ; K Teeter ; PatS ; paul humpfer; [Paul Lanspa]
Subject: school bus drivers
Hi All, I just got a call from Paul Lanspa about the PCZ meeting. I’m relaying what he said at his request. Paul Lanspa asked if he should contact Craig Anderson . I suggested he should so Craig is not blindsided.
The school bus drivers showed up at the PZC meeting with protest signs in a pile and said a lawyer contacted them (the bus drivers) this week about their problem with parking their buses in the village. The bus drivers said they would be at our Tuesday board meeting.
It is Paul Lanspas thought, if they get a lawyer Krenz or Roeser will pay for it. Paul Lanspa said every time the bus drivers came before them Krenz was in attendance with them. Paul Lanspa believes it is because Krenz was parking his Amy plumbing trucks frequently in their subdivision of Spring Acre Hills. When he was told by the SAH/HOA he could not do this and they put a stop to it, Paul Lanspa said Krenz became very indignant and said he was doing some plumbing at his Mothers house.
Paul Lanspa believes Krenz has a stake in this issue as he wants to park his commercial vehicles in the subdivision. Paul Lanspa said he’s not opposed to granting a variance to the bus drivers as long as there’s a strong exclusion on all other commercial vehicles as we all are trying to improve the looks of our village.
Please email Keith and Brad for me. If you have any questions of Paul Lanspa his email is [redacted]. feel free to contact him. The PCZ continued the agenda item.
Take Care Judy
“What now” is a good question. The answer to it remains to be seen once the new Board takes over May 5, 2009.
This blog will continue to provide news and information to the community. How and what this blog reports will be up to the members of the Village Board.
The faction that accused Sarto of being the lone cause of problems the last 4 years now has complete control. They should be able to do anything and everything that they promised in their campaigns — both this past election, and the one in 2007. There will be no one to blame but themselves. (But, there were some things that they promised in their campaigns, and some things that they’ve done already, that could be problematic for those of us in the community.)
I will continue keeping an eye on things. That’s been my point all along. It wasn’t simply about the election. It was about alerting the public to things that were happening with Village government. That will not change merely because an election has passed.
Ed Ritter has said that he is “an independent thinker” who chose to run with a team of “independent thinkers”.
Time will tell whether that holds true for Ritter, Teeter, Schultz and McFeggan. It is a status that will have to be earned. If past performance is indicative of future action, none of these will ever be considered an “independent thinker”. During the past several years, Ritter, Teeter and Schultz have been in lockstep behind Sigwalt and Humpfer — defending everything from Humpfer’s domestic battery conviction to violation(s) of the Open Meetings Act to use of Village property that they were required to pay to use and misleading Village staff about what they were doing during those meetings. Not to mention missteps of their own.
Things may get very interesting. Or, it will be very dull … where they will keep discussions of policy decisions out of the public eye, and will have all their decisions already made in advance of the meetings.
As I said, time will tell. But, this blog will seek to keep the public informed.
It is a job that cannot be done without the help of the community. Therefore, I encourage you … if you see something that doesn’t seem quite right, if you hear something that you think needs to be followed up on … contact Carpentersville Action Network and help get the community involved.
Just the kind of “respect” and “class” that Sarto has had to deal with over the years from members of the Board. This was Sigwalt’s comments to Sarto after Tuesday’s election. You decide if she was not an antagonizer.
From: JUDY SIGWALT <newportt2000@yahoo.com>
To: WRS1114@aol.com
Date: Tue, 7 Apr 2009 23:58:58 -0500 (CDT)
Subject:
Buh, Bye! Judy
Some may have wondered at the comments being closed and turned off on past postings. (And I will delete comments in this and future posts that try to use it to address older ones.) I want to reassure you that I have not closed this blog, now that the election has passed.
On the contrary, I started this blog to report on the things that were not being reported in Carpentersville. To give a fuller story about who was behind the majority of the rancor and factiousness on the Board.
No, this blog is not shut down.
I am just preparing for a new chapter for this blog, and wanted to make a bit of a break from the old chapter.
This blog will still be used to report on what is happening in Carpentersville Village government. I invite people to check back starting next week to see and participate in the metamorphosis of Carpentersville Action Network.
I intend to have a posting or two up before the end of the week to wrap up the election and the newly elected Village Board.
Results of the Carpentersville Village elections for President and Trustee are in.
And your newly elected officials are:
Edward Ritter – President
Kay Teeter – Trustee
Patricia Schultz – Trustee
Bradford McFeggan – Trustee
They will join forces with Judy Sigwalt, Paul Humpfer and Keith Hinz in May.
Looks like we’ve taken a trip back in the time machine several years…
Today is the day that many of us have long awaited.
The chance for your vote to be your voice. The chance to send a message to those who have ignored the community in pursuit of their own self interests, and that of a privileged few.
You have been given the information, now is the time to see that it gets put to good use.
With Bill Sarto as Village President, and Trustee Linda Ramirez-Sliwinski also supporting the community, Carpentersville has been moved forward in the last 4 years.
Yes, there has been animosity and argument on the Board because those of the old political machine (Sigwalt, Ritter, Teeter, Humpfer) fought hard against that progress. Sarto and Sliwinski fought back … for the people of Carpentersville … to see that progress was made.
Today, go out and cast your vote, if you haven’t already, to support Sarto and Sliwinski and ensure that progress continues.
And, help them be able to work better and more effectively for the Village by also voting for two additional Trustees that will participate in those efforts: Ken Andresen, Joe Haimann and/or Debra Lowen (listed alphabetically by last name). Schultz and McFeggan are part of that old, factious, disruptive regime that must be thrown out of Carpentersville government for good.
Carpentersville can not afford to be held back any longer. Make sure the progress that Sarto and Sliwinski started can continue without the disruptions they have had to deal with and fight through during the past 4 years.
Some voting locations have been recently changed. You can go to the Kane County Elections website to see where you are supposed to vote, if you are unsure.
Four more days until we know who voters want to guide the Village of Carpentersville for the next 4 years. A letter in the Daily Herald today expresses support for Ritter, Teeter, Schultz and McFeggan. The only reason? Because they were not ever supported by the Roeser’s.
Yeah, I agree, it’s pretty thin — and not a good reason to vote for or against anyone. But, its typical because none of the Ritter, Teeter, Schultz, McFeggan supporters have been able to explain anything that those 4 have done for the Village. But they say we should vote for those 4? Why?!
What does anyone have against 4 more years of action and progress in this Village?
Sarto got the capital improvement program moving, and funded it without raising taxes. He has improved this Village IN SPITE of the antics and interference by these Board members.
Four years of Ritter, Teeter, Schultz and McFeggan is four years of the kind of foot dragging we had in the years before Sarto and Sliwinski got in. The roads and sidewalks are a good example. They were hemming and hawing for months about whether to do it and how to pay for it. Any talk was just for show, I’m sure, since they were already planning for Paul Humpfer to run for Village President. Like Judy and Paul started the illegal immigration talk; for the election.
When Humpfer ran, his resume was paper-thin – he needed to act like he was doing something. And the resumes of Ritter, Teeter, Schultz and McFeggan are paper-thin too. So, they used the Carpentersville Improvement Committee to establish their campaign–even campaigning while acting on behalf of the Village. (They attributed the CIC work to themselves -and the immigration group, not the Village committee.) We can’t afford to go back to a do-nothing era.
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