You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet

It seems that Sigwalt and Co. might also have been humming “You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet” as they read last week’s “Trouble with Carpentersville” series. Maybe that would offer some explanation for the events that took place at this week’s Village Board meeting.

They seemed determined to do things that were really strange …

First, when President Sarto gaveled two citizens for comments that were not relevant to Village business, 5 Board members overturned the ruling of the President … ignoring even the advice of the Village attorney.

Then, Trustee Sigwalt appeared to once again be overstepping her position, directing staff to do her bidding. This time it was to have Village staff gather information about a possible land-based casino along the Randall Rd corridor, just north of Huntley Rd.

It’s somewhat ironic that one of those asked to end his comments was talking about censure (even though the Board previously considered the matter and it was determined it was not applicable). If anyone deserves to be censured, it is Trustee Sigwalt, for she is clearly in violation of the Municipal Code and statutes. According to the rules, only the Village President has the individual authority to direct staff. Trustees must do so with the consent of the Board, typically through an agenda item for “discussion and direction.”

But, the pièce de résistance was when they put revenue before public safety. As Tom Roeser commented yesterday, “Now their bad judgment is starting to affect safety.”

I guess these Trustees have now given us our answer to the invitation to amend their ways and begin to work for the people of Carpentersville. That answer is a resounding “no”.

This is a forum for you to speak up about these things folks. If you can’t make it to the meetings, or don’t want to get up to speak during public comments, then you could voice your opinion here. The Board is reading this — especially the comments — as are many of your fellow residents in the community. Use of a unique alias is fine, if you don’t feel comfortable putting your name out there. (As I’ve said before, I will not allow people to be attacked, especially not for using an alias.) If you’ve paid attention to what’s been going on, then you know that this blog has made an impact. Be a part of it. Join the discussion.

Enough

Over the past several days, I’ve been trying to find out more about what really went on “behind-the-scenes” of Autumn Fest.

But, despite having received a good deal of information, I began to wonder something … if more time was taken to get to the bottom of this, what should the consequences be?

I mean, how serious is this, really, in the context of everything going on in the Village?

So what that the Trustees didn’t get official invites in their packets?! Perhaps in the future there should be no expectation to either send or receive written invites to such events. After all, the Board was made aware of the event, given specific details about the event, and it was a Village coordinated event. Hopefully eliminating written invites in the future, we can make sure that no one’s feelings get hurt if there is misunderstandings or miscues that occur.

And, is it really a big deal that Trustees Sigwalt and Teeter participated in the parade, but didn’t pay the $10 participant fee?

Community pride and desire to be involved should have compelled everyone on the Board to participate appropriately. That some didn’t speaks more about their true feelings, but do any of these things require disciplinary action? Nope.

So what the heck is the Board doing wasting more time at meetings arguing about it?

The same goes for this talk of disciplinary action over private conversations. One should wonder what Trustee Sigwalt’s plan is to monitor all conversations — emails, phone calls, letters, or even conversations around the dinner table — of the Village President and the Trustees; or any of the Village staff for that matter? But, the idea is so preposterous that it shouldn’t be raised again.

Now, let’s start dealing with the real business of the Village!

Board meeting recap

Apologies to all for not getting this out sooner, but there was quite a bit to report on, and I also apologize for the length of this. I hope the amount of information provided makes it worth it.

Now, I’m a bit puzzled at why Trustees were so against going into Executive Session to obtain information from IRMA before making any final decisions on other business. From the look of his reaction, Attorney Rhodes was not pleased either, coming just short of shaking his head when the Trustees voted not to immediately move to Executive Session.

I’m sorry if this sounds like another slight against these trustees but they are just too damn willing to charge the hill without even determining if it is covered in land mines.

Anyway …

As was mentioned yesterday afternoon, Paul Lanspa addressed the Board about the water rate increase that the Board previously approved. You can read his own comments on the water rate increase thread, but basically said that he doesn’t mind paying the higher prices for his water and sewer, yet he thinks we should have notified the residents before putting the new rates on the October bill. He questioned the Board on the increase being retroactive. President Sarto suggested that they revisit this and try and do it in a more equitable way. He asked that Manager Anderson, Attorney Rhodes and Trustee Humpfer and Lisa Happ take another look at this to make it right.

A few folks were asked to sit down when they attempted to use public comments to attack a member of the Board or the audience.

Bob Sperlazzo was asked to sit down when he attempted to bring an email exchange between him and Sarto before the Board. He tried to get a member of the Board to appeal the ruling, but that went no where.

Gloria VanCleave was also directed to sit down after she began to attack resident, Paul Calusinski.

On actual matters of business being considered by the Village:

• the Board passed the amendment to the Vehicles and Traffic ordinance, adding a $250 administrative fee by what I thought was a 6-1 vote (Ben Lefebvre‘s report,mentioned 5-2, but it will be corrected. He stated that in addition to Trustee Ramirez-Sliwinski, Trustee Teeter also voted against it, but Teeter voted to approve it). It might have been a bit of a shock to some that Sarto voted for it. Sarto did clarify his position about unlicensed drivers, stating his support for an Illinois law presently under consideration in the General Assembly to provide driving certificate to illegal immigrants. (Folks can read previous statements from me on this issue here and here.)

• President Sarto also stated that he had a few more candidates to interview for consideration of appointment to the Carpentersville Improvement Committee (aka “code patrol”), so that item was basically passed by.

• Also, the Board discussed an overnight parking ban, voting 4-3 to direct Village staff to look into amending the current ban to bring back to the Board at a later date. It was suggested that only residents, with a valid Village vehicle sticker, be allowed to park on streets overnight. I’ll give my $0.02 on that next week, but will probably make it a “what’s your view” this weekend to see what you all think about it.

And, finally … again, I apologize for the length …

Trustee Sigwalt attempted to bring back the issue of changing the censure rules to cover emails, whether sent as a private citizen or as Village President. It basically went nowhere. She wanted the rules to apply whether sent from one’s personal computer to another individual or as Village President. Attorney Rhodes stated that such would be a First Amendment, Free Speech violation.

I’m going to hold off from reporting more on this because I would like to see if the Board will provide clarification of their positions on this issue before I post more.

Oh, and Sarto also read a proclamation of “Domestic Violence Awareness Month”.

Then … came Executive Session … which we are not privy to, of course.