On the first day of Christmas the West Dundee village board gave me a 14% tax levy.
On the second day of Christmas the West Dundee village board gave me 2 fine generating red light cameras.
On the third day of Christmas the West Dundee village board gave me 3 new utility taxes.
On the forth day of Christmas the West Dundee village board gave 4.5% union raises.
On the fifth day of Christmas the West Dundee village board gave me a 5 minute limit when requesting to be heard at a board meeting.
On the sixth day of Christmas the West Dundee village board gave me talk of a $6,000 aluminum water bottle program.
On the seventh day of Christmas the West Dundee village board gave me 7 good ole boy board members.
On the eighth day of Christmas the West Dundee village board gave me 8 months of Julie Voss in office without following through on 1 campaign promise.
On the ninth day of Christmas the West Dundee village board gave me ordinance 09-11 Granting an Extension for the Establishment of Special Uses, Final Plan Approval, and Filing of the Final Plat of Subdivision for the Wal-Mart Supercenter PUD.
On the tenth day of Christmas the West Dundee village board gave me 10 months of the year without a Planning & Zoning meeting because there has been absolutely nothing happening in the village to warrant one.
On the eleventh day of Christmas the West Dundee village board gave me a 1.1 million dollar projected revenue increase from our new taxes for 2010.
On the twelfth day of Christmas the West Dundee village board gave me twelve more months of the same ole same thing.
Keeping The Residents Informed
The most recent village board meeting I attended on Monday night was what I would call your typical meeting - approval for St. Catherine's Irish Fest, approval of previous meeting minutes, approval of the daily liquor permit request for Heritage Fest, approvals of new zoning ordinances and discussions about traffic signal upgrades.
One item of interest happened during the "miscellaneous" discussion at the end of the meeting. Trustee Gillam brought up a concern about the meeting minutes not being informative enough; only showing what decisions had been made and not including anything related to the discussions about that topic. She asked whether the minutes could be more informative. The general consensus from what I could ascertain was that the minutes only needed to include the final decision and that if people wanted more information they should attend board meetings. Trustee Voss even mentioned that one of her neighbors was asking her similar questions about how a certain decision had been made. Trustee Voss then told her neighbor that she should come to a meeting to stay informed.
Well Julie, how many meetings did you attend before you decided to run for the position you currently hold? While we're at it, didn't you say while you were running that you wanted to "be a voice for the people"? Well here's your chance to step up and become that voice. We have busy lives and the residents of this village expect the board to keep us informed and not just through your completely uninformative meeting minutes or by having the entire town show up at a board meeting. Get out there and talk to us. Continue to improve the utilization of the village wide e-mail alert system. Have those neighborhood meetings at resident’s houses (you know the only campaign promise you didn't steal from other candidates). Be a voice for your people Julie.
One item of interest happened during the "miscellaneous" discussion at the end of the meeting. Trustee Gillam brought up a concern about the meeting minutes not being informative enough; only showing what decisions had been made and not including anything related to the discussions about that topic. She asked whether the minutes could be more informative. The general consensus from what I could ascertain was that the minutes only needed to include the final decision and that if people wanted more information they should attend board meetings. Trustee Voss even mentioned that one of her neighbors was asking her similar questions about how a certain decision had been made. Trustee Voss then told her neighbor that she should come to a meeting to stay informed.
Well Julie, how many meetings did you attend before you decided to run for the position you currently hold? While we're at it, didn't you say while you were running that you wanted to "be a voice for the people"? Well here's your chance to step up and become that voice. We have busy lives and the residents of this village expect the board to keep us informed and not just through your completely uninformative meeting minutes or by having the entire town show up at a board meeting. Get out there and talk to us. Continue to improve the utilization of the village wide e-mail alert system. Have those neighborhood meetings at resident’s houses (you know the only campaign promise you didn't steal from other candidates). Be a voice for your people Julie.
Village of West Dundee grants Walmart an extension
This past Monday night the village board voted unanimously (that's a surprise) to grant a one-year extension to Wal-mart for their planned 24-hour 186,000 s.f. Super Wal-mart.
The extension was given to allow all the work that was previously done by the planning and zoning commission, the (village) board, Wal-Mart and other petitioners to finish what they started," Trustee Norm Osth told the Courier-News. "We had no recourse but to grant an extension."
Well Norm, the plaintiffs asked for a 30-day extension last year and were told, by you, just to let this pass and then sue. So they did. Please stop complaining about the outcome of the advice you gave them.
We pride ourselves with the quality of buildings in the community and are confident that the building won't be as deleterious to their lives as they may think," Village President Larry Keller also told the Courier-News. "The overwhelming majority of those I have talked to are anxious for Wal-Mart to come to West Dundee."
Hmmm, Wal-mart and quality, isn't that an oxymoron Larry?
That's surprising Larry, the majority of people that I've spoken to are not in favor of this development.
There has been a lot of finger-pointing on the part of the board and its representatives claiming that the plaintiffs in the lawsuit are costing the village a lot of money. Not to discount the fees they are paying to the village attorney (who is most likely on a retainer), but I'm guessing Wal-mart is shouldering the burden of cost of the lawsuit. Will the village lose sales tax revenue because the store is unable to generate any? Sure, but it isn't an immediate loss as the village is portraying.
The extension was given to allow all the work that was previously done by the planning and zoning commission, the (village) board, Wal-Mart and other petitioners to finish what they started," Trustee Norm Osth told the Courier-News. "We had no recourse but to grant an extension."
Well Norm, the plaintiffs asked for a 30-day extension last year and were told, by you, just to let this pass and then sue. So they did. Please stop complaining about the outcome of the advice you gave them.
We pride ourselves with the quality of buildings in the community and are confident that the building won't be as deleterious to their lives as they may think," Village President Larry Keller also told the Courier-News. "The overwhelming majority of those I have talked to are anxious for Wal-Mart to come to West Dundee."
Hmmm, Wal-mart and quality, isn't that an oxymoron Larry?
That's surprising Larry, the majority of people that I've spoken to are not in favor of this development.
There has been a lot of finger-pointing on the part of the board and its representatives claiming that the plaintiffs in the lawsuit are costing the village a lot of money. Not to discount the fees they are paying to the village attorney (who is most likely on a retainer), but I'm guessing Wal-mart is shouldering the burden of cost of the lawsuit. Will the village lose sales tax revenue because the store is unable to generate any? Sure, but it isn't an immediate loss as the village is portraying.
Motion to Reconsider Filed
The attorneys representing abutting homeowners (some of us) filed a Motion to Reconsider with the Kane County Court today. We didn't make this decision lightly, but after consulting with our attorneys and other attorneys, we felt this was best course of action. The fact remains that we do not believe the Village enforced its own ordinance, and the we think the Judge may have overlooked some issues that were not addressed in his order. We'll keep you updated as things develop--thank you so much for the support!
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