By Karen Haave
The Monee Village Board has agreed to sponsor a $100 hole for the police department golf outing, over the objection of one trustee.
Douglas Horne cast the lone “no” vote, saying he doesn’t feel right about using public funds for charitable giving, even if it is a nominal amount. His suggestion was that trustees fund the donation out-of-pocket. The MPD golf outing supports Special Olympics Illinois and its athletes.
Trustee Scott Youdris suggested the board make the donation.
“The sponsorship for a hole is $100,” he said. “You know, I think that’s something we could do. I have checked with our administrator, you know, just to make sure the funds to sponsor a hole like this would not be coming out of taxpayer funds, but actually would be coming out of the gaming funds we collect through the slot machines and all that. So, I think it’s a great way to show support to our police department, and a great way to show support for Special Olympics.”
But Trustee Horne disagreed, saying, “I’m going to take a contrarian view. It’s a little amount. It’s almost negligible, but I don’t think it’s our place to use public funds for events like this.
“What I would encourage is, trustees who are interested – full disclosure, I plan on doing this anyways, the paperwork’s on my desk – you want to support the police golf outing, and I do. I would golf in it, except that I’ve got another event that day. But, buy a sponsorship for…the holes. He (Youdris) is saying, use public money. I’m saying use private money.”
Trustee John Henson questioned Horne, asking, “Are you saying the village shouldn’t be paying for any 501c3 stuff? Is that what you’re trying to get at exactly? Okay, that’s going to come up later.”
There was no additional discussion.
Henson voted “yes” on the motion, along with Youdris and Trustees Heidi Gonzalez, Michael Wilson, and Charles Rakis.