By Jeff Vorva

George Reichardt may be onto something.

At the September 16 Manteno Village Board Meeting, the resident used some of his time during the public comments section to say the controversial Chinese-based Gotion electric-vehicle battery plant coming to the area is not a foregone conclusion.

“I get the feeling a lot of people in this town think this is a done deal,” he said. “I still feel it’s not a done deal. I’ll never give up on it. If I had a quarter for every person who thought this was a done deal, I could pay the lawyer fees by myself.”

The United State House of Representatives is agreeing with him – Republicans and Democrats.

Earlier this month, the House unanimously passed the Decoupling from Foreign Adversarial Battery Dependence Act, which forbids the United States Department of Homeland Security from purchasing batteries from Gotion or five other Chinese-based companies.

House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party Chairman John Moolenaar (R-MI) said in a speech on September 12 that Gotion is “deeply” connected to forced labor and genocide in China.

“Our government should never buy batteries sourced from companies beholden to the CCP,” he said. “We cannot be dependent on our foremost adversary, and we must ensure the CCP can never profit from its genocide and human rights abuses.”

The bill needs to be passed by the Senate and signed by the President for it to become a law.

There is speculation if it does become a law, it may wound Gotion, as the company figured one of its biggest clients would be the U.S. Government.

Public camping rules

The board voted to amend its ordinance on public camping in the village to offset the possibility of homeless camps setting up in town.

“This provides the police department with some guidance and regulations to address temporary encampments, should that become an issue for the village,” Trustee Diane Dole said. “This type of ordinance was suggested by the Illinois Municipal League for communities to ensure there are certain controls in place.”

“This gives us tools to deal with homeless encampments when they put their tents on public property,” Police Chief Alan Swinford said. “But it’s not a big issue here.”

Radio, radio

The board passed a motion to spend a shade over $375,000 for new radios from Motorola Solutions for the police department.

“Our current radios are no longer supported for updates and repairs due to their age,” Dole said.