Just when it seems the Manteno board might get through an entire meeting without arguing, it doesn’t. At the November 3 board meeting, disagreements stemming from Village Administrator Chris LaRocque’s contract and the public works truck agreement erupted, resulting in shouting, ignoring Village President Annette LaMore and prompting the village attorney to step in.
Village Administrator’s Contract Still in Question
At the end of the meeting, Trustee Todd Crockett implored LaMore to sign LaRocque’s contract, which has been unsigned despite the board voting to approve it this past summer. The vote was split as it usually is, with Trustees Mike Barry, Peggy Vaughn, and the Village President in alignment in opposition to the others.
“Again, Chris, tonight you’ve been a wealth of information providing all of the trustees with answers. Mayor, I will ask you again, based on the vote of the board, would you please sign Chris’s contract?” Crockett asked the mayor.
“I’m not ready to sign a contract,” LaMore said firmly, stating it wasn’t a personal attack. She said she had been voted in to effect change, and she still has the power to make appointments.
“So, you’re going to go against what the board has voted on?” Crockett asked.
LaMore responded, “I’m going to try to make the changes I promised the people I would make,” before telling Crockett most villages don’t have contracts, and employees are at will.
This prompted Vaughn to interject, inquiring if a contract protects people and wondering aloud what Crockett’s point was.
“I think he’s shown he is a very valuable person here in the village. The board voted to extend his contract, and I think it’s the mayor’s duty to sign the contract,” Crockett said after affirming that contracts protect people.
LaMore said she felt it wasn’t fair to be forced to sign appointments she didn’t make.
“I think you’re doing the right thing. You have a right to your opinion,” Vaughn said.
Later, Barry offered his two cents during his final comments.
“Trustee Crockett keeps telling me Chris does everything I asked. I want to know —” Barry started to say before Crockett interjected to deny he said that. Barry continued.
“Everyone knows I work when I can’t make a 7 a.m. meeting. It’s been very clear to everybody since the day I got elected. Why would they have the auditor come in at 7 o’clock in the morning to do the presentation for the audit when I’m the finance director?” Barry questioned.
He said he asked LaRocque if the auditor would come back, and said LaRocque told him they could look into it but had a deadline to file with the county.
“I think it’s very odd a lot of things seem to be jammed up at the 7 o’clock meeting,” Barry emphasized.
Meeting timing wasn’t the only issue Barry had been sitting on during the meeting.
“And to bring it back is we talk about the Go lawsuit. No one has ever been able to tell me what the return on the investment for the Go is. So you could sit here and throw out numbers, but all I know is right now we’re losing money because of the property taxes,” Barry said in response to Crockett, who had updated the Gotion lawsuit costs.
“Not everybody’s in favor of the lawsuit. So I think they have the right to know how much we —” Crockett started to respond before Barry interjected.
“The residents were in favor of the whole deal to begin with, Todd,” Barry said.
“I will continue to update those figures as we move along, because people need to know,” Crockett said.
At that point, LaMore changed subjects.
The Albatross of Public Works: The Truck of Contention
The public works truck that was the subject of intense debate but approved again became a point of contention at the end of the meeting.
Vaughn said there was a discrepancy in the order and wanted to know if it was a 2025 or 2026 truck.
Vaughn again brought up Dralle’s bid for a 2026 Colorado truck, with Crockett and Boudreau protesting. Boudreau affirmed Public Works Supt. Jim Hanley advised it would be a 2026.
Still dissatisfied, Vaughn said Boudreau, as a board member, should look into it.
At that point, Boudreau asked Vaughn if she ever worked for Dralle.
“Yes, I have,” Vaughn affirmed.
“Are you worried that could —” Boudreau started to ask before Vaughn cut him off.
“No, that has nothing to do with that,” Vaughn affirmed.
At that point, Vaughn, raising her voice, reiterated her concerns about the model year and the cost. This prompted Crockett to join back in, asking if the truck year needed to be clarified.
With everyone in a kerfluffle, LaMore banged her gavel in an attempt to regain decorum.
Except this time, it didn’t work.
LaMore’s bangs unanswered as board members contentiously yelled over one another.
At that point, the Village Attorney Joe Cainkar jumped in.
“Trustees, please address the — please address the president. Let’s not argue with one another,” Cainkar said.
“What?” Vaughn responded.
“Address the president. And if you got comments, address the president,” Cainkar reiterated.
At that point, LaMore regained control, but nothing more was said, and the board moved on with other business.
General Public Works Updates
LaRocque provided an update on the sewer project on Leahy Street at Crockett’s request; contracts for the project have been signed, engineering is complete, and construction should be underway.
The board also approved an agreement with Local 150 to allow the streets and sanitation supervisor position to stay a union position following the former supervisor’s retirement. It is a working foreman position, not administrative, and it will first be posted through the union.
The village vacated a section of property east of and parallel to North Cypress Street that had previously been an alley, eliminating village responsibility and essentially giving it to the attached property owners. The village did, however, reserve a utility easement.
Village Financial Reports Approved
Manteno’s annual independent audit completed by SKDO, LLC, was accepted without much discussion. The village was given a qualified opinion on the governmental activities unit.
“Our opinion on the governmental activities opinion unit was qualified due to the fact management has not adopted GASB 75 of Accounting and Financial Reporting for Postemployment Benefits Other Than Pension Funds (OPEB), and, accordingly, has not recorded the related deferred outflows, deferred inflows, net OPEB liability, and OPEB expense, and has not presented required disclosures,” the audit report read.
Despite that qualified opinion, the village received an unmodified opinion on all other units. An unmodified opinion is the cleanest, best, and highest opinion an auditor can give.
It is important to note the SKDO audit is the village’s annual independent audit and not the recently approved forensic audit.
The board also approved the annual treasurer’s report for the fiscal year of 2024-2025, as well as the annual TIFF report for fiscal year ending April 30 of 2025.
During trustee reports, Trustee Todd Crockett shared what he felt was pertinent financial information.
“Through the end of July, July 31st, 2025, the Gotion lawsuit has cost the village $149,275.71. Through the end of October, the forensic audit has cost the village $75,440. To kind of put that in perspective, that’s over a third of what it costs the village to provide us all with free garbage service. So, pretty eye opening,” Crockett said.
Residents Question Village Proceedings
Two residents spoke about village proceedings. Resident Paul Motel encouraged the board to return to an older format of including first and second readings that David Bergdahl had referenced at the previous meeting, citing the board could still hold committee meetings.
Resident Bob Forsythe also criticized the board’s decision-making process before taking aim at LaRocque. Forsythe felt LaRocque hadn’t been doing his job for the past 16 years, to which LaRocque corrected Forsythe — he’s worked for the village for the past 13 years.
During committee reports, Trustee C.J. Boudreau reported the village is doing its best to address concerns raised during public comments by filming meetings, acknowledging committee meetings are not at convenient times.
Boudreau added, “Big ticket items — when we’re spending a lot of money — I could understand posting that at a meeting and then voting at the second meeting so that you guys all have time to kind of review that.”
The board awarded the service agreement to Manteno business RME Audio Video. The volunteers currently recording board meetings couldn’t do the committees.
Other Village News
Manteno Police Officer Jeremy Mrazek provided an overview of the calls the department responded to in October. There were 95 case reports, 813 incidents, 128 tickets, 25 arrests, nine mental health-related calls, and 19 domestic violence-related calls.
Mrazek encouraged residents to check on the elderly, because they are often victims.
Mayor LaMore reported she would be attending a seminar on homelessness with Chief Alan Swinford, who said his attendance the past few years has been beneficial.
Additionally, Chief Swinford commented on the new stop signs at County Line Road and Rt. 50, which has been the site of several deadly accidents.
“That’s just a short-term fix, but the longer term is to reconfigure that intersection. I think it’ll help. We’ll see. I don’t know if it’ll eliminate accidents, but I would hope it will reduce the severity of them,” Swinford added.
The village board, absent Trustee Joel Gesky, agreed to donate $1,000 to the Turkey Tots benefit.
Marketing and Community Relations Director Jakob Knox reviewed upcoming Veterans Day Events, and Christmas in Manteno will be held on December 6.
A ribbon-cutting ceremony will be held November 18 for three new businesses in Manteno: Liquid Books, T.A.N. Logistics, and Supreme Diagnostic Services. Knox also noted Mayberry Junction is under new ownership.
Stephanie Irvine is a freelance reporter.