During one of the most acrimonious Manteno board meetings in recent months, trustees somehow managed to pass an agreement requiring Gotion to adhere to stipulated safety standards and staff a complete fire brigade.
Trustee Mike Barry, who was quiet during the earlier arguments, advised the board that Gotion signed the agreement, which requires the company to conform to safety standards and bring the fire brigade up to the village’s standards.
“The second step is August 31; they have to have 18 certified level one firefighters,” Barry said.
The agreement requires Gotion to have six firefighters on staff 24/7. Both the Manteno Fire Protection District’s Chief Rick Petersen and B&F Technical were in on the agreement negotiations.
He explained the Manteno Fire Protection District will check to make sure the firefighters hired by Gotion meet the standards set forth in the agreement.
“If they fall below levels … we have the opportunity to pull their occupancy permit. There’s a lot of stipulations in this agreement,” Barry said.
Barry said he and Trustee Joel Gesky worked together on the agreement and “came across the aisle” to get it done, spending many hours working together over the past several months.
“We worked together on it to make sure that going forward in a month from now, six months from now, a year from now, two years from now that their feet will be held to the fire,” Barry said.
“We can ensure, and each and every person sitting up here has said the safety of our community was always the forefront. And this is probably the best example of the two opposing sides working together for the common good,” Gesky said.
Vaughn questioned why additional provisions weren’t in the agreement, but Barry pushed back.
“A lot of those things that you’re bringing up now that’s great, but we don’t have full control over that. Now we have control over the safety of our residents. And to be clear, we didn’t have that until Friday,” Barry said.
He explained it wasn’t the Village of Manteno, but the state that provided Gotion with many of the incentives it received to come to Manteno.
“But you’re talking about two separate things. You have to understand that the state of Illinois is the one that gave them all the incentives to come here,” Barry said.
“I mean, at the end of the day, people should start calling up the governor’s office,” he added.
Vaughn pressed on, wanting to know why there wasn’t an agreement in the first place.
“Peg, I can’t go back in the past. I could only look to the future,” Barry said while stating she was asking good questions.
He explained there are things in place now that will hold Gotion responsible.
“I don’t mean to swear, but I told them, ‘Your bull**** is over,” Barry said.
The board voted unanimously to adopt the agreement.
In a rare moment of cooperation, several on the board voiced contentment over the binding agreement and over Gesky and Barry working together to get it done.
The previous administration should have had these things in place before occupancy permit was granted.
Let’s pray they abide by the rules this time. They haven’t been very good at this.