Manteno discord continues, as the board failed to pass meeting minutes and couldn’t agree to hire a code officer.
The Sept. 8 board meeting started much the same way it has, as it couldn’t agree to approve the minutes from the August 7 meeting. Trustees Todd Crockett, Joel Gesky, and Annette Zimbleman voted against the approval. Trustee C.J. Boudreau was absent.
Mayor Annette LaMore attempted to present and appoint a code enforcement officer, Jim Pace, as the director of building and zoning, but that, too, was held up. She said Boudreau wanted to meet him, did, and approved of him.
But it didn’t matter to Crockett, Gesky and Zimbleman.
Before the vote, Crockett said he took issue with not seeing the budget impact associated with establishing the position. LaMore said it would be a $60,000 salary and a car.
“But again, numbers, we have no numbers. Have you and the finance committee chair done an amended budget for this year?” Crockett said in response.
LaMore said they’re already asking too much of Jim Hanley, who has had to deal with building and zoning issues, has also taken on the administrator’s duties in addition to his current duties as Public Works Supervisor.
Manteno is without an administrator following Chris LaRocque’s retirement at the end of August.
Crockett then said that Hanley would likely want to know the budget impact.
LaMore asked if he was getting paid extra to take on the administrator’s duties, to which Hanley replied he wasn’t.
This prompted Zimbleman to ask why they weren’t posting jobs.
“There are some jobs I think that we can appoint others that we need to post,” LaMore said.
And, of course, Zimbleman wanted it posted.
LaMore protested it would take weeks to find candidates. Zimbleman then said they also needed an interview committee.
LaMore asserted it was her appointment.
Peggy Vaughn asked Zimbleman if she felt Pace wasn’t qualified.
“I’m not saying he’s not qualified. I think the jobs should be posted, and there should be equal opportunity for people in our village to apply for jobs. There should be an interview committee for these positions, same with village administrator,” Zimbleman replied, providing an example of Bourbonnais’s search for an administrator.
That prompted LaMore to say they weren’t talking about the administrator. They were talking about the code enforcer job.
“I feel the same for that position as well,” Zimbleman said.
Crockett said he wanted a process.
At that point, Trustee Mike Barry jumped in.
“There’s a process in place for hiring and taking applications. There’s a process in place,” Barry said.
He explained that a committee has put together candidates in the past. The result? They hired “above the committee” anyway.
Barry said they have to hire for three positions, and as it stands, there is no one available to handle permitting, and no one to enforce codes and ordinances or permitting requirements.
“The fact is that we have a qualified candidate. We pushed it back three weeks now to give everybody an opportunity to discuss with this candidate,” Barry said.
“I understand 100% what you’re saying on a budgeting aspect. I get it. But we have a lot of people in this village right now that have outstanding permits that are waiting to complete their projects,” he said.
“We have contractors that have reached out to the village and are just waiting — we don’t have anybody. So, what’s that contractor going to do, Todd? He’s not going to follow the rules, Todd,” Barry said.
Todd said that wasn’t his objection, and he agreed the village needed someone.
“My comments were in regards to the budgeting for that person. I have not had the opportunity to meet Mr. Pace face to face,” Crockett replied.
He said hiring B&F Technical was a “viable option” until they can evaluate multiple candidates.
Crockett said the mayor never responded to his email asking about the budget and called it a “sad state of affairs.”
This elicited a response from LaMore.
“Can I interject and speak at my meeting, please? I apologize to you for not answering your email, but you could have picked up the phone and called me any time,” LaMore said.
Crockett said he initiated contact and it was her responsibility to respond.
“Our attorney here, Brian Miller, has reminded me that trustees don’t usually vote on every single person that’s hired in the village. And as the mayor, and I was voted in this position, I can appoint people,” LaMore said.
“And when we have a situation like this where we really need somebody, here’s an ideal person right here in our town who’s not asking for a lot of money and he doesn’t need insurance. It’s a win-win for us, and I don’t understand why you don’t see that,” LaMore added.
Crockett doubled down on the budget issue, prompting LaMore to shoot back and ask how they budgeted an additional $30,000 on top of LaRocque’s salary for it.
Crockett said they budgeted for it.
“And I’ll go back and say, and it won’t be what you want to hear, but I thought Mr. LaRocque did a very good job at what he did,” Crockett added.
“We have to have a decision on this,” Barry said, making the case for hiring Jim Pace, noting the expenses associated with B&F Technical. He added that he felt comfortable and advocated for B&F Technical maintaining oversight of Gotion because of the complexities and because they had been involved from the beginning.
“Whether it’s Jim Hanley or this gentleman, Jim, any of them should have the availability to use this service for things they don’t know because they’re going to they’re going to run into things that are over their skis, right?” Gesky said.
Gesky added B&F was supposed to get them a fee schedule in the morning.
LaMore wanted a decision.
“I would like to move on instead of having any more discussion on this. We have a man who wants to be our code enforcer. We need a code enforcer. CJ Boudreau told Mr. Pace and told us that he was going to vote for him, but he couldn’t be here tonight,” LaMore said.
It was brought to a vote, and the motion failed, with Crockett, Gesky, Zimbleman voting “no.”
“Motion fails. It’s very sad,” LaMore said.
Crockett suggested Hanley continue to do inspections until they can create a budget.
“Right now, with everything going on in this village, is — unfortunately, I think that people need to truly understand what’s going on. And I don’t think that people are getting the full gist of understanding that this isn’t a pissing match between everybody because of the fact that people are leaving the village,” Barry said.
“But I think that we have to put people in place to at least fill some of these roles,” he added.
Crockett said he agreed, but again was focused on the budget.
Zimbelman and Vaughn began talking over one another; Vaughn declared, “It’s a dereliction of our duties.”
That prompted LaMore to bang the gavel, and they moved on.
Later, Crockett asked why trustee comments were removed from the agenda.
“Because our meetings have been so contentious and some people want to give a lot more information at the end of the meeting and some of it is not necessary,” LaMore responded.
“Well, I think we’ve got six very bright trustees here on the board that deserve the opportunity to speak when they want to speak. And it’s been a tradition for years that we’ve all been able to make our comments, and I don’t think that by you taking the comments off the agenda that you’ll silence us,” Crockett replied.
“Perhaps not,” LaMore said.
Gotion’s Fire Brigade in Place
Barry reported they visited Gotion and found the fire brigade was in place with the correct documentation.
“This is the strongest fire brigade agreement in the state of Illinois. I was told that by three people who have more knowledge about firefighting than anybody in this room does. And we’re going to hold their feet to the fire,” Barry said.
He acknowledged that just because the brigade was in place that day, it didn’t mean it would be there another day.
“In our agreement, we’re allowed to go in there at any time’s notice, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and they have to show us who is on shift. Chief Peterson has all the copies of the
certifications. So, all their certifications for all 19 members of their firefighters are on file at the fire department,” Barry said.
“At the end of the day, we went above and beyond, and I’m going to say we. We all work together on this, but we went above and beyond for the safety of the residents,” Barry said.