WATERGATE SCANDAL: Water Cash for Grass

Housing Commssioners: Heidi Parker,
Chairman Gary Holcom and Sharon Nowak

By Joseph Wiszowaty
SAUK VILLAGE |  August 15^th has come and gone, and the village still has not received its anticipated reimbursement to cover the funds the Hanks Administration had taken from the water fund to pay those who mowed grass.   It was discovered that Mayor David Hanks instructed Finance Director Mohan Rao to take money from the water fund to pay people for mowing grass in vacant homes.

Many residents have been screaming mad at outrageously high water bills which appear to be going to pay for things unrelated to the village's water system many have been claiming.  Long-time resident Frank Harvey had complained recently that he needed to find work in order to pay increasing water bills.  Harvey turned to the Village's grass cutting program but soon turned out that he was not getting paid for the work he and his son were doing.  Village Trustee Derrick Burgess railed on Hanks during the budget meetings this summer for using $300,000 of the water money to balance the general fund budget.

The grant was actually from the Illinois Housing Development Authority for the Abandoned Residential Property Municipality Relief Fund.  Under this grant, the program is intended to assist with the costs incurred by the municipality for “securing, maintenance and demolition of abandoned residential property”



Holcomb and Sharon Nowak
protesting against former
Mayor Lewis Towers now
are under fire themselves

Through a private agreement between Gary Holcomb, Housing Commissioner Chairman and Mayor David Hanks “independent contractors” who Holcomb contracted to mow grass in vacant homes were paid out of the village’s water fund in June of this year.  According to information provided by the Village’s Housing Commission, funds were expected to be in Village coffers by August 15^th.  To date no announcement of any funds have been received by the village.  Village Trustee Derrick Burgess questioned an accounts payable which had 14 checks which were already paid to the contractors out of water funds.  Burgess voted no on the accounts payable while 5 of the other Trustees all voted yes.

It was learned through a Freedom of Information Act request that the Village actually applied for the grass mowing grant and not the Housing Commission of Sauk Village as was previously announced by Hanks.  Hanks informed the Village Board of Trustees at their meeting on May 20, 2014 that the “Housing Commission” received the $75,000 grant for grass cutting.  Hanks also stated at that meeting that the Housing Commission “will employ people in the community” to pay the individuals to cut the grass.    Hanks stated at the meeting in May that the matter would be on the next Committee of the Whole meeting June 3^rd, however, the Housing Commission and grass mowing program were never discussed by the Village Board.  To date the village has not received a penny of this grant.

The Village’s grant application budget, received as part of our Freedom of Information Act request, only allotted for 25 homes and $5,000 for “cutting of neglected weeds or grass” however the village has already spent $7,660 according to checks paid to “independent contractors”.

A former Housing Commissioner questions the Housing Commission’s ability to contract “independent contractors” on behalf of the Village of Sauk Village without the Village Board’s approval.  “We were told we could do it, but I’m not sure how the Housing Commission could contract people on behalf of the  Village legally” former Commissioner Larry Stewart said.

 

"I did not know they were taking money out of the water fund to pay people for mowing grass" Steward said.

A housing commission does not have the legal powers granted to housing authority and only is to enforce fair housing in the Village under Illinois law and the Sauk Village Municipal Code.

The Housing Commission established guidelines for how the grass mowing program would be run including requiring individuals to be “residents” of Sauk Village and submit to background checks and each is to maintain a valid license. Former Housing Commissioner Stewart is crying foul as one person is a contractor, does not have a valid driver license and may have been receiving preferential treatment as he appears to have received a no-bid contact Stewart claims.