Lack of Transparency, Wrong Direction and the Water Highlight Town Hall Meeting

by Joseph Wiszowaty
SAUK VILLAGE |   Trustee Derrick Burgess hosted his monthly Town Hall Meeting, this time back at Village Hall Wednesday evening.

Village Clerk Debbie Williams filed an inquiry for a possible Open Meetings Act violation, ironically with the Illinois Attorney General's office who the Village has sued over the Travelgate Binding Opinion they issued in October.  The alleged Open Meetings Act violation was "unfounded" Village Attorney Matt Burns said at a board meeting earlier.

About 35 people, including Superintendent of Schools Dr. Donna Leak, School Board Vice President Tammy Jones, Parent Teacher Organization President Jovante Hasty came back to Village Hall as the Town Hall Meetings moved to Rickover over the summer.  "We wanted to move the venue to afford more residents the opportunity to attend which was successful as we had about 95 at a couple of them there" Burgess said.  "We will probably change up the venue again but hosting them at Village Hall is good too." Burgess said following the meeting.

Longtime resident Judy Cast was critical of the administration for the lack of transparency, but complimented some progress made.  "Under the last administration you wouldn't be sitting in a meeting like this" Cast said.  Cast also wants to know how much the Village has spent in legal fees for the Travelgate scandal.  The Village is suing the Illinois Attorney General over the Binding Opinion issued in October which declared that the Village and Village Clerk must turn over all documentation concerning the trip to Washington DC by the Village Clerk her daughter Trustee Rosie Williams and resident and now former Police Pension Board member Patricia Couch.

Larry Stewart, who was removed as Housing Commissioner earlier this year, blasted the Hanks Administration for the lack of direction and the lack of planning.

Marva Campbell-Pruitt criticized the Hanks Administration for the lack of a solid plan and timeline for the water infrastructure improvements.  "We're paying the additional $2.00 per 1000 gallons of water for the repairs but there is no plan in place to justify it" Campbell-Pruitt said.

Dr. Leak addressed Kelvin Jones' questions concerning school children needing text books.  "We want our children to have the latest information not a static text book.  Old text books from 2007 still have George Bush as President" Leak said.  Leak has been working on a multi-year plan with the School Board and hopes one day soon to bring I-Pads to the students of District 168.  There are about 1700 students in district 168 and the district is flush with cash with about $16 million in the bank and zero debt.

Community Activist Bernice Brewer-Houston said residents are still paying for contaminated well water but residents are paying Lake Michigan water prices.  "The Mayor and Trustees are using this money to balance their budget and not putting the money toward repairs to the water mains that are  constantly breaking" Brewer Houston said following the meeting.

"People are tired of paying $300 water bills for this nasty water.  You can't drink it, you can't cook with it.  You have to spend money to treat it, replace corroded fixtures and even after treating it you turn on the faucet and the water still comes out orange.  They got $4.8 million grant for what the Mayor said will free up the village from paying $260,000 per year, but the resident's get no relief" a longtime resident said.  "I'm just disgusted with our Village leaders" she said.

"Residents only get to speak for 3 minutes during Village meetings.  There are no time limits here, I want to hear the concerns of the residents" Burgess said.

Burgess has hosted Town Hall Meetings for the last 6 months and will be taking the month of December off and resuming them in January after the holidays.

Mayor David Hanks and Village Trustee Lynda Washington sat silent during the meeting.  Williams spoke briefly when challenged by a resident.  "I'm speaking as a resident" Williams said.  Williams was accompanied by her husband, who also sits as a Human Relations Commissioner.  Trustee Rosie Williams is the daughter of Debbie Williams but was not present.

Illinois Attorney General seeks info on Housing Commission

by Joseph Wiszowaty
SAUK VILLAGE |  The Illinois Attorney General has been seeking answers from Village officials since last month.  As of yesterday, Village officials had not responded to the Attorney General's inquiry on a possible violation of the Open Meetings Act.

The Sauk Villager News filed a request for review with the Illinois Attorney General claiming that the Village's Housing Commission may have violated the Open Meetings Act by holding a closed session during a special meeting.  The Open Meetings Act has specific requirements for a public body to hold a closed session meeting.

The Illinois Attorney General was seeking, among other things, an audio recording of the meeting, minutes from the meeting and copies of the agenda.  On the agenda the body was going into closed session to discuss "personnel" and "reports".  (CLICK THIS LINK TO SEE THE ACTUAL LETTER) The Commission does not have any personnel under it's direct supervision and "reports" are not covered for one of the reasons to go into a closed session under the Open Meetings Act.

Gary Holcomb, who serves as the Chairman of the Commission has been circulating nomination petitions to run for Village Trustee in April.  Holcomb has been a loyal supporter of Mayor David Hanks. 

Holcomb caused controversy this past summer by publishing on his social media page and on the Sauk Village Housing Commission page a copy of a resident's state identification card and her son's social security card.  Holcomb was confronted by the Sauk Village Police officials who asked him to take it down, which he later did. 

Holcomb is also at the center of the controversial grass mowing program, where Village officials were forced to borrow $29,660 to pay for mowing service that was not included in the 2014-15 Budget.  Hanks announced earlier this year that the Housing Commission received a grant of $75,000 for mowing vacant homes.  It was recently revealed that the Village was the actual grant recipient not the Housing Commission, however, to date the Village has not received a dime as the entire grant program is under intense scrutiny and is under review.

CATASTROPHIC FAILURE BY THIS ADMINISTRATION

OPINION EDITORIAL
by Joseph Wiszowaty

Why is it that communications between the public and Sauk Village officials has completely broken down?  This weekend was a great example of the catastrophic failure of this administration!

A catastrophic failure in the Village's water infrastructure caused a water outage for Candlelight Village mobile home park, Carlisle Estates, YRC and ABF Trucking Terminals on Friday from 4pm until late Saturday afternoon. 

By 9:15am, Village officials had posted nothing on the Village's official website, nor had any e-mails from any Village officials had gone out.  I emailed Mayor David Hanks and Village Clerk Debbie Williams at 9:15am Saturday asking "Is there any official announcement with respect to the water outage"?  Williams response received at 11am:  "Contact the Police Department.  I have no information regarding a water outage.  If I am given information a eblast is sent."  Hanks never responded to my email.  First of all, why would anyone want to contact the Police Department to get an official statement on a water outage? 

38 minutes after Williams send me her email response she put out an email alert:  "Sauk Village Public Works crews are currently working on a water main break that is affecting residents in Candlelight Village, Carlisle Estates.  ABF and YRC are also being impacted.  Water may come on and go back off as these repairs are made.  Residents will receive more updates as soon as possible"

Clearly these Village officials are disconnected from what is going on in the Village!  My phone was blowing up at 4pm Friday afternoon and didn't stop all night into Saturday morning.  People had no answers, came home from work all nasty and wanted to shower, had plans on Saturday morning where showers were necessary to start their day.  These are peoples' lives and NO OFFICIAL WORD FROM VILLAGE HALL?  Why did the Village not put out something when they shut off hundreds of water users to let them know what was going on?

The first "Official Word" from this administration came 11:38am, 19 hours and 38 minutes after hundreds of water users was shut off.  That should not be acceptable by any standard!  This is not like losing your power as some would argue.  People can generally function for several days without electricity (except during winter when heat is necessary to sustain life).  Water is needed to live!

The first "official" communication from the Water Department came in order to make it all sound good came at 4:55pm, 24 hours after the water had been cut off: 

"Due to the emergency upgrade of our distribution system infrastructure, the water will be shut down for; Candlelight Village, Roadway Trucking, and ABF Trucking  Therefore the Water Department has issued a Boil Order, November 1, 2014.  Residents should boil their water for drinking and cooking for at least 3 minutes prior to use.  The Boil Order will remain in effect until Bacteriological check samples clear with our lab..."

Now David Hanks said nobody is giving him any ideas.  Here's one for you David.... Stop lying to the people!  "Emergency upgrade of our distribution system"... How about telling the truth!  This was a catastrophic failure of the distribution system and a catastrophic failure of this administration!

I want to first and foremost say that Public Works employees did the best job they could with what they had to work with.  They did get the water turned back on in a timely fashion.  This has no reflection on the job they do.  This is clearly a failure of this administration!  




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RESIDENTS LEFT WITH NO WATER AND NO ANSWERS

by Joseph Wiszowaty
SAUK VILLAGE |  A watermain break near the CN Railroad on the Village's north side have left Candlelight Village residents and the YRC Trucking Terminal without water since 4pm Friday, October 31st.

Residents in the Candlelight Village mobile home park which is in Sauk Village have begun complaining of lack of toilet facilities and showers.  "We don't drink the water so that's not an issue but we have heard nothing from the Village" a resident said.

There was no estimated time for the repair to this major water outage given by the Village on the Village's official website and no email from village officials as of 9am Saturday.

There was no announcement of any village wide boil order which will take place since such a large portion of the Village's water infrastructure has been without water as the pipes have sat empty with no pressure in them.  Contamination can grow in pipes which have lost pressure for sometime and typically communities will have a boil order, however, no "official" word on the Village's website nor email alerts have been given.

As of the time of the publication of this report, there has been no official response from Mayor David Hanks or Village Clerk Debbie Williams.