GRIEGEL MAY BE OUT.... SOME SAY FINALLY!

VILLAGE TREASURER JAMES GRIEGEL

SAUK VILLAGE |  James Griegel, age 71 was appointed Village Treasurer by Mayor David Hanks following his election as Mayor in 2013 was indicted by a Will County Grand Jury in January and has been charged in a criminal complaint by a Federal Prosecutor for embezzlement of $21,000 from the Sauk Village Police Pension Fund.

Hanks has publicly stated that the Village did not have the legal authority to remove Griegel as he has only been charged but not convicted of any crime.  At Tuesday’s Village Board meeting, which Hanks was absent, a statement was read in which Hanks apparently has once again “changed his mind”.  “Upon being informed of Mr. Griegel's arrest (Monday, April 25, 2016) by the FBI,  I issued a letter to Mr. Griegel that he was being replaced as the Village Treasurer” the statement said.  Residents have been calling for Griegel's removal since his January arrest and discovery that he allegedly embezzled money from the Police Pension Fund.

Some Trustees wonder why Hanks did not take this action back in January when Griegel was criminally charged and then was indicted by a Will County Grand Jury.

“Why now, and why not in January?  The residents could have saved money by not having to pay Griegel for 3 additional months.  Nothing has changed from January to now, but this is par for the course for this administration.  One really must wonder why?” Trustee Cecial Tates said on Tuesday night following the Village Board meeting.

Griegel is scheduled to appear in a Will County Court House today for his criminal indictment for possession of a controlled substance.  Griegel was arrested by the Steger Police Department on January 4th for possession of a controlled substance (heroine) and admitted that he had “two bags” and used it to pay for sex according to the Police Report.

HANKS & WILLIAMS NO TRANSPARENCY

OPINION EDITORIAL
SAUK VILLAGER NEWS

The administration of Sauk Village Mayor David Hanks and his lead Bobble Head Trustee Rosie Williams continue to do everything they can to prevent the public from obtaining information.  Including invoking the taxpayer funded attorney to do their dirty work instead off issuing a simple "form letter" that they could obtain from the Attorney General's web page!  What is more disturbing is that instead of being open, honest and transparent, this dynamic duo have led an effort to keep Village business closed off from the public, conducted in the back office and veiled in secrecy.  Without even mentioning the numerous other occurences about "consensus" votes via email to the village trustees instead of conducting actual recorded votes at public meetings, but we're talking about this budget that they put together with chicken wire from the Hanks farm!  Hanks plops it down and asks the Trustees to hurry up review it and let's ram rod this piece of crap down the taxpayers throats before they taste it.  Mayors in successful communities do not have a budget process so closed so cloaked and so stupid as David Hanks.

This year's budget is yet another example of this administration's lack of transparency.  Hanks submitted his secret clandestine budget to his so-called Budget and Finance Committee on April 12th.  Rosie Williams is the chairperson of the Budget and Finance Committee and her co-chair Trustee Ed Myers.  A Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request on April 12th for a copy of the documents submitted to the Budget and Finance Committee by Hanks was refused.  The Village, through their paid legal team, denied the FOIA request claiming that this was a "draft" and therefore this was "exempt" under FOIA. 

The Illinois Attorney General was asked to intervene and issue an opinion on this matter, since the Village's Ordinance #15-012 which created the Budget and Finance Committee states "The Village's Finance Director shall make ever effort to submit to the Finance Committee, on or before March 15th of each fiscal year, a proposed budget for the next fiscal year..."  Any document submitted to a public body, like the Finance Committee, is a public document subject to the act we contended in our response to the Village's denial.

The million dollar question to all of this?  What the hell are they hiding in the first place?  Why not put out for the public to see what numbers you are proposing in your budget?  Over the last several days we heard your numbers discussed in an open meeting!  Then your arrogant head Bobble Head Rosie Williams was heard saying during the meeting "oh look he has a copy of the budget already...".  Well newsflash know-it-all Rosie Williams, the budget I had and was following was from last year that you voted on!  It clearly wasn't balanced then as you voted YES to and from what I heard neither is this budget which you will vote YES to and offered no solutions to the many many problems that the Village faces. 

CHIEF CHANGES HIS MIND & COMPUTER EQUIPMENT STILL NOT BEING USED

SAUK VILLAGE |  Police radio traffic from CalCom yesterday indicated that their phone lines were down, but apparently rookie Sauk Village Police Chief Robert Kowalski didn't get memo from CalCom.

Longtime resident Judy Cast, said she had heard CalCom on her police scanner, called this out at Tuesday's Village Board Meeting.  Initially Mayor David Hanks and Kowalski denied that the phones went down, but later during the meeting after Kowalski walked out into the hallway and was seen on his phone, came back in and corrected himself.

To confirm the fact that the phone lines were down, calls were made to CalCom's Dispatch center and nobody answered the calls for nearly 30 minutes.

This has not been the first hiccup with CalCom and Sauk Village.  It has been previously reported that CalCom could not dispatch calls for two hours in October and that earlier on they could not properly dispatch the Sauk Village Fire Department by properly toning out fire calls.  Sauk Village had it's own dispatchers since the 1960s.   Hanks rushed through the approval of the CalCom contract following the April election when two of Hanks' allied Trustees whom he controlled did not win and voted to approve the contract with CalCom during the lame-duck days of their terms.  Village Trustees allied with Hanks who voted for the CalCom contract are Rosie Williams, Ed Myers and Lynda Washington.

The State of Illinois mandated that dispatch centers serve populations of 25,000 or greater to save money, however, CalCom still is not within the State mandate.

Also Cast blasted the fact that the Village spent over $200,000 on computer equipment for the Police and Fire Departments so that it could work with CalCom's dispatch software and to date the equipment still is not functioning.  None of the money was included in the Village's budget, nor in the Village's appropriations ordinance according to some Village Trustees.  Hanks voted to break the tie in 2015 to pass the Village's budget. 

"This did not save the Village money, who are they kidding" Cast said.

NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH BECOMING LYNDA WASHINGON'S POLITICAL PAWN?

LYNDA WASHINGTON-HOUSE

SAUK VILLAGER | Village Trustee Lynda Washington, who announced last year she is running for Mayor, is having many problems with the members of her Neighborhood Watch Committee who do not agree with her.  Some members of her committee are calling the Neighborhood Watch Committee a "political pawn" of Washington to further her campaign for Mayor in 2017. 

One member of Washington’s committee helped volunteer for the recent Easter Egg Hunt, which was sponsored by the Parks and Recreation Committee, a committee that Washington herself co-chairs with Trustee Kelvin Jones.  Washington, who showed up late for the event last Saturday didn’t even bother to help out during the event yet one of her Neighborhood Watch members did and now is off the Neighborhood Watch Committee as a result.

In a phone interview with Rachel Eastman, who has served as the Secretary for the Neighborhood Watch Committee finds herself at odds with Washington.  “The Neighborhood Watch Committee has become way too political, and not at all what it was originally about” Eastman said.  The catalyst for this drama was the recent Easter Egg Hunt according to Eastman.  “All this because I helped Parks and Recs.  I should still be able to do what I want no matter who’s running for mayor.  I don’t have to waste my time with Neighborhood Watch, I can start helping Parks and Rec and the Beautification Committees, maybe they will value me” Eastman said.

“She (Washington) takes zero responsibility for what she does.  Mayoral material I think not” Eastman said.  “I was kicked off the committee because I actually helped the Parks and Rec Committee with the Easter Egg Hunt, a committee that she (Washington) is suppose to be co-chair, and yet she did nothing for” Eastman said.

Eastman also said that tickets for the "live play" being put on by Washington and the Neighborhood Watch Committee are suppose to be selling for $10 each and she was not having any luck selling them, while Washington has been giving them away according to Eastman.  “I have put a lot of time and energy into the Neighborhood Watch program for Sauk Village, the back to school book bag giveaways and to be treated so badly because I was helping out Parks and Rec.  Lynda is suppose to be co-chair for Parks and Rec and yet she didn’t do a thing to help with the Easter Egg Hunt” Eastman said.

“I’m not going to be a part of her (Washington’s) campaign and not used like that” Eastman said.  “There are other members who feel the same way”.

Eastman still plans to stay involved and will continue to volunteer despite Washington’s actions to remove her.  “How do you fire a volunteer” Eastman wondered.  "So if someone wants to be a part of Neighborhood Watch but happens to volunteer for things Lynda (Washington) doesn't like then too bad, it's her way or you're out" Eastman said.

Attempts were made to reach Washington for response went unanswered.