BINDING OPINION REQUESTED OF ATTORNEY GENERAL

by Joseph Wiszowaty
SAUK VILLAGE |  The Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan's office has determined that "further inquiry" was warranted into the Village's denial of one of our Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests for information regarding Village Clerk Debbie Williams and her daughter Village Trustee Rosie Williams' trip to Washington D.C. back in July, 2013.

The FOIA request originally was a four-part request for information requesting among other things documents regarding the Building One America Summit, including attorney fees for the investigation conducted by the Village's attorney, donations and sponsorships.  The Village denied the request in a letter from the Village Attorney Michael McGrath on August 22nd.

The Attorney's General office responded in their letter stating "We have determined that further inquiry into this matter is necessary to confirm the Village has complied with its obligations under FOIA.  Please provide to this office a written explanation of how the Village searched for responsive records".  McGrath tried to downplay the significance of the letter at a village board meeting stating that these are simply "form letters".

In the request filed with the Attorney's General office the contradictions are pointed out including Debbie Williams stating at a public meeting on July 23 that this was "a personal trip" then later stating that she was asked to represent the Village of Sauk Village.   Debbie Williams also stated at the same meeting "until the Village Attorney tells me I have to provide the information I will not" she said.





The Village also responded to the Attorney General with a generic spreadsheet page showing how much they charged the Village for the investigation that they allegedly conducted into the legality of the Travelgate scandal, however, they did not provide any billing invoices or information which was requested as part of the original FOIA request.

The Attorney General has been seeking that very information that Williams refused to provide as the Village did not state that the information was "exempt".  We have requested that the Illinois Attorney General issue a "binding opinion" and find that the Village violated the Freedom of Information Act because it failed to provide information clearly falling under the public domain for which the Village refused to provide.

The Illinois Attorney General continues their investigation into the matter and we await their findings which are likely to occur after the first of the year.  We will keep you posted on these ongoing matters.

HANKS PLANS BORROWING TO BALANCE BUDGET

By Joseph Wiszowaty
SAUK VILLAGE |  Just two weeks ago, Mayor David Hanks recommended that the village board borrow $449,206 from the Village’s water fund, a dedicated noise mitigation fund and funds which were from the Cell Tower agreement so it could pay its debt service on the Village Hall and other obligations.  The Village voted at a special meeting to replace the money with the property tax installment by the end of March, 2014.

At yet another “special meeting”, Hanks proposed that the Village take out a $500,000 line of credit so that it can make payroll when funds are low again.   Hanks said that Village Trustee Lynda Washington-House was the only Trustee who responded to his call for suggestions on how the village should handle the situation.  House’s response to Hanks was asking “what were the past practices”.  Hanks said that in 2007, 2008 and 2009 the Village borrowed the money and paid it back when funds came in.  This time, Hanks is not suggesting that when the money is used that it get paid back all at once.  Hanks suggested the village could “make payments” over time.

The Village was facing a financial shortfall for the payroll for this Friday, November 27^th, however money from the insurance carrier for the Sandy Cosey settlement and the special police detail paid by CN Railroad helped make up the short fall according to Mohan Roa Finance Director.

Hanks suggested that the Village was going to have to make budget cuts in the next budget cycle.  “This board is going to have to make some tough decisions”.  “We’re going to have to tighten our belts” Hanks said also stating that the Village has “cut overtime”.  Village Trustee Rosie Williams suggested raising property taxes to close the budget gap that is opening wider as opposed to making cuts to the budget.  The Village faces an inter-fund debt from the General Fund of more than $2.1 million as a result of the most recent borrowing. 

Village Trustee Derrick Burgess questioned why there was no maximum rate of interest that could be sought for the Line of Credit worded in the ordinance.  Village Attorney Michael McGrath suggested that the ordinance be amended to include language saying that the maximum interest rate “will not exceed 7%”.

The Ordinance to authorize Hanks to seek a line of credit was approved by a 5 to 1 vote with only Trustee Burgess voting no.  “I don’t think borrowing more money is the answer to the Village’s problems.  I’m waiting to see what his (Hanks’) plan is moving forward” Burgess said after the meeting.  “I’m only one person and one vote on this Village Board” Burgess said.



Original material copyright 2013 Sauk Villager News; all rights reserved. 

David Hanks, Mayor

Attorney General getting busy in Sauk Village

by Joseph Wiszowaty
SAUK VILLAGE |  A third Freedom of Information Act request to Sauk Village is under review by the Illinois Attorney General's office because the Village has denied yet another requests. 

A request was denied as "burdensome" by the Village for criminal statistics.  The denial did not follow State law under 5 ILCS 140 et seq so this reporter filed a request for review to the Illinois Attorney General's office.

Now the "burdensome" work begins for the Village who must now provide a response to the Illinois  Attorney General's office.  In what was clearly not a "form letter" issued by the Attorney General's office as Village Attorney Michael McGrath said last week, the village has 7 days to provide answers and material to their office.

The Attorney General's office responded back to the village's denial requesting many answers to many things, particularly how the Village keeps such information and what software is used and if they have a computer to pull the information together.  Further the Attorney General wanted to know why the village felt that providing such information was "burdensome" and to provide any previoius requests showing that these were duplicate and not new requests. 

The Illinois Attorney General will issue a decision on this third separate denial and determine if the village has violated the Freedom of Information Act for failing to provide information that is not exempt under the law (5 ILCS 140 et seq). 

The Village has denied a request into the "Travelgate" matter where Village Clerk Debbie Williams and her daughter, Village Trustee Rosie Williams solicited money from vendors for what they called a "personal trip" to Washington D.C.   A final 6 page response was sent in to the Attorney's General office this week in response to the Village's letter where the Village Attorney stated that they have information that was requested but failed to provide it.  This reporter is asking in the response to find the village violated the Act based on the Village's response and other facts.

The Village denied requests for information on an account opened at US Bank by the Village's Public Relations Committee.  The account is reportedly for the Committee's activities and Village Trustee Rosie Williams is the signer on the account.  The village failed to provide information about the account and this was also sent to the Illinois Attorney General for review under the Freedom of Information Act.  To date the Village has not responded on this matter and the Illinois Attorney General will be asked to find the village in violation of the Act.

EDITORIAL NOTE:  The Village has been trying to put a "hit list" or report who is requesting information and how much it cost the village to answer such requests.  A little known fact is that people can request information anonymously under 5 ILCS 140 et seq. and that many have begun doing so in Lisle Illinois because of the "hit list" that they put out. 

If the Village would simply not worry about who is getting what and what they need it for and gave the public information then there would be no drama!  People have a right to know what is going on in their community.  When Community leaders hide behind lawyers in an attempt to block information they are not serving the PUBLIC interest but thei SELF INTEREST! 

Now the village is going to complain because they have to spend MORE TIME answering to the Illinios Attorney General when they simply could have answered the "burdensome" requests.  Now they are going to be burdened with requests and timelines by the Illinois Attorney General who is the enforcer of the Freedom of Information Act.

NOTE TO SAUK VILLAGE why do you want to play with the Attorney General's office, they will ALWAYS be for FULL DISCLOSURE as being OPEN, HONEST and TRANSPARENT which is what government should always be! 

Stop playing the STUPID card and start being responsible with the taxpayers' money!

It seems "Dysfunction Junction" is alive and well at Village Hall!

Debbie Williams, Village Clerk
custodian of all village records

TRAVELGATE SCANDAL CONTINUES AS ATTORNEY GENERAL REVIEWS

by Joseph Wiszowaty
SAUK VILLAGE |  The Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan's office continues their review the Village's denial of information under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) over what has become known as "Travelgate".

In July, 2013, Village Clerk Debbie Williams, Village Trustee Rosie Williams and now Police Pension Board member Patricia Couch attended a Building One America Organization's meeting in Washington D.C. raised money using the Village's taxpayer funded website and posted other material on the Village website as well.  Williams claims that this was a "personal trip", however, some argue that the public does not have access to Village assets, like the village's website, to solicit village vendors and post their personal trip photos and video.

The Village in their response to a 4 part FOIA request stated that they had nothing responsive to the request.  This prompted this reporter to file a 16 page Request for Review to the Attorney General's office which included the original audio of the July 23, 2013 meeting (which of course had to be FOIA requested).

In the response by the Village's attorney to the Request for Review the village admits that it had information which was originally requested but it had not provided but maintains their position that this was a "personal trip"

The repsonse filed with the Attorney General today "I submit that the Village’s response is prima facie evidence that they have violated the Freedom of Information Act 5 ILCS 140 et seq. as they admit that they do have information responsive to the original request, yet failed to provide it." 

The response also contends that the Village's response letter is the clearest indication of their violation of the act in that they admit that they had information and failed to provide it and to date still have not.

The Request for Review seeks finding "that the Village of Sauk Village has violated the Freedom of Information Act 5 ILCS 140 et seq and that an Order be issued by the Illinois Attorney General having the Village of Sauk Village comply with the original request."

 

The Village Attorney provided a spreadsheet showing that they charged the Village $907.50 for an "investigation" of scandal spending 5.5 hours "investigating", however, the information was not provided as part of the original FOIA request.   The Village Attorney said in their letter with respect to the "investigation" they conducted "we briefly discussed this matter with the Village Clerk and she informed us that she received an invitation to attend the Building One America Summit" yet the billing was for 5.5 hours clearly not "brief" and does not explain their investigation (more on that later).

Village Attorney Michael McGrath tried to downplay the matter at last week's meeting saying that these are "form letters" that one of their employees helped the Attorney General's office put together.  People can file a Request for Review to the Attorney General's office as they have a right to do McGrath indicated during the meeting.

Both Debbie Williams and Rosie Williams have remained silent about the matter.

Debbie Williams and Rosie Williams