Linda Moore Explains Questioned Credit Card Spending

Grafton Township Supervisor responds to Township Trustee Rob LaPorta’s posting of credit card purchases in a comment under this article:

Moore Says Trustees are Lawsuit “Addicts” Having Spent $347,000 vs. Her $53,000, Motive Is Her Defeat of New Township Hall

Here’s Moore’s press release in reply:

Trustee LaPorta Questions Township Expenses He Already Approved

Linda Moore

Rob LaPorta

Trustee LaPorta has posted on the McHenry County Blog [see comments] questions that he has about the very bills that he himself has already approved as a township trustee.

I will attempt to help him out with this information.

The trustees are encouraged to come to the office and view all township financial documents, but they do not do this.

I have made myself available after regular hours.

The township assessor, supervisor, and highway commissioner started using credit cards in 2005, shortly after Trustees Zirk, LaPorta and Murphy took office. Since my election to office in 2009, at every township board meeting these trustees spend about an hour asking very specific questions about all of the bills, especially the town bills, before they approve them.

All of these bills that he is asking about have been approved by the board.

We have had a flurry of FOIA requests which have significantly increased the need for office staff hours and we have had to schedule employees for extra hours.

With the budget cuts that have been proposed by the trustees, I am concerned about a shortage of staff to operate the senior transportation program at the end of the fiscal year.

Because I do not have the specifics of what he is referring to I will attempt to address his concerns as best I can without having the details of the exact items that he is referring to.

  • We mail postcards to invite residents to township events.
  • The township Supervisor attends monthly training for the McHenry County Township Supervisor’s Association.
  • Converge Home Health asked us to purchase food for the event they were sponsoring when they had a scheduling problem. They later reimbursed these expenses.
  • We bought some cleaning supplies for the office. The computer printer ink was getting low and we like to keep some in stock in advance, a chair needed to be replaced to avoid potential workman’s comp claim, the binders are used for board members packets and document storage.
  • The emergency lights are checked regularly by the fire department and must be kept fully operational.
  • A hall light was replaced.
  • The township offices subscribe to the Daily and Northwest Herald.
  • An overnight hotel stay at a Township Officials of Illinois sponsored training program was incurred.
  • A computer monitor malfunctioned, trustees’ and clerk’s computers were bought, we needed more chairs for AARP classes, and videotape equipment was needed for township purposes.
  • We use the van when possible for senior transportation to save expenses.
  • The township supplies the seniors with bingo cards and we have two yard signs to place out front when we are holding the event.
  • A downtown Chicago parking garage fee was incurred for a meeting with State Officials.
  • Bags are used to distribute information to residents about township service.
  • Fuel was bought for a township vehicle.
  • The township paid for a “For sale by Owner” listing of the township property on Haligus Road.
  • We bought a used light fixture for the township bathroom.
  • The township bought check supplies.

Comments

Linda Moore Explains Questioned Credit Card Spending — 10 Comments

  1. Should have charged the Forensicon report or the remaining outstanding balance…. Oh wait, this is just a chunk of 2011.

    How does 2012 look?

  2. What about the National Association of Towns and Townships Conference, Illinois Hill Breakfast, and the two tours of Washington DC?

    How is reimbursement for these tours different than your issues with the trustees attending McCOG dinners?

  3. Linda, are you trying to tell me that you and your assistant, who are salaried employees and not subject to hourly rates, are incapable of handling the FOIA’s that are being submitted?

    What do you and your assistant do all day long?

  4. I believe the only way this fighting can be stopped is no not re-elect ALL of the current trustees and the township Supervisor.

    “these trustees spend about an hour asking very specific questions about all of the bills, especially the town bills, before they approve them”… there’s a novel idea.

    They all should be doing this!

  5. I did not author today’s questions that I posted to Cal’s site; this set of questions were submitted to me from a taxpayer who assembled them after reviewing details from a FOIA she initiated.

    I and each of the other Trustees during every meeting, ask questions of expenses in detail; some answers Moore provides, other answers she states she does not have because she either doesn’t recall or does not have supporting details (watch the videos) with her.

    It is from our previous detailed analysis that we have told her several times to stop spending excessively on specific type of expenditures of which she consistently refuses to agree; continuing to spend excessively. The previous official title for Trustee was Auditor.

    The position still contains audit responsibility thereby justifying us questioning and requesting backup to money spent and/or planned to be spent.

  6. Everyone needs to go, all trustees and Linda Moore.

    The ongoing litigation, at taxpayer expense, is a disgrace.

    Shame on all of you for the collective ridiculousness.

  7. So, is Trustee LaPorta going to run for supervisor in next year’s township election?

    Will there be a caucus or a primary in Grafton next year?

  8. I really don’t know crap about these people, but I do know that a person that says:

    We have had a flurry of FOIA requests which have significantly increased the need for office staff hours and we have had to schedule employees for extra hours.

    Is simply, without reservation … full of crap.

    If you had the proper open records policy there would be no need for any extra staff, why in 2012 all of this information is not available at the library and the internet is NOT a mystery to me … it is a sign of someone hiding something.

  9. then they say,”a chair needed to be replaced to avoid potential workman’s comp claim.”

    Hoo Hoo ha ha ahhahahhhaa….wow.

    No words. No words.

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