McHenry County Blog

Yesterday, McHenry County Blog started outlining what was mentioned about the court-determined illegal actions of the prior board–three of whose members were re-elected–in notes of the 7:30 PM to 12:15 AM Grafton Township board meeting last Thursday night.

The topic kept coming up in the discussion of the motion to add Township Supervisor Linda Moore’s name to that of newly-elected Trustee Gerry McMahon on the list of board members censured who have been censured.

Trustee Rob LaPorta, clearly the leader of the board majority, was among those to comment on the township hall lawsuit during the debate to move the censure resolution from the bottom to the top of the agenda:

“We were forced to hire an attorney because our names were on the lawsuit.”

McMahon returned to the court action brought by Grafton Township citizens, directing his comments to Moore:

“You started all of this by encouraging all this litigation against the township.

“You hurt the township. You should resign. You do not have a clue how to run a township.”

“We have to take responsibility for the decisions we make,” Moore replied.

“I admit I don’t think I made a good decision.

“Get over it.

“I don’t take kindly to your accusations,”

Barbara Murphy then said.

The reply from Moore,

“We can’t made decisions based on our legal (advice) alone. Just because a lawyer makes a recommendation doesn’t (mean it’s right).

“You believe what Mr. Kelly told you to do. Now, it turns out not to be the right thing to do.”

I have over four pages of notes on LaPorta’s reading of the condemnation resolution, but he was reading so fast, they are incomplete. After looking over the text sent to me by Trustee Rob LaPorta, I don’t see anything concerning the new township hall except Moore’s termination of Kelly as township attorney and her refusal to present his bill for payment.

But, my guess is those items stimulated the censure movement.

When it got to public comment time after the censure and paying of bills Tammy Lueth, a plaintiff in the suit to invalidate the board’s decision to build a new township hall, came to the podium with a stack of agendas and minutes.

“I’ve been through all the agendas for the last four years.”

She told of the decision at the annual meeting to approve the new township hall.

“You weren’t right.

“You took it upon yourself to appeal (Judge Michael Caldwell’s) decision. The Appellate Court ruled you guys didn’t do what you should have done.

“You spent more time bickering about $400 in chamber of commerce fees (than you did when it) took you six minutes to approve land acquisition.

“That was all brought about by the former supervisor (John Rossi) and some trustees.”

She added that she had to spend $12 in a Freedom of Information Act request to get minutes which ought to be on the web site.

Cutting Lueth’s comments short was McMahon, the only current trustee who did not vote for the new township hall and land acquisition:

“You’re into your three minutes.”

Trustee Betty Zirk, one of the three remaining trustees who supported the new township hall, pointed out the rules on the specificity of agendas changed in 2007.

“Now we have to be very specific,” she said.

McMahon returned to the undercurrent of the meeting:

“On some points you are right. What (attorney Jim) Kelly said to us was that he thought it was winnable.

“I’ve learned my lesson…

“I think you opened a can of worms and you hurt the township.”

McMahon then offer his opinion on the chances of passing the court-ordered referendum during next November’s general election:

“We can’t win a referendum. We will never get the PR out.”

The official part of the agenda when the discredited deal was next on the agenda.

Read about it tomorrow.

Getting rid of the deals that went down to build a new town hall on Haligus Road without a referendum was the primary campaign promise that propelled challenger Linda Moore to a 30-vote Republican primary victory over Grafton Township Supervisor John Rossi.

The message was

“What is someone put a second mortgage on your home…without asking your permission?

“Your Grafton Township Supervisor and his township trustees have done something very close to that.

“Borrowing $3.5 million to build a new township hall without voter approval…in the middle of a recession…while spending less than $17,000 last year helping people in need with General Assistance…is bad government.

“You will have to pay that $3.5 million – PLUS interest – back with your property taxes.

“If you want an elected official who will ask your opinion before you are put into debt

“Vote for Linda Moore for Grafton Township Supervisor”

Put on a yard sign, the message was

NO TAXATION WITHOUT REFERENDUM

A court case led by Dan Ziller, Jr., in which Moore was a co-plaintiff forced to repayment of a $3.5 million township loan intended to pay for most of that building.  Judge Michael Caldwell made the decision.

(Ziller ran an unsuccessful write-in campaign for township trustee in which he emphasized the $3.5 million loan on his yard signs.)

It also forced a voter referendum on whether to borrow $3.5 million to build a new township hall.

Another $611,000 was raised by selling the current town hall to the to the Township Road District. Moore said last night that transaction did not end up in the minutes.

(Two different legal entities were created by the General Assembly resulting from township road commissioners wanting less oversight from township boards.)

In any event, the township hall is now controlled by the Road Commissioner Jack Freund. He has to be repaid over $611,000. He was planning to do so by charging the Town Fund rent, plus kicking in the difference from Road Fund taxes. The township board even paid a $66,000 commission on the transaction to McHenry County Board member Marc Munaretto.

When I left the Grafton Township meeting last night, the board was hiding behind closed doors so the public could not hear what its members were saying or what the two lawyers present were advising.

Newly-elected Township Supervisor Linda Moore had not fared well earlier, as she had been advised that her 7 PM meeting had been improperly posted and the 7:30 meeting, which has also been improperly, but not fatally wrongly posted, had gone according to the majority bloc of four trustees plans.

But when the doors at the Huntley Park District opened, the board took action to “unwind” the loan Grafton Township took out to buy its own township hall (after taxpayers had already paid for it once).

Only Moore’s erstwhile running mate Gerry McMahon voted against

When the vote was taken, Moore wasn’t the lonely girl that she was before going in

So, what happened?

“We were informed by the township attorney that the way things were done were not in accordance with the law,” Moore told me, “and it left the township open to suit.“In order to avoid further legal expenses, four of the five members of the board voted in favor of Barb Murphy’s motion to unwind the selling of the township property to the Road District.”

At the October board meeting Trustee Barbara Murphy signaled her desire to undo the Town Hall loan:

“My own opinion—I say we do the unwind. Put it all back to where it was and start from scratch.“Frankly, in my own opinion, I’m tired of this garbage.“I’m tired of it.

“I’m tired of it. (I want it done.)”

It appears that the four-member Grafton Township Board majority got its act together Wednesday night with the help of newly hired attorney Ancel Glick partner Keri-Lyn Krafthefer.

Left on the losing end of all contested votes was Grafton Township Supervisor Linda Moore.  So, while she had company, she was still lonely.

No boycotts like Monday and the Thursday before.

A still interrupting, but markedly calmer than before Trustee Gerry McMahon put it best,

“I believe the essence of the problem is majority rules and some people don’t understand majority rule.”

The obvious leader of the four trustees was Robert LaPorta.  Most of the agenda items proposed by LaPorta and Betty Zirk can be seen in this story.  You can see that Laporta was enjoying himself.

When I left, the board was going into secret session to discuss what apparently they dare not discuss in public:

“Discussion and potential action on prior sale of real estate for road district.”

Prior to going into what elected officials prefer to call “Executive Session,” Moore pointed out there was no mention of the sale she could find in the township minutes.

She had elaborated on the perceived legal problem at more length a previous meeting.

The township attorney at the time, Jim Kelly, and Krafthefer were both included in the closed session.

When Moore questioned Kelly’s inclusion, Trustee Robert LaPorta said,

“We need him as a subject matter expert.”

Earlier in the meeting the four trustees voted to pay Kelley $6,351 owed him.

Before the vote Moore pointed out that $48,941 had been spent on legal fees since the change of administration:

• $37,334 – Jim Kelly
• $10,457 – Joe Gottemoller
• $1,115 – Ancel Glick

There was also a bill pending to the latter for “over $5,000,” she said.

Moore observed that only $45,000 had been budgeted for legal fees for the entire year and that state law said that only10% of that total– $4,500–could be moved from other line items to legal fees.

“The only was we can pay any attorney fees if at another meeting we (revise) the budget,” she continued.

The majority four approved payment. In her negative vote, Moore reiterated,

“We do not have the funds available.”

All of the above took place in the meeting called by two of the trustees. The meeting called by Supervisor Moore was ruled illegal by the township attorney because its notice had not been posted by Township Clerk Dina Frigo.

Moore read the opinion and, then, reported that the McHenry County State’s Attorney was investigating where an illegal meeting had been held prior to the Thursday boycott of the township meeting.

Frustrated members of the audience gave their views before a third trustee entered the room. Then, Krafthefer silenced them, saying that no business could be conducted.

One woman echoed Trustee Barbara Murphy’s comments from a month ago about the need to “unwind” the loan which the township’s Road Fund took out to pay the Town Fund for the township hall.

That was some irony in such a discussion being held at the old Huntley High School, which the Huntley Park District bought from School District 158.

Both the town hall and the old high school will be paid for twice by local taxpayers, unless the over $600,000 township loan is “unwound.”

One woman in the audience said that would save taxpayers $50,000 a month.

Of course, that does nothing to keep Huntley Park District taxpayers from paying for the high school twice.

The all-Republican township board, by the way, show no sign of recognizing the opportunity their open disagreements are providing local Democrats in 2013.  Indeed, McMahon announced his intention to increase the Clerk’s salary because of the additional duties she was being assigned by the board majority.

An all-female panel of Illinois’ Second Appellate Court ruled today that McHenry County Circuit Court Judge Michael Caldwell was right when stopped the building of a new Grafton Township Hall which was approved without public notice or vote by Supervisor John Rossi and his four-member township board.

In the too little, too late category was a September 17th letter from the four Grafton Township trustees’ attorney, Jim Kelly, offering to settle the suit in exchange for next year’s fall referendum on the subject.

Grafton Township taxpayers Dan Ziller, Richard and Tamera Lueth, Tom Halat, Frank Kearns and Township Supervisor candidate Linda Moore filed the original suit.  Moore withdrew from the suit when she was sworn into office.

Justice Ann Jorgensen delivered the opinion with Justices Susan Hutchison and Mary Seminara-Schostok concurring.

Jorgensen and Seminara-Schostok were in Crystal Lake recently attending the Nunda Township Republican Picnic.  They are both appointed justices running for their first ten-year term. 

Justice Susan Hutchison is a resident of Crystal Lake. 

Crystal Lake attorney Jim Bishop represented the winning side.
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The photo is from the Nunda Township Republican Picnic.  You see McHenry County Republican Party Chairman and State Rep. Mike Tryon posing with Jorgensen and Schostok.

When Linda Moore was elected Township Supervisor over incumbent John Rossi, she dismissed the previous attorney Jim Kelly. The board hired Joe Gottemoller to replace him.

Now, just a couple of months into the job, Gottemoller has tendered his resignation.

Here’s the letter he sent:

“With this correspondence I am submitting my resignation as the Grafton Township attorney effective immediately.

“Since 1982 I have practiced law either in private practice or as an assistant states attorney. I have served in McHenry County on two separate task forces and on the McHenry County Conservation District Board of Trustees. In addition, my private practice has taken me in front of almost every governmental entity in McHenry County and some in Kane and Lake Counties. With all this work, even when the things did not go my way I was proud to be associated with the officials who were doing their best to serve the citizens who elected them.

“I cannot say that about Grafton Township. The township officials appear to have forgotten that their purpose is to serve the residents who entrusted them with these offices.

“During the past few months I have had the responsibility to the Township to give good sound legal advice on how to address many of the complicated issues that are before you. For example, the Township is now saving $426 per day because the $3.5 million in bond debentures was unwound. Bu make no mistake; there are some extremely important issues that remain. I list them here and expand on them in an attachment:

• The lawsuit over the construction of the building
• The sale of the existing building to the Highway Department
• The ownership of the Food Pantry

Although I would have been proud to assist with these issues, it appears that no one on this board actually wants them resolved unless it is done with maximum embarrassment to their political enemies.

“I will not waste another moment of my time of officials who are more interest(ed) in ‘being right’ than ‘doing what’s right.’

And, no, the mild mannered Gottemoller did not say,

as I entitled my article last night about his resignation.

More on this story Saturday.

If you play this song while you are reading this article, it would be appropriate.

Johnny Paycheck’s “Take This Job and Shove It” pretty much sums up the message Crystal Lake attorney Joe Gottemoller gave to the Grafton Township Board last night.

Because Supervisor Linda Moore was absent due to having just had a myelogram, only her four political enemies on the township board were at the meeting.

Prominent Democrats were out in force. Both McHenry County Board member Jim Kennedy and Paula Yensen were in attendance.

Attorney Kelly was dismissed by Moore after she took office, but he’s still working for the four trustees. They voted to pay him “$5,724, the most recent portion of a total amount of $17,963.73 for services after May 18, 2009.”

The township trustees and Kelly went into secret session to discuss the lawsuit (Dan Ziller, Jr., et al. v. John Rossi, et al) that a number of the audience members had brought against the township to stop the building of a new township hall.

But Gottemoller’s resignation was the big story.

Right before the trustees went into Executive Session, he said,

“This will be my last meeting. I have spent a great deal of time and effort on this. Much more than I should have.”

He talked about all the local governments he had had contact with during his legal career.

“I have never been in front of of a board as dysfunctional as this one.”

He told of having had nine calls about the agenda for the meeting. He talked of the problems facing the township.

“I hope some day you will address them.”

He said most calls he had received were from people who were mainly interested in learning how to protect themselves from the other side.

“I don’t want my name to be associated with (Grafton Township).

“You’re spending thousands of dollars on legal fees, $25,000 in attorney fees since May 18th.

“Riley Township spent $500 its last full year.” (Riley is one of McHenry County’s smallest.)

“I hope sometime or other you’ll find a way to talk to each other.

“If we could just focus on the issues and not the personalities, it would be (a lot better).

Before the secret meeting began, Kelly revealed he had told the board in February that he wouldn’t continue as township attorney.

“It’s just outrageous we’re in this condition. I’m working on this issue (the lawsuit) only,” Kelly said.

As I was leaving, one person observed,

“They ought to sell popcorn.”

Tomorrow: What Joe Gottemoller wrote in his resignation letter.

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In the top photo you see attorney Jim Kelly on the left and Joe Gottemoller on the right. The four trustees can be seen sitting at the table in the second picture. Trustee Barbara Murphy is in the foreground. At the left of the photo is Trustee Bob LaPorta. To his left are Trustee Betty Zirk and newly-elected Trustee Gerry MaMahon, elected with newly-elected Township Supervisor Linda Moore’s help, but now on the other side of the political spectrum. All the officials are Republicans. Flanking attorney Jim Kelly in the next photo are prominent Democrats Mike Bisset, his wife, McHenry County Board member Paula Yensen, and McHenry County Board member Jim Kennedy (standing). The larger head shot is of Gottmoller. The smaller one is of Kelly while Gottemoller was explaining his resignation.

Sometimes my almost 12-year old uses the term

That’s supposed to make it all better.

Sometimes it does; sometimes it doesn’t.

While Jim Kelly, the attorney for Grafton Township Trustees, used more lawyerly like language, that was his message to McHenry County Circuit Court Judge Michael Caldwell.

He told the judge that the trustees had been trying to comply with the judge’s instructions to start over with the issues in question. The way the trustees interpreted what Caldwell ordered was that

if they gave proper notice at a township board meeting, they could go ahead with the financing, letting contracts and building of the new town hall.

Kelly said his clients were trying to follow the judge’s instructions in placing three items on last Thursday’s meeting to get the new $5 million (cost including interest) township hall off the ground.

“You said to start over at base one. That’s what they did,” Kelly explained.

“That’s (a misunderstanding). If it isn’t authorized at the April township meeting (it isn’t proper),” Caldwell explained.

So, the judge was referring to the necessity of the electors to approve the construction of a new building at the annual town meeting, while the trustees were trying to cure what the judge concluded was the lack of adequate notice at the meeting of the township board when it approved borrowing money.

“That was not my intention,” Caldwell said. “The annual township meeting was ‘base one.’

“I’m not going to remove the injunction.

“The individual members of the township board are enjoined from

• approval of a building
• construction
• approval of debt

The trustees have appealed the original injunction. Kelly said he would include the one about the agenda in the same appeal.

Bishop questioned whether Kelly could represent the board, since he had not been appointed by newly-sworn in Grafton Township Supervisor Linda Moore. Kelly replied that it was not proper to consider that question at this hearing.

The township trustees rejected Moore’s nomination of Richard Flood to be township attorney to replace Kelly, whom Moore had dismissed when she took office last week.

There was also questions about whether the township as a corporate entity or the trustees should be the defendant. The injunction, the judge pointed out, was against the trustees as individuals.

Plaintiff attorney Jim Bishop wanted to put the question of whether the township is allowed by law to borrow money for more than ten years without a referendum. The debt certificates issued with inadequate public notice were repayable over a 20 year period.

State law in 60 ILCS 1/85-10(b) states,

“A township may construct a township hall under contracts providing for payment over a period of time of not more than 10 years.”

But the hearing Thursday morning didn’t go in that direction.

Attending the hearing were plaintiff taxpayers Dan Ziller, Sr., Rick and Tammy Lueth, Frank Kearns and Linda Moore. None of the trustees showed up.

More than 100 residents have filed a petition asking for a referendum in the fall 2010 general election, but Township Clerk Dina Frigo has not yet filed it with the county clerk.

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If you are interested in this article, you might be interested in

The Skunk, the Meerkats and the Elephant – Part 1

The Skunk, the Meerkats and the Elephant – Part 2

The Skunk, the Meerkats and the Elephant – Part 3

We last left the Grafton Township melodrama the court hearing on Dan Ziller, Jr.’s request for an injunction to halt the building of a Grafton Township Hall.

The weekend before Judge Michael Caldwell ruled against the township, my computer’s hard drive crashed, putting me out of business for a week.

The township trustees seeking to build the town hall, which will cost over $5 million (including interest) over a twenty year period, apparently didn’t take the judge seriously.

Here’s what they put on the agenda:

• Approval of building/ construction of Township Hall at the Halagus Road property.
• Approval of an Ordinance authorizing and providing for an installment agreement for the purpose of paying for the cost of building and equipping a facility for use by the Township and authorizing and providing for the issue of $3,500,000 Debt Certificate.
• Approving and ratifying Ordinance No. 07-1708-0, an Ordinance authorizing and providing for an installment purchase agreement for the purpose of paing for the cost of building and equipping a facility for use by Grafton Township and providing for the issue of $3,500,000 in Debt Certificates.

Ziller’s attorney Jim Bishop went to court today.

Because newly sworn in Grafton Township Supervisor Linda Moore dismissed Township Attorney Jim Kelly when she took office Monday, re-elected Township Trustee Betty Zirk and newly-sworn in Trustee Jerry McMahon, who was elected with Moore’s support, hired Kelly with their own money to represent their position that the township hall should be built.

The two trustees, plus ex-Township Supervisor John Rossi were in the courtroom.

Moore, who because she is now township supervisor, was added as a defendant in the suit.

Previously, she was on Ziller’s side of the case.

After arguments from both attorneys, Caldwell enjoined the township board from taking up the three contested three items on the agenda.

They were “tap dancing around” his previous order was the way the judge put it.

He told the trustees that any violation could result in their being held in direct criminal contempt of court.

There is a wild card in this deck.

Now that Moore is a defendant, what is to stop her from agreeing with those asking the township hall not be built.

I image Moore might be asking some lawyer other than Bishop that question at some point.

There was a township board meeting tonight.

It will be interesting to find out what happened, don’t you think?

In the midst of this chaos, what would happen if an opponent of township government found some lawyer to draft a petition to abolish Grafton Township?

After all, it would only take a couple of hundred signatures to put the question on the ballot.

I would point out that in Southern Illinois township government does not exist, but road districts do. I assume the men who are road commissioners down there are elected like township road commissioners are up here.

If Grafton Township were voted out of existence, county government would take over the assessing and other township duties.

How do you think people watching this township board that wants to build a township hall that will cost them over $5 million without asking their permission would vote?

Just asking.

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Dan Ziller, Jr., is in the head shot on the top right of the article.

Grafton Township Trustee Betty Zirk is seen explaining the new township hall at the annual meeting. Fellow Trustee Jerry McMahon is seen below in a photo taken at the annual town meeting.

Below the township map is Linda Moore posing with Milford Brown, a candidate for the Huntley Fire Protection District at Moore’s Huntley Expo booth. You can see her campaign theme:

I ventured into the courtroom of McHenry County Judge Michael Caldwell yesterday to hear arguments over whether the Grafton Township Board should be allowed to build a new $3.5 million (plus over $1.5 million in interest) township hall and garage on Haligus Road in Lake in the Hills.

Regular readers will remember newly-elected Township Supervisor Linda Moore narrowly beat one-term incumbent John Rossi on that issue.

Yesterday was the hearing to decide whether the preliminary injunction should be made permanent.

Prior to the Republican primary election in which Moore won, township electors filed a petition asking for a referendum on whether or not to build a new town hall.

Two days after the primary election, the township board scheduled, then, canceled a meeting.

After the April 7th general election, the annual town meeting was held at which the tie vote of 70-70 resulted on a motion to build a new township hall. Because of the tie vote, the motion was announced to have failed.

A second vote to authorize the board to enter into construction contracts passed 70-64, as six new township hall opponents had left the meeting between that vote.

With the original judge in the case, Maureen McIntyre, out of the courthouse, her work was assigned to Caldwell.

Township Attorney Jim Kelly tried to convince the judge that Township Moderator Scott Breeden’s ruling that the 70-70 tie vote did not fail by arguing that those abstaining should be counted with those voting in the affirmative. Township Clerk Dino Frigo testified that 159 electors and 18 visitors signed into the meeting.

He had Frigo testify that Township Road Commissioner Jack Freund, his wife and another person had not voted.

Objectors’ attorney Jim Bishop asked,

“Were electors told by anyone if they did not vote that they would be considered in favor of that resolution?”

Frigo:

“The voters were there to vote.”

Bishop:

“Were electors told by anyone if they did not vote that they would be considered in favor of that resolution?”

Frigo:

“The moderator did not tell them that.”

Later Bishop referred to the argument that abstentions should be counted in the affirmative as “nonsense.”

There were also intriguing arguments punctuated by Clerk Frigo’s not being able to find anything in the minutes saying that either the township board or the electors at an annual town meeting had voted to build a new town hall.

Bishop:

“Is there any other reference in these minutes to the construction of a township hall?”

Frigo:

“I can’t find anything.”

(I would have liked to be able to show you a picture of her flipping through the pages of the minutes in her unsuccessful attempt to find any reference to the township board or electors’ having approved the building of a new township building, but, as you know, cameras are not allowed in McHenry County courtrooms.)

The 2007 annual meeting minutes said the purchase of land and the building of a “site” had been approved.

Township Attorney Jim Kelly tried to rehabilitate (my term, not his) the minutes by eliciting from Frigo what Frigo should have written.

He argued Frigo had made a scrivener’s error.

Counsel for Dan Ziller, Jr., Jim Bishop successfully objected, pointing out the minutes were the official record of the 2007 meeting.

Judge Caldwell observed there had been adequate opportunity to correct the minutes.

Kelly made the same attempt to get the motion on the court record with Township Supervisor John Rossi, who made the (apparently mis-reported) 2007 motion everyone (mainly township officials, it seems) at that meeting supported.

He was apparently ready to use Township Trustee Betty Zirk, but decided to forego the opportunity after not gaining traction with Frigo and Rossi.

The judge ruled that the minutes represented what happened at the 2007 annual meeting.

Bishop argued that township citizens would have no idea that a vote on building a township building would be taken on the July 17, 2008, regular township board meeting at which debt certificates for $3.5 million were authorized.

“No individual could determine that construction of a township hall would be discussed,” he said.

Bishop:

“The agenda didn’t at all indicate the construction or purchase of a new (township hall, did it)? There is not such a reference, is that correct?”

Frigo:

“Yes.”

Bishop:

“The purpose of an agenda is to advise the public as to what will occur at a meeting?”

Frigo: “

I believe so.”

Bishop also put forth that the referendum 109 electors petitioned for in February of this year would have to be held prior to construction of the township hall.

Kelly’s argument was that the statute governing debt certificates (the Local Government Debt Reform Act and the Omnibus Bond Act which incorporated that law) gave the township board the authority to build a new town hall.

I don’t want to misstate what he said, but it seemed to me that it was the public notice of the regular township meeting, although not stating that approval of a new township hall would be on the agenda, was adequate and legally sufficient.

Judge Caldwell wanted to know whether Dillon’s Rule had been violated. Dillon’s Rule says that local governments can’t do anything they are not authorized by state legislation to do.

“The real question is (whether) they have acted lawfully?” he said.

Kelly said the acts he cited gives the township board the power to construct a new township hall.

“There’s no regulation that you give the narrative of what’s in each ordinance (on the agenda),”

he said in rebuttal to Bishop’s argument that the public had no notice of the approval of a new township hall.

Kelly did admit that “in 2007 the electors voted on it, albeit not in a clear manner.”

Commenting on Bishop’s argument that

“the electors’ authority trumps the authority of the township board,”

Kelly said,

“That’s just not the case.

“If they want to have a referendum, God bless them. The clerk will put it on the ballot for the next general election.”

Kelly then said,

“That bond before you requires no additional taxes.”

I would refer you to this “Message of the Day” for a rebuttal which Bishop was not able to pry into the record.

“Taxes will not be raised above the Tax Cap,” Kelly continued.

“What was the function of the vote at the town (meeting)?” Caldwell asked.

“It is was advisory,” Kelly replied.

“Mr. Bishop’s clients” requested it.

In his conclusion, Bishop rebutted Kelly’s argument that because the project had already started ($288-300,000 has been spent of which $99,000 was for the 3 acre site, according to Rossi’s testimony), that it should be allowed to continue.

The case cited was supported the argument that the doctrine of laches should apply, but Bishop argued it concerned a situation where everything had been out in the open, not the situation with the new Grafton Township Hall.

“They don’t have the underlying authority to build a township hall,” Bishop said.

“There are no notices applying,” Bishop stated.

“(This is) the biggest thing this township has ever done.”

Regardless, Kelly argued the court the township had such authority and the court had no authority to enjoin this “legislative action” of the township board, even though early on Caldwell had suggested the township lawyer had waived that argument by not bringing it up at the first hearing before Judge McIntyre.

A ruling will be announced next Monday.

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The top photo shows the vote when Scott Breeden was being elected moderator of the Annual Town Meeting.

Breeden and Grafton Township Clerk are shown counting the vote that ended in a 70-70 vote tie.

Grafton Township Clerk Dina Frigo’s head is seen next to some of her testimony.

Below are Dan Ziller on the left and Dan Ziller, Jr.,on the right. Both attended the session.

Below Frigo is seen reading the entire 2008 Annual Town Meeting minutes. She testified that she has not yet finished a preliminary draft of the 2009 Town Meeting minutes.

A drawing of the town hall can be found near the bottom of the story.

Besides Frigo, Rossi and Zirk, Linda Moore’s successful running mate for township trustee, Jerry McMahon, was present in the courtroom in support of the new township hall.