McHenry County Blog

After listening to five days of testimony in the Grafton Township Separation of Powers case, why does Rodney King’s famous quote come to mind?

“Can we all get along?”

Obviously, not in Grafton Township.

The question is why not?

Most observers believe the fight is all about the township trustees having lost their leader John Rossi and, with the help of a taxpayer lawsuit in which to-be Township Supervisor Linda Moore was a plaintiff until she took office, the loss of their planned new township hall.

Both Trustees Rob LaPorta and Betty Zirk have testified under oath that is not the reason for the ongoing fight.

Indeed there was this interchange between the Trustees’ attorney, Tom DiCianni, and Zirk on the last day of testimony in the case after Moore attorney John Nelson completed his cross examination:

“The problems you had with Ms. Moore had nothing to do with the town hall, right?”

“Right.”

In today’s article, I’ll lay out testimony on the last day of court proceedings about the conduct of township board meetings.

Betty Zirk was on the stand first.

After questioning Zirk about the dire condition of township finances, Moore attorney Nelson asked the twelve-year trustee about how meetings were conducted by her first township supervisor, Millie Ruth.

“Things went smoothly,” Zirk explained, saying they lasted an hour to an hour and a half.

“When Mr. Rossi was supervisor, he was in charge, wasn’t he?” Nelson continued.

“No, he wasn’t,” she replied. “He was in charge but he had trustees watching over him. I helped him with the book work…I was making the deposits for him.”

“Whatever Mr. Rossi wanted, you found you wanted?” Nelson asked.

“Not all the time.”

Nelson asked for an example and a date, saying, “We’ll look in the minutes and check it out.”

“We didn’t always agree. We’d negotiate and make things work out.”

You will remember what I would call the “list of horribles” in which Zirk outlined her problems with Moore. [See “Another 'Linda Moore Must Go' Day in Woodstock.”]

I think it safe to say that Grafton Township meetings are contentious.

Enter Nunda Township Supervisor John Heisler.

While Grafton Township is located in the southwestern part of Crystal Lake and points west and south to Huntley, Nunda comprises northern Crystal Lake to southern McHenry along the Lake County line.

Heisler is a veteran public official, having served eight years on the county board and being in his 10th year as township supervisor. A CPA, he audited public entities as far back as the 1960′s when he audited my books when I was McHenry County Treasurer.  He’s examined banks for the Federal government and he was also a finalist for the position of Auditor General for the State of Wisconsin.

To say that he is a “respected public official” is an understatement and, as you will see, Judge Michael Caldwell wanted to hear what he had to say.

Nelson pitched him a softball first, asking him to describe a typical meeting.

Heisler said they “last less than an hour,” unless there is “a teaching opportunity or a program or levies.”

He was asked who prepared the agendas.

“I do.”

He said he bases those agendas on what he knows is coming up or should be considered and that he considers requests from other elected officials.

“The meetings are primarily to approve the bills,” he said.

Nelson asked Heisler “the procedure with providing information to trustees.”

This drew an objection concerning relevancy from DiCianni.

Nelson pointed out in asking for injunctive relief, “testimony from an experienced supervisor” could be useful.

Judge Michael Caldwell’s ruling:

“Objection overruled.”

Heisler said he gave his trustees “three or four days to come in and review invoices.”

“During office hours?” Nelson inquired.

“I ask them and they do.”

“Who prepares the budget?”

“Those same three department heads prepare their budgets and submit it to me.”

Heisler explained that there have been “work sessions” on the budget.

He also prepares the tax levies.

“I prepare the tax levies for the entire township. We have a public hearing and they’re approved thirty days after the posting.”

= = = = =

More tomorrow.

I’m losing count. Was today the fourth day of testimony in the Grafton Township separation of powers suit?

Maybe it was that I arrived by the expected start time, but an argument over a Temporary Restraining Order wanted by the McHenry County Health Department on a two-year old issue postponed testimony until 1:30.

In any event at least I remembered to take a cushion to soften the hard bench in Judge Michael Caldwell’s court today.

But listening to the who hit whom when and where is wearing on me.

If the question is whether Grafton Township government is dysfunctional, that has long since been proven.

Again it was Township Supervisor Linda Moore’s political enemies on the witness stand.

First up was a Forensicom “Senior Forensic Examiner” testifying that his firm had not finished its work because it had not been paid by Grafton Township. While not privy to contractual details Yoniv Schiff explained how people he supervised in the six-man firm for whom he works, copied a computer “in Pam’s office” and told a server to Chicago to copy because it was taking too long in Huntley.

Schiff explained how a program called Eraser, one version of which is available over the internet, was used to erase data from the computer, but not the server. February 8th was the day version 5.8 of the program was installed on the computer. It was “run against specific files and over(wrote) the data on those files,” he said.

The folder erased and overwritten was called “QuickBooks.” It “was sent to the recycle bin for deletion.”

On February 9th, he continued, “a flash storage device was attached to the computer.”

March 2nd saw “two separate external hard drives…attached to the computer.”

Under cross examination by Moore’s attorney John Nelson, Schiff revealed that his firm had been retained by Ancel Glink.

Admitting his lack of computer expertise, Nelson revealed,

“I want you to understand that the next email I send will be my first.”

Schiff confirmed that whatever was erased can be recreated, although he testified that he had not don’t any actual examination of the computer, rather his study was on “the forensic images of the computer.”

“At this point there is no evidence that an eraser program has been installed in the server?” Nelson asked.

“That is correct,” was the reply.

When asked whether February 29th was the only date the flash storage device was used, Shirff did not recall.

Schiff couldn’t testify to what happened when the external hard drives were attached because his firm had not been paid.

“Did you discover any deletions from a year prior?” Nelson asked. “Did you examine for that?”

“No,” Schiff replied.

There has been talk that Moore’s predecessor removed data from a township computer before leaving office.

The Judge asked some clarifying questions including one concerning the server. Schiff explained that his firm had “not determined what, if any, metadata (“data about data”) has been removed from the computer.”

Next up was Dina Frigo, the former Township Clerk.

It was pretty obvious she and Moore didn’t get along.

“Not a very pleasant relationship,” was how she started her testimony.

She intimated that Moore had a key to her office and had put a copy machine and files inside without her knowledge or permission. Moore had previously denied that and on cross examination, pointed out that if Moore had a key she would not have had to file Freedom of Information requests about which Frigo complained.

Moore did say that the building’s landlord, the Township Road Commission had keys to all the rooms.

How many FOI requests?

“Too numerous to mention.”

“You’re telling me you received FOI requests for information that was in the township hall?” Judge Caldwell asked.

“Yes. She would FOI my mail, too.”

Frigo did quote Moore assistant Trudy Jurs as asking via email, “Will you please give me information on the xerox I placed in your room?”

Frigo reported that Moore had opened her mail, specifically citing one from the Local Archives Division of the Secretary of State’s Office.

There were accusations concerning Moore’s putting up and taking down meeting notices.

Re-enforcing testimony was provided that Moore usually kept the door to what used to be the reception area closed and locked.

Frigo generalized about Moore’s treatment of her. A sample follows:

“She was getting hostile, persistent, argumentative. You could not talk to her at all. I’d excuse myself from the situation.”

Then there was the Milestone Mortgage call.

A representative from the firm called to verify Frigo’s employment and how long she had worked for Grafton Township.

Did Moore refuse to do so out of privacy concerns?

No way to know.

Under cross examination Frigo admitted she had not told Moore that a mortgage company might be inquiring.

All apparently ended well because McHenry County Clerk Kathie Schultz was able to fax the evidence needed to the firm.

It was again pointed out that Moore did not have contact information for the Grafton Township Food Pantry as she provided for other ones.

On December 17th, Frigo said she filed a police report because she thought Moore had used a date stamp that was unique to her office.

When asked why she resigned, it was because

“I could not work with Linda Moore anymore. It was very stressful for me and my family, the continual turning things around, twisting things…”

“When you resigned, didn’t you say you resigned because you had obtained full-time employment?” Nelson asked.

“That was one of the reasons,” Frigo replied.

Just before, the court learned Frigo was working for Huntley School District 158 as a lunchroom worker and recess person. The word “substitute” was used but I didn’t catch with regard to which assignment.

Disputes over the content of minutes Frigo wrote, which were not approved until after she resigned took up a good bit of time.

Nelson inquired about when the Food Pantry was moved out of the township office complex.

Despite being on its board, Frigo couldn’t remember.

Nelson sought specifics about what Moore had said she did that she didn’t do and what she said she didn’t do that she did and got a few.

Frigo revealed to the Judge that the Township Board stopped operating under Robert’s Rules of Order after revealing board meetings under Supervisor Rossi lasted ten minutes to an hour, while those after Moore took office lasted 3-4 hours.

She was asked the question about which I filed a Freedom of Information request:

Did she recall the board under Rossi ever voting on the hiring or firing of any attorneys?

“I can’t recall off hand.”

The next witness was Frigo’s successor Harriet Ford.

Township Trustees’ attorney Thomas G. DiCianni put into evidence seven sets of township minutes. Nelson observed they “do not bear your seal” when he questioned her.

“She can certify by seal or testimony,” DiCianni said.

Nelson asked Ford the same question I had filed a Freedom of Information request about, that is, whether any of the minutes report the “hiring or firing of any attorneys?” as Trustee Rob LaPorta had affirmed on the last court date.

“I’m unaware,” Ford replied.

At 4:40 the last witness of the day, Trustee Betty Zirk, took the stand.

She was asked if the Grafton Township Food Pantry had ever been an official part of Grafton Township.

The answer was, “No.”

She went through what appeared to be rehearsed answers to questions about her views of the duties of township trustees.

In answer to a question of whether she was “motivated by a political dispute over a township hall,” she answered in the negative.

She was asked how she voted at the 2010 Annual Town Meeting.

She said she voted with the majority.

“It’s just we’re having problems with some of the duties,” she said.

The locked door objection was reprised,

• as was the intercepting “some of our mail,” including one from the Herb and Jack Franks law firm,
• as was Moore’s not having presented a proposal of Brown Accounting to the board for the 2008-2009 audit,
• as was charging Rutland Township senior bus riders $3, instead of the $1 charged Grafton Township residents,
• as was not paying the Huntley Chamber of Commerce dues, as was the firing of part-time employees by Moore,
• as was the budget (“We found so many problems. I finally said it was time to have the auditor come in and revise it.”),
• as were meeting agendas,
• as was the delay in payment of Attorney Jim Kelly’s bill for representing the trustees in their appeal of Judge Caldwell’s “You can’t build the township hall without giving proper notice” decision.

Four of the Grafton Township Trustees coalition left the courthouse first today.

Court adjourned just before 5 PM. The ceiling lights blinked out as I was approaching the stairs.

10 AM is the time court begins.

It’s the trial between Grafton Township Supervisor Linda Moore and the Grafton Township Trustees consisting of Robert LaPorta, Betty Zirk, Barbara Murphy and Gerry McMahon.

At the last hearing, Township Administrator Pam Fender, appointed by the township board to supplant Moore in as many functions as legally possible, testified that Moore had not cooperated with her.

In addition, Township Trustee Rob LaPorta, the floor leader of the trustees, testified as to the difficulty of getting along with Moore.

One point LaPorta made was that attorneys had been approved by the township board under Moore’s predecessor John Rossi.

I have filed a Freedom of Information request asking for newly appointed Township Clerk Harriet Ford to produce any pages of minutes from 2005-2009 that would verify that sworn testimony, but have not received a satisfactory reply.

I even narrowed my request by listing the legal firms that had received payments under Rossi with their first and last payments.  I figure board approval would have come before the first payment and termination would precede the last payment.

Here is what included:

• Ancel Glink – the first payment I found was 6-20-5 for $1,110.  The last significant one was $5,878 on 8-14-5.  Another $87.50 was paid on 3-24-6
• Chapman and Cutler – $15,000 on 8-11-8. This is the only bill.
• Matuszewich, Kelly & McKeever – The first bill ($2,850) was paid on 7-11-6.  I am informed that Linda Moore terminated the first when she took office, but bills were being paid well into the first year.
• Militello, Zanck & Coen – I see a 5-9-5 payment for $50 and a 7-15-5 payment for $100.

I told Ford after last Thursday’s meeting that a statement from her that no such minutes can be found would be adequate.

In any event, the trial will resume in Judge Michael Caldwell’s court.

I’ll be sitting on the hard seats, so you won’t have to.

I managed to stay awake during the Linda Moore part of the trial today. It didn’t start until shortly after 1 PM because Moore attorney John Nelson wanted a court reporter present.

Once in a while some new information popped up, such as her wanting the judge to name Rockford-area attorney John Nelson to replace Keri-Lyn Krafthefer as Grafton Township Attorney.

She wants Judge Michael Caldwell to prohibit anyone but the township assessor, supervisor and road commissioner from contacting the township attorney.

And, then there was the puzzler that Krafthefer wasn’t even named attorney; another Ancel Glink attorney, Scott Puma, whom some will know as the Crystal Lake Park District or the Village of Island Lake attorney.

I’ve never seen him at a Grafton Township meeting, but one of the court watchers told me he had attended one meeting after his appointment by Township Supervisor Moore.

As far as the other remedies she seeks, it sounds as if she wants to run things the way her predecessor John Rossi did.

The Township Trustees’ attorney Thomas G. DiCianni agreed that the case was about “separation of powers.” Nice to know the opponents at least agree on a description of the suit.

But he noted that township and municipal governments in Illinois a merger of the executive and legislative branches.

The fact that a court reporter is typing away as people talk probably means that the loser will appeal…maybe all the way to the Illinois Supreme Court.

DiCianni charged that Moore held a view of her authority as having “pretty much” as having “dictatorial powers,” which he said was “not supported by the law.”

The dispute he suggested had “brought township government to a standstill.”

DiCianni listed what I might call “horribles,” which included

• agenda preparation without input from the Trustees
• refusal to pay bills within 30 days,
• “frustrating board notices”
• “terminating township employees without authority”
• withholding an audit proposal from the board and hiring a different firm
• withholding the draft audit for about two months, while sharing it with members of the public

The food pantry came up, as did changes in the senior and disabled bus operation, canceling credit cards in the Assessor’s office and something about direct deposit of employee pay.

And, then there was the catchall

• “causing intolerable dysfunction within the township”
• “harassing the Township Clerk”
• “frivolous Freedom of Information requests” and
• I’m sure there were more shortcomings noted.

In any event, with this as background the Ancel Glink partner said that Pam Fender had been hired to fix all of that.

“The evidence will show the board has acted appropriately, has acted in the public interest”…to fight the “obstinance” of the Township Supervisor.

Moore was then put on the stand by her lawyer.

She related the hostility of Rossi, who left no written operating procedures and erased all records from the township laptop computer. Another one had headings on it about the food pantry, but no data.

She told how she had to pay people her second day on the job and how a Harris bank employee named Shannon helped her make direct deposits to those on the township payroll.

After the first meeting, she related that Dan Ziller, Sr., had suggested at the American Legion, where apparently township officials go to socialize after meetings, that she approach Trustee Betty Zirk to seek cooperation.

Reluctantly, she did.

Zirk’s response, according to Moore:

“Absolutely not. I’m going to watch everything you do and keep track of every mistake you make.”

Zirk came into the office a couple of times a week to watch what was going on.

The topic turned to the number of employees on her payroll when Moore took office.

Seven, but two others had been terminated before Rossi left office in May.

“Four ladies (were) working as dispatchers,” there were three drivers and the assistant supervisor.

“I observed what they were doing and I saw we were overstaffed.”

Why?

The dispatchers were printing off maps for every trip, although most of the riders were not new.

Moore bought GPS machines and the drivers never asked for a map after that.

“I reduced their hours,” Moore continued.

“Since the assistant to the Supervisor had been terminated the day before I took office, I replaced her with Trudy Jurs,” who had held the job ten years before Rossi took office.

Jurs answered the phone, helped enter bills, handled IMRF (pension system), some payroll and helped prepare board packets, Moore related.

By the time Moore started cutting back on unneeded employees, Joe Gottemoller was Township Attorney.

Moore had fired the previous Township Attorney the day she took office, but he continued representing the Township Trustees in the township hall case in which Moore was one of the original litigants.

How did it work out with fewer employees?

Bill payment and bus service functions were explained. Moore pointed out that service was provided Sun City residents outside of Grafton Township and, while the Village of Huntley had helped pay for it, “it doesn’t cover the costs. It just helps.”

“We were able to handle the workload between my assistant and myself without any other help.”

And the relationship with the Trustees?

“It deteriorated over time,” Moore explained.

“Some of their behavior was outright hostile at public meetings. At one point Trustee (Rob) LaPorta stood up and screamed in my face to ‘Shut up!’”

“They do not communicate with me.

“We have dueling agendas for every meeting. They rearrange the agendas.

“The emails got to be so hostile that I discontinued them.

“Trustee LaPorta ordered me not to step on his property.

Access to financial documents on QuickBooks was discussed. The Trustees wanted “read only” access, which LaPorta had said was possible.

Moore said when she contacted QuickBooks she had been told it was not possible.

“I don’t know of any other township that does it.”

“Is there any financial report that the Trustees have requested that you didn’t provide?” her attorney John Nelson asked.

“No.”

It was 1:55 in the afternoon. Moore took off her jacket.

Asked about Township Administrator Pam Fender’s job description, Moore replied, “The nature of the job description is the same as the nature of my job as Supervisor.”

What followed was a brief description of what happened after Fender was hired by the Trustees.

“She was acting as if she was my supervisor. She was giving verbal, written (instructions)… Four times in a row within 15 minutes while I was trying to address a crisis situation in transportation.”

“Have you been able to interface and work with her?” Nelson asked.

“No, I haven’t been able to.”

The question of minutes came up.

“More than a dozen sets of minutes that either have not been presented for approval or approved by the board.”

Moore’s attempt to terminate Ancel Glink because of insufficient funds came up.

“They refused to be terminated,” Moore explained.

Moore also tried to fire Fender, but, “according to legal advice,” continued paying her.

“Were you forcibly removed from your office?” was the next question.

Moore told of Fender, Zirk and a locksmith coming at 5:30 one night while she was still working.

“I kept on working and ignored them and they left.”

The next meeting the Township Board “instructed Pam Fender to move my equipment and files to another office.”

When they were doing so, “I called the police upon your advice. The police did not follow your advice. Keri-Lyn sent a letter, too.

“They took me out of my office.

She then told of how Fender shuffled people around in the township office complex.

Next came the revelation that the township laptop left her by outgoing Township Supervisor Rossi was wiped clean and did “not even have an operating system.”

Information had been removed from the desktop computer as well. It was so unreliable that Moore bought a new one at WalMart with General Assistance funds.

Earlier in the hearing, DiCianni had conceded that Moore has total control of General Assistance.

She explained her computer back-up procedure was to load all the information onto removable thumbnail drives, take them home every night and bring them back the next morning.

Fender brought in a computer tech from Leading IT who apparently worked on the General Assistance Fund-purchased computer. He “had the password and had deleted visual General Assistance off the computer.”

Moore also told of the server, which stores information from multiple computers, was removed from the office “after hours.” This occurred after Judge Caldwell had order Moore returned to her offices with everything else to remain as it had been when things were peaceable. (I think that was his word in court, although it doesn’t seem to fit too well.)

“The next morning when I came in the server was gone.”

“Did you delete any information from that server?” asked her lawyer.

“No.”

Asked about the current use of the computers, Moore told of the laptop “working partially,” but not handling the “financial software work very well.”

“The desktop at my house is where I do the financial work,” she explained.

Working at home, Moore said, was suggested by Trustee Gerry McMahon in a public meeting.

Asked about her concerns about financial matters, Moore pointed out that she was “the only person bonded for township funds. My office to this date is not secure because I do not know who had made copies of the keys and has access. I would not be able to prevent anyone from hacking into the computer…writing themselves checks.”

On matters concerning locks, Moore said the day she took office, the landlord, the Township Road Commissioner came to her and asked if she wanted the locks changed. She did and they were.

Moore was asked if she had keys to other offices, such as the Clerk’s office and she said she didn’t.

A little discussion was held about the Grafton Township Food Pantry, which was started by Jack Brunschon in 1989. Moore had little direct knowledge, so little information was allowed into the record. Food, shelving and freezers were moved out into a Kane County Huntley location last August.

She did report that township tax dollars paid for the electricity, as well as pest control. In the minutes Moore had found that salaries came from tax dollars, too.

When asked about “interference with General Assistance by Pam Fender,” Moore came up with some examples, including a photo her husband took of a post-it not with a General Assistance applicant’s phone number.

After Fender moved Moore to the Clerk’s office, she began answering the numbers listed in the phone book for the Grafton Township Supervisor and “Transportation.”

“I informed her she was not authorized to take any calls. She disagreed with me and continued to do so.”

Fender also opened all the mail. Some did not get to Moore, she reported, because she first saw it in township board packets.

DiCianni took front and center, pointing out that (even) one of Moore’s running mates (Gerry McMahon) had turned against her.

He took her through a series of questions about her view of her authority, which pretty well tracked her requests for relief in the suit.

Then, the strangest thing happened.

The court hearing starting sounding like a township budget hearing.

Using draft minutes because there are no official minutes the Ancel Glink litigator tried to get Moore to admit she had made mistakes.

I admit to having walked out on one of the budget hearings because it was so boring and this was no improvement in the category of excitement.

The most significant thing I remember was that a second budget hearing, Trustee Betty Zirk admitted that she had plugged in the wrong number and the board started over.

Moore pointed that out.

What relevance this has to anything being considered I could not discern. Perhaps I shall learn more at 10 AM Thursday.

There was one unexpected thing.

While DiCianni was asking budget questions, Moore started talking about the tentative budget that she was presenting at Thursday night’s township board meeting.

She described is as “a work in progress.”

I’ve spent enough time in court to know one never offers anything that is not requested. This action broke that basic rule.

Shortly after 4, the judge had his bailiff make three copies and, almost immediately thereafter, court was adjourned for the day.

Just as well. My eyes were glazing over, the benches were as hard as any church pews and I was ready to drive home.

I suppose that budget will be in the board packet for tomorrow night, but, I’ll be elsewhere, so interested readers will have to go see what it says and how the Trustees act for themselves.

Pete Gonigam’s First Electric Newspaper has been given a scoop about the Grafton Township Trustees ‘ continuing efforts to reverse last year’s election results, which ousted their leader, Supervisor John Rossi.

Just one day after being knocked out by Electors at the Annual Town Meeting, the Trustees have finally gotten bold enough to admit what has been obvious to even the most dense observer of Grafton Township politics.

The Trustees want to get rid of their nemesis, Township Supervisor Linda Moore.

Attempts to get the McHenry County State’s Attorney to file criminal charges against Moore has apparently stalled, so they have gone into civil court in an attempt to get Judge Michael Caldwell

“to find ‘that Moore has engaged in a palpable omission of duty, malcontent and misfeasance in discharging the office of Township Supervisor under Section 55-37 of the Illinois Township Code.’

“You have to cross-reference to find that section reads, ‘The court in which the conviction occurs shall enter an order removing the convicted officer from office,’”

according to Gonigam’s article.

Is this a “Hail Mary” toss or what?

This comes after the Trustees’ attempt to keep Citizen-Electors from voting on a resolution presented by Township Road Commissioner Jack Freund to have the Town Fund buy back the Town Hall from his Road District was thwarted.

The Road Commissioner’s attorney, Pat Coen, even had to read the resolution to those assembled because

Township Administrator Pam Fender prepared a visual presentation, presumably to convince people to vote to buy and remodel an empty Huntley factory.

Most of her work went unseen, because the uppity taxpayers went right to the task of completing undoing the unlawful actions of the Rossi Township Board.

So, by margins of at least 5-2 and maybe as much as 8 or 9 -1 before those among the over 700 attending the meeting started leaving in droves after the first motion of the supporters of Linda Moore’s position won so handily.

In any event, just one day after that massive loss, the Trustees’ attorney Keri-Lyn Krafthefer filed a 44-page brief, Gonigam reports, asking for the judge to throw Moore out of office. Details are in his article.

The next question that comes to my mind is whether Moore should go tit for tat.

Think Moore will file a motion asking that the Trustees be removed from office for thwarting her attempts to be the township’s Chief Executive Officer?

I note that the Grafton Township Food Pantry is included in the complaint. In the last audit, the outside auditors were unable to look at the Food Pantry books because those financial records had been deleted from the township supervisor computer before Moore took office.  The auditors concluded that the Food Pantry was not part of Grafton Township.

In their new filing, the Trustees claim Moore drove the Food Pantry out of the township office space.

Moore might welcome its return, because then she could provide the outside auditor with records so it could complete the audit for the Fiscal Year ’08-’09.  At the meeting with the auditor, she clearly wanted them to audit the Food Pantry’s books.

With over 700 registered voters in attendance, electors at the Annual Town Meeting overwhelmingly refused to follow the script laid out by Ancel Glink partner Keri-Lyn Krafthefer.

There were so many people in attendance that the 700 pink ballots designed by Township Administrator Pam Fender ran out.

About ten people stood on the sidelines as a result of the slight miscalculation.

They were told if there were ever a close vote, their vote would count.

They were not happy campers.

But none of the votes were close and none were taken by paper ballot.

There were so many people that the meeting did not start until after 7:30.

The opponents to the Trustees’ position clearly outmaneuvered the proponents.

On the way in people in bright green (they look yellow to me, but I’m color blind) tee-shirts saying,

“NO MORE TAXES,”

handed out a one-page explanation of what the meeting was all about…from the opponents’ viewpoint, of course.

The Huntley Police, including its Chief were visible throughout the night and quite helpfully had flashing lights to slow down Harmony Road traffic as hundreds of cars left one by one after the meeting.

Most of the nine intricately worded resolutions written by the Trustee’s lawyer were ignored as it became obvious that opponents to the Township Trustees’ desire for new offices were not in control of the only form of direct democracy left in Illinois.

The test vote came when Jim

Kearns overwhelming was elected Moderator of the meeting.

My guess is that about 80% of the audience voted for him.

Next came a motion to do first what Ancel Glink put last on the agenda, a motion proposed by Township Road Commissioned Jack Freund to “unwind” (undo) the sale of the township hall to the Grafton Township Road District.

A motion was made to make the last first and it passed overwhelmingly without a paper ballot.

The desires of Township Road Commissioner Freund were explained by his attorney Pat Coen and after its combination with the sale of the Haligus Road property—the subject of three other resolutions—was split, that reversal of the past Supervisor John Rossi Board action was accomplished.

Six irrelevant resolutions that were intended to be considered first were then almost summarily disposed of. Among them were ones ratify the unlawful sale of the Town Hall to the Road District.

“Hot button issues should not rule the day,” Diane Ayers said.  “Maybe by leaving this at the end of the agenda some of the tempers will cool, so we can have a reasonable discussion.”  Ayers is a Democratic Party precinct committeeman.

Numerous attempts to slow down the meeting were made by those supporting the Trustees’ desires.

More and more mainly older residents left the meeting confident that their side was winning the day.

District 158 School Board members Don Drzal and Paul Troy, at different times, tried to slow down the meeting by requiring a paper ballot.

Neither succeeded.

“This sounds like the township meetings,” Don Glogovsky, a Sun City man who ran for township trustee, interjected.

“Let’s continue with the agenda and do away with all the minutia and let democracy prevail.”

The first Haligus Road property resolution would have ratified the unlawful purchase. It was voted down. There was no question as to the outcome, although one supporter of the Trustees wanted to delay resolution until the next meeting.

His suggestion was met with a chorus of ‘No’s.”

A third school board member, Aileen Seedorf addressed the motion:

“They’re trying to ratify what they did.” (If you want to do that, vote ‘Yes.’  If not, then, Vote ‘No.’”

The second Ancel Glink attorney at the meeting, Rob Bush, explained people who want to approve the purchase should vote in favor.

‘If you don’t want to take the deed, you should vote, ‘No.’”

The vote was not even close.

“Is this the way Christ would want it?” a man from the far end of the bleachers asked.

The next Haligus Road resolution would have the Trustees offer the property back to the Village of Lake in the Hills for the price the township paid, about $99,500. The motion carried with, it seemed, both sides’ support.

The final motion would have the Trustees sell the property if Lake in the Hills did not want to buy it back. The motion was amended to require that the sale would have to be for at least $99,400.

Crystal Lake City Councilman Jeff Thorsen, sitting among a stronghold of Trustees’ supporters, observed,

“I don’t see anything here that that makes (the motions) mutually exclusive.”

During discussion, one man said, “Any price that’s market value should be acceptable.”

The amendment was adopted requiring the $99,500 payment, which Peter Hoffman figured would be about $36,000 an acre.

The amended motion passed overwhelmingly.

Except for giving the Township Road Commissioner the right to sell some surplus property, that pretty much ended the meeting. It was after 9:30 and people were leaving in droves.

Afterward I asked each Trustee the same question:

“What now?”

Gerry McMahon, who had been most out front in his desire for the township to have new offices, said,

“I don’t know. (We) have to digest it first and then proceed with bankruptcy…maybe.”

Betty Zirk’s reply?

“Nothing.”

As I was approaching Rob LaPorta, a man was berating him, telling him he got $100 a meeting for (doing less than a stellar job).

“Who are you serving?”

he said in a loud voice, using a barn yard epitaph to LaPorta’s reply.

“Who is this Bozo?” LaPorta asked.

“We don’t do anything behind closed doors,” I heard LaPorta say.

Lake in the Hills Trustee Steve Harlfiner, who lost the role of Moderator to Kearns, approached the cluster, saying, “Good luck selling (the property).”

“Linda Moore wouldn’t be in office if you hadn’t bought that building,” a second man said.

“We went by the advice we were given,” LaPorta replied.

“We made mistakes,” Trustee Barb Murphy, standing nearby, conceded.

“If you hadn’t tried to get that three and a half million dollar building, Linda wouldn’t have been elected,” the second mean reiterated.

I asked Murphy what was next.

“We can unwind,” a position she was the first Trustee to suggest last November.

When I got to talk to the acknowledged leader of the Trustees, LaPorta told me,

“We’re going to follow what was completed tonight and get the township processes to run smoothly.”

As I was walking out the meeting with two folks I was taking home, I asked Fender if I could have a commemorative ballot.

I had already been given an extra large tee-shirt saying,

“No More Taxes,”

which folks will see me wearing this Thursday at the Crystal Lake TEA (Taxed Enough Already) at the corner of Route 14 and Main Street.

“That’s the most fraudulent meeting I even saw in my entire life,” the Township Administrator remarked.

The separation of powers suit that Township Supervisor Linda Moore filed against the four trustees is scheduled for arguments during the second week of May before the same judge, Michael Caldwell, who issued the ruling that stopped the new township hall dead in its tracks.

From the last Grafton Township Annual Meeting, it was obvious that Huntley Village Trustee Pam Fender was a political ally of the returning Township Trustees, Rob LaPorta, Betty Zirk and Barb Murphy.

She was standing and voting with them during the meeting.

The Trustees rewarded her support by hiring Fender without advertising for others who might have been interested in the job.

Moore has already sent Fender a letter telling her that her services are not required.

It was more than obvious that the decision had been made before the meeting began.

Her job?

To do the duties that their nemesis, newly-elected Township Supervisor Linda Moore, took over from their former leader Township Supervisor John Rossi.  The Trustees voted to shift those duties from Moore to Fender.

Thursday night her proposed contract is on the agenda.

It has a section containing ten months’ severance pay and full benefits, if she is fired “without cause.”

The question has yet to be decided whether the Township Trustees had the power to hire Fender.

Moore filed a Separation of Powers suit to clarify what powers she has as Chief Executive Officer of the township (or “CEO,” as Judge Michael Caldwell described her position in the recent court skirmish which sent Moore back to the office from which the Trustees had evicted her).

= = = = =

If you would like to see the agenda for next Tuesday’s Annual Town Meeting, click here.

The meeting will start at 7 PM and be held at the Huntley High School.  Every registered voter in the township has as much power as any other, included elected officials, at this meeting.

“Use in case of bad behavior,”

is the message written on a paddle with cobwebs running from it in the Northwest Herald in the editorial cartoon displayed most prominently on its web site today.

Beneath is the message,

“Spare the rod, spoil the Grafton Township Board.”

So, the NW Herald is adding ridicule to mix in this run-up to the April 13th Grafton Township Annual Town Meeting, perhaps prompted by the latest court battle.

And ridicule is what politicians hate most.

The NW Herald is not the first to have employed that tool, as you can see above from the tee shirt worn by a supporter of Township Supervisor Linda Moore.  For those unfamiliar with township government, there are four trustees, plus the supervisor on the township board.

So far, however, McHenry County’s paper of record has not run a story (at least I haven’t seen one) about that important Tuesday April 13th gathering at 7 PM at the Huntley High School on the western side of Huntley.  Last year’s was a doozy!

More fun than a Tea Party demonstration and your vote could actually save you tax dollars.

The Trustees and newly-hired Township Administrator Pam Fender obviously want those registered voters attending (called electors) the meeting to approve new township offices.  The building Fender passed out information about is even big enough to house a big food pantry.

The agenda prepared by Township Attorney Keri-Lyn Krafthefer, obviously serving only the Township Trustees, is crafted in such a manner as to favor keeping the over $600,000 the Trustees have in the bank from selling the township hall to the township road district. That was done improperly during the time that former Township Supervisor John Rossi was in office, according to Judge Michael Caldwell’s decision, upheld by the 2nd Appellate Court in Elgin.

The other illegal act—borrowing money from Harris Bank—was corrected, pretty much fulfilling the campaign promise of current Township Supervisor Moore to stop the new $3.5 million township hall on Haligus Road in Lake in the Hills.

I assume that the editorial board of the NW Herald would editorialize against approval of new offices for a government which its editorial cartoon denigrates just as it editorialized against voting for the fall referendum to approve a $3.5 million new township hall last July.

Time will tell.

Township Attorney Keri-Lyn Krafthefer led four members of the Grafton Township Board (Barb Murphy being absent) through a proposed agenda for the Annual Town Meeting on April 13th.

A list of the agenda items were not available to the public nor were they posted on the township’s web site prior to the meeting, as the Huntley School District, McHenry County College, McHenry County Board and Crystal Lake do with their board packets.

With the agenda items’ approval, the stage is set to undo Dan Ziller, Jr.’s court case, which some thought prohibited the township from acquiring a new township hall until after the November referendum mandated by Judge Michael Caldwell.

This all started with the township board’s (under former Supervisor John Rossi) selling the Township Hall to the Road District, a separate municipal corporation.

Naive me for thinking the Trustees were going to unwind the deal that brought the township $611,000 after Marc Munaretto’s $66,000 commission was subtracted.

Under the agenda adopted the first two items to be voted upon “ratifies the sale by the township to the Road District, ratifies the prior actions” found illegal by Judge Caldwell.

So much for the Township Trustees having gotten the message that taxpayers don’t want new township offices.

Placed second on the agenda drawn up by the Ancel Glink partner are two motions that would unwind the sale.

Depending on how the first four motions are decided, there are motions five and six. These are needed only if the first two motions are passed to allow the township to keep the over $600,000 from selling the Town Fund’s part of the building to the Road Commissioner.

Resolutions 7, 8 and 9 have to do with the Haligus Road property bought from the Village of Lake in the Hills as a location for the new $3.5 million ($5 million with interest) Township Hall.

Seven would ratify the previously illegal action by John Rossi’s Township Trustees to purchase the land.

Resolution 8 would convey it back to the village.

Resolution 9 would keep the land and authorize the Township Board to sell it on the open market.

The Road District is now owed over $700,000. That includes the $611,000 sale price, plus 21 months of rent. That’s an additional $89,000.

As Township Road Commissioner Jack Freund, accompanied by his attorney Pat Coen again, pointed out,

“The purchase agreement wasn’t legal.”

Item 10 on the agenda would be a discussion with regard to the township hall and financing options.

Item 11 would allow motions to build the $3.5 million township hall, purchase the old industrial building Township Administrator Pam Fender found.

“Theoretically, someone cold make a motion…to approve one or the other,” Fender said.

“There are all sorts of financing options,” Krafthefer pointed out. She did say that selling bonds would require voter approval at a referendum.

Fender suggested that referendum approval would not be necessary if a loan were for less than ten years.

When Krafthefer suggested taking the agenda item that would allow the electors to approve new township offices, Fender said,

“No, I don’t want to do that.”

The meeting was hot prior to the agenda discussion with both Rob LaPorta and Krafthefer talking about a criminal investigation with regard to whatever Moore did to the computer system.

So far, $7,944 has been spent on Forensicion, a firm hired by the Trustees to figure out how the financial and bus records disappeared from the township computer and trying to recreate the records.

“We’re going to determine the criminal activity that took place,” LaPorta stressed.

“This is part of an ongoing criminal investigation and the Huntley Police and the State’s Attorney keeps asking what’s (been found).

Not much later, LaPorta said,

“Soap Opera.”

This meeting came the same day that the Trustees got what they requested, but not what they wanted from Judge Michael Caldwell. The Trustees were seeking continuation of a Temporary Restraining Order to keep Moore from transferring the phone lines to her home, where she had established her office after being kicked out of her office complex in the Township Hall.

The judge ruled that the phone lines would stay at the township office complex, but that Moore would occupy her old office, while both Moore, her employee and Fender would have access to the outer office. Article and court order can be found here.

At the end of the meeting I asked Supervisor Moore how much each Trustee got paid for each meeting.

“$100 a meeting,” was her reply.

The hearing before Judge Michael Caldwell Tuesday was supposed to be about Moore’s attempt to move phone lines so she could answer them off-site.

Friday Judge Thomas Meyer had ordered telephones to be under the control of Grafton Township Attorney Keri-Lyn Krafthefer, but since Township Supervisor Linda Moore’s attorney was in another court due to the short-noticed request for a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO), Meyer scheduled for a Tuesday hearing before Caldwell, who has Moore’s separation of powers case.

Tuesday’s hearing turned out to be as much on Moore’s having been moved out of her office by order of the Township Trustees and newly-hired Pam Fender’s having been moved into Moore’s former space than about mere telephone access.

The Trustees’ motion for a TRO to prevent Moore from switching the phone service from the township office is part of Moore’s separation of powers case being heard by Judge Michael Caldwell.

This is the same judge that put the kabash on the Trustees’ and former Supervisor John Rossi’s attempt to build a new township hall without adequate notice, and ordered a November referendum on whether voters want a new $3.5 million ($5 million with interest) township hall.

But, let’s cut to the chase. Read the court order’s language for yourself:

This cause coming on for status this 30th day of March, 2010, the Court ORDERS;

Linda Moore

1. Linda I. Moore is hereby restored to her office in the Grafton Township Hall ding the township business.2. The telephone lines shall remain in service to the Grafton Township Hall at 10109Vind, Huntley, IL 60102.

3. The access codes, access to offices, access to copy machines, faxes, mail, and any other township information shall not be restricted from any party.

4. The purpose of the Order shall be maintaining the status quo and restoring same to the last peaceable time between the parties.

5. The hearing on this case is set for April 13 and 14, 2010 from April 14 and 15, 2010.

6.The Township Administrator shall not be excluded from the office designated as the Township Main Public Office on Exhibit “A” attached to this order for reference and made a part hereof.

Discussion of the outer office part of the court order was going on between Moore attorney John Nelson and Trustees’ Ancel Glink’ litigating attorney, Thomas DiCanni, when one or more of the Trustees present—Gerry McMahon and Betty Zirk—plus Township Administrator Pam Fender said something.

“What’s the problem?” Caldwell asked sharply.

“I don’t want to hear any objection or interjection.

“If you can’t follow that simple advice, I will (hold you) in contempt of court.

“I have only used it twice, but I will use it a third time.

“Do you understand me?”

For the rest of the hearing, the three did not interrupt.

The possibility of holding Grafton Township officials in contempt of court came up in the prior suit as well. (Here’s where you can read about the earlier contempt comments.)