Tuesday saw the Downers Grove Township annual Town Meeting. This was the first one I had attended. It was not exactly what I was expecting.
Upon walking in the front door of Ashton Place on 75th Street I was greeted by Republican Danny Moustos and Democrat Mark Garrity, each with a handout.
Mark’s was in support of the Illinois Clean Elections Act, which would be a voluntary public funding system available to candidates for state General Assembly and state-wide public offices. A resolution asking for authorization to include an Advisory Question on the Downers Grove Township election ballots (which also covers all of Downers Grove of course) in November was part of the meeting agenda. Danny’s handout reminded attendees that ILCS establish that an Annual Town Meeting is to conduct the business of the Township, and that the best way to handle election reform is with a state-wide action, not an action in Downers Grove Township.
I was taken aback by the number of people registering, well over 140+. I got my red “voting card” from Teresa Cockrell, Township Assessor, who was manning the alphabet group that included T. She must have cringed when she saw me coming, every time I see her it’s with yet another batch of pestering questions that she has graciously and completely answered -more on that in future posts. There were handouts for the annual financial report, the vote items for the evening, and last years minutes for approval.
Cub Scout Pack 48 did the color guard honors and led the Pledge of Allegiance.
If all politics are local (they are) and at the village level it’s supposed to be non-partisan (tell that to the D99 BOE), then Township is the most local level where party politics digs the trenches. The Election of the Moderator for the meeting was the first party line vote event. Environmental Concerns Commission member Greg Hosa lost the vote to Matt Caruso, who said he was qualified as moderator because he had on a really nice suit, which got some laughs as intended. A parliamentarian was appointed, as was a Sergeant At Arms, who did the actual vote counting.
There was questioning on the annual budget. Having combed several years of AFR’s on file with the State Comptroller’s office, I was pretty amazed at the simplicity of the annual report as submitted for approval. Starting balance, receipts, expenses, ending balance was it for each category. They should think about simply reprinting the AFR’s the Township files with the state; those reports are much more complete. On the other hand, given the questions even such a simple summary caused, the Annual Financial Report could have turned into a twelve hour meeting.
The Resolution Authorizing Powers To The Town Board had several criticisms of the lack of language prohibiting the Township from providing any maintenance of religious owned cemeteries. Even though the Public Graveyards Act prohibit Townships from servicing any private cemeteries outside their area of authority, there was still expressed concern and requested change of language.
Now this all sounds very dry, but there were some sparks as citizens tried to get an answer as to why the Cap/Imp Town Fund being liquidated had different figures in the Resolution and in the Budget. It seemed that the Resolution dollars didn’t account for any interest accrual.
Big turnout.
The party fireworks were over the Resolution Authorization Of Advisory Question of Public Policy Regarding “Clean Elections”. When it came to this Illinois Clean Election Act, the trenches were dug in pretty good. Mike Madigan has run the state for the last six years, and for about 16 years before this last run, and he’s done it with a calculated, ruthless foot on the throat of campaign contributions. That’s the way Cook County rolls, and Cook County routinely rolls the state. Do what MM says and you get money; cross him at your own risk.
More than one supporter, Mr. Garrity in particular, spoke up about how wrong that is, and how it chokes off choice, not just within the two parties, but by excluding potential third party candidates. The Green Party, for example, has fought for years to expand it’s presence with little effect mainly due to lack of funding to get their message out. Give DuPage Dems credit, they know where their bad eggs are roosting.
At one point, after several Township residents spoke, Bob Grogan “called the question” to end further discussion. Now, you know how I feel about abuse of Calling the Question, but he did it at the right place and the right time, and Greg Hosa correctly asked for a Division Vote. According to Robert’s Rules, votes on Calling the Question needs to be a 2/3rds super majority-which 93-41 was a done deal. Predictably, the motion failed.
Teresa Cockrell said the Town Meeting was about the Township’s business, not the states, and Hilary Denk added that Mayor Sandack had two Public Advisory Questions that reached beyond DG’s borders, so why not DG Township. Perhaps they should have talked to Mayor Sandack about taking one of the three Public Advisory Questions on the DG ballot.
Three last items: John Sbitek (again. Not sure of the name) asked the T9ownship Board to make audio recordings of the meetings. Right on, sir.
Another gentleman spoke out against Red Light Cameras for sending over $60,000 dollars from the Westmont camera out of the country. I have no idea of that dollar amount is true, but it is a fact RedSpeed is owned by Midagi Holding B.V., a Netherlands Holding Company that traces back to Kazakhstan.
Last, Carol Coral (sp) asked for a neutral third party moderator in the future, that would not be voting.
Full disclosure: I’m a GOP precinct committeeman.
MT should not be taken aback by the number of attendees. It is one of the few venues where we can publicly voice our questions, concerns, and displeasure with township government. You did not note that there is no audio or video recording of this meeting.
Kudos to DGreport for being the only news outlet to even report on it. Despite his confession st the end (there’s always hope for you, sir), you kept an even tone to the report.
Some of my best friends…
There was a court reporter taking minutes, so there is a verbatim public record. What I like about an AV record is you catch the tone and tenor of the proceedings, you see and hear who is engaged in uncivilized behavior, for yourself.