Long Grove mayor: Campaign mailer divulged closed-session talks
Long Grove Village President Angie Underwood is angry that what she calls confidential discussions about a potential new village hall were leaked in a campaign mailer.
The mailing, from the political action committee chaired by Trustee Stanley Borys, claims the slate of village board candidates led by Trustee Charlie Wachs supports a new $2 million village hall.
The six candidates in the bitter race for three seats on Long Grove's village board are divided into two slates, each led by an incumbent trustee.
Wachs is running with Stan Razny and Steve Sintetas. On the other slate is Borys, running with Bill Jacob and Michael Sarlitto.
Wachs says the mailer is inaccurate, as well as a violation of executive session privilege.
The opportunity to move the village hall into an existing building was discussed in a closed village board session by trustees and the mayor March 10, Wachs acknowledged, but the $2 million figure is an exaggeration.
Underwood said she received the piece in the mail and alerted the village staff, who in turn consulted the village attorney. Per legal counsel, "there isn't anything we could do as a board to censure this particular trustee," she said.
But she said she reprimanded Borys for the mailer, which she says divulged sensitive village business.
"He certainly heard it from me loud and clear," Underwood said. "The fact that was used for campaign propaganda was unacceptable."
Borys, however, said Thursday he wasn't the source of the private information included in the mailer.
He added the $2 million figure used in the mailer has been out "on the street."
Moreover, Borys said he opposes spending money to relocate village operations because the village faces more pressing priorities, like fostering economic development and fixing aging roads.
Underwood said the March 10 discussion was preliminary at best.
"We were at such an early stage. We were just gathering information at that point," she said.
Underwood said moving village hall has been a long-term village goal. The board, she said, reviews opportunities as they arise and will consider "anything and everything" - renting space, buying a move-in-ready building or building something new.
However, she said Thursday the most recent proposal for moving village hall is now dead, although she wouldn't say if it died because the information was leaked or because trustees rejected it.
Wachs was disappointed to hear it. The proposal before the board "would have been a nice solution for a problem that's been with this for a number of years," he said.
Borys's slate has made a campaign theme out of their belief in general that the village board's dealings with developers and property owners should be more transparent.
"It's all about transparency," said candidate Bill Jacob, who is running with Borys.
"These are the kinds of things that if in fact a serious decision was being made like that behind closed doors, it really shouldn't be. It should be out in the open."
The present village hall - an 1840s-era building that once was a roadhouse called Drexler Tavern - was moved to its current spot, tucked behind Kildeer Countryside Elementary School, in the 1970s.
Underwood and Wachs both want the building preserved. She's the former president of the Long Grove Historical Society, and her husband will take the reins of the group.
"It's very charming and very old-time Long Grove, and I personally have a soft spot for it," Underwood said.