Campton Hills should have forum

Much has been written about the new Village of Campton Hills, yet the issues and details impacting the taxpaying public seem to be getting less and less clear.

There's the mistake by the village attorney regarding property taxes. The no-bid contracts. The questionable and ever-growing police budget. It seems, however, the most important thing for all the residents to understand is why was the village formed in the first place.

I've heard that certain residents feared annexation by Elgin and forming a village was a way to protect themselves. But then I've also heard Elgin can't annex any property south of Silver Glen for a number of years. All that aside, many of us in the community still haven't heard a consistent, or compelling, case as to why our village came to be.

Here's an idea. Instead of the village and the dissolution group waging this debate in the newspapers, how about a simple town hall meeting?

I would ask the leaders of the new village to hold an open town hall meeting with the press invited and no one excluded to give direct answers to direct questions once and for all.

We're all investors in this community and that's the very least we deserve.

Public service is about acting on behalf of the public's best interest. If the village is truly going to benefit us all without additional taxes this should be an easy meeting and save us all a lot of time and money. What do you say?

John Kistner

Campton Hills