Island Lake trustee wants mayor fined

Animosity showed up on the Island Lake village board agenda Thursday after one trustee discussed fining the mayor.

Confusion reigned over what exactly the fine would be for, though.

In a complicated chain of events, Trustee Donald Saville spoke with the village clerk, who then wrote a memo at Saville's direction to the village attorney asking whether or not Mayor Tom Hyde could be fined under an ordinance that prohibits impersonating or interfering with a village officer.

The memo suggested Saville hoped Hyde might be fined for directing the public works department to continue to plow Timber Trail road, which is privately owned.

"I think it's a very serious situation when somebody is trying to fine the mayor for doing the requests of the board," Hyde said. "This was just completely improper."

Though Timber Trail is private, Island Lake has plowed the road for decades. The sanitation district has an easement on the road, but the ownership and annexation status of the road is unclear. Saville has argued unsuccessfully that the village should stop plowing the road because it is private.

Saville said at the board meeting, however, that Timber Trail had nothing to do with his fine request. Instead, he wanted to fine the mayor for directing a village employee not to turn over water department documents to Trustee John Ponio.

"This seems to be a very serious issue," Saville said. You overstepped your bounds."

Hyde said he did not order the employee not to turn over documents but instead went to the village attorney to find out if there was a way Ponio could come in and look at them instead of copying the inches-thick file.

"I was trying to see if there was a way to (complete) this without spending $300 for duplication," Hyde said.

Village Attorney Scott Puma said he believed the issue was moot anyway because in his opinion the ordinance in question didn't allow board members to fine each other.

"You have to look at the nature of (the ordinance)," Puma said. "The ordinance isn't set up for punitive steps by board members against other board members."