Hawthorn Woods mayor going to Vegas conference

Hawthorn Woods Mayor Keith Hunt said Friday he will pay roughly $3,000 out of his own pocket to represent the village at the International Council of Shopping Centers convention in Las Vegas next month.

Hunt recently called off the trip after taking heat from village board members about going to the convention at a time when the village is facing a budget crunch.

But since the trip was charged to a village credit card, the bill had to be paid.

At a meeting earlier this month, three village trustees did not agree with the expense, but three other trustees voted to pay it anyway. Hunt cast the tie-breaker vote in favor of paying the bill.

The charges for airfare and hotel accommodations for four nights add up to $1,650. Then there is the convention registration fee and any other expenses Hunt incurs during the trip.

"I am going to be bearing all of those expenses," Hunt said. "At the end of the day, it's probably $3,000 for everything."

Hunt said he changed his mind about going because he thinks his critics were shortsighted to nix the idea. He said the convention is critical to the village's growth.

"We need to develop sales tax revenue," he said. "Just because we had a little blip in the budget doesn't mean that you stop all programs or stop all efforts to derive new revenue. We've ended in the past couple of years with three or four developers specifically interested in sites they were unaware of before going to that conference."

The village will end this fiscal year April 30 with a roughly $760,000 to $780,000 deficit, attributed to shortfalls in permit and building revenues. That's after the village fired 14 employees.

Village Trustee Steve Riess, one of Hunt's biggest critics on the board, said he hopes the trip will bring about new development for the village, but he's not optimistic.

Riess said Hunt's claim that past trips to the convention have resulted in new developments is "a complete crock."

"Nothing can be further from the truth," Riess said. "There is no evidence of any kind that any trip that he's taking anywhere has brought the village one iota of good will or development."

As for Hunt picking up the tab for the trip and reimbursing the village for the credit card charge, Riess said "it remains to be seen."

"The village has already incurred the expenses," he said.

Hunt leaves for Las Vegas May 17. The convention runs through May 21.

"This conference has 50,000 attendees," Hunt said. "It has every major developer in the United States going to it. In our situation, we need to go knock on their doors because they are not knocking down our doors."