Use your vote to tell Tolomei to move on

Based upon court documents filed in the Bank of America/LaSalle Bank foreclosure case against it, the Village of Lake Zurich confirmed former Village Administrator John Dixon acted without board approval, hence without authority, ultra vires, (see pages 22 and 23 of the village's answer to the foreclosure lawsuit filed Nov. 19, 2008) when he signed the village up for more than $6 million in debt to support the developer's Sommerset Townhomes project.

Putting aside for now the foolishness of collateralizing village assets for private development, the fact is he did it without full public disclosure and the legally required board approval.

To make things worse, in March 2007, just days after the stinging court loss in the Comet Welding case and days before the 2007 village election, President John Tolomei mortgaged village property for more than $9 million without a full public disclosure and the legally required board approval.

Things sure look desperate, and now we hear talk of a $2.5 million "settlement fund" to buy back the mortgaged property from the bank to try to salvage bad decisions but saddle taxpayers with significant long-term debt. Let's hope the village board isn't relying on the guy who got us into this mess to lead us out of it, or think that they can sweep this $2.5 million bailout of the TIF district under the rug.

Tell us that Tolomei has stepped aside in light of these ethical lapses and blatant mismanagement. We are in this situation because of his lack of leadership and vision. Expecting that on the third try he might get it right flies in the face of his disappointing and financially devastating results. I for one say it's time for Tolomei to step aside, now!

Mark Ernst

Lake Zurich