Rants, microphone problems colorful sidelights to Hoffman Estates meeting

At one point during Monday's Hoffman Estates village board meeting, Trustee Cary Collins suggested that he would leave his chair and watch the rest of the meeting with the audience.

It never came to that, as the vocal Collins remained seated next to Village Attorney Art Janura for the duration of the meeting.

The meeting focused on hiring Global Spectrum as the operator for the Sears Centre arena, and Collins said he did not like the process used to select the firm.

Collins' colleagues on the board appeared frustrated and even amused by his rants. Some shrugged their shoulders and some smiled.

Before the meeting started, Collins quickly introduced himself to Global's three-member team. He leaned in, smiled and told the officials - in language that can't be repeated in a family newspaper - he was going to heavily scrutinize their proposal.

However, the most entertaining part of meeting came from Zoning Board of Appeals Chairman William Weaver. Weaver said he was feeling ill and left the meeting early, but he forgot to take off his wireless microphone before exiting. The meeting had to be delayed as someone needed to leave the board room to track Weaver down and his microphone, which was still live.