Hanover Park officials try to mend fences

In his first few months as an elected official, Hanover Park Trustee Bill Cannon has earned a reputation for pinching pennies.

So it came as no surprise a couple weeks ago when he voted against interim Village Manager Ron Moser's proposal to pay $4,400 for a consultant to lead the board and department heads in a team-building session.

He was outvoted, and a few days after Monday's meeting with Dr. Lewis Bender, professor emeritus of public administration at Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville, Cannon maintains the village could have organized its own free in-house initiative. However, he said he did walk away with a better understanding of how to best serve the residents.

"A group will make more progress with a neutral third party providing guidance," Cannon said. "For example, I learned I need to communicate more with department heads. But if I had just been told that in the first place, it wouldn't have cost us anything."

Trustees Ed Zimel and Rick Roberts were much more enthusiastic in their review. They said the three-hour session helped to bridge the gap between them and staff, and also identify the correct contacts to get their questions answered.

"I think we discovered better ways to hash out differences," said Roberts, who was recently named deputy mayor.

The three officials did agree that a notable absence hindered progress. Trustee Toni Carter, who's been increasingly at odds with Mayor Rod Craig and her fellow Progress Party members, couldn't attend. With her support, the board decided to move forward with the session because Bender was otherwise booked through October.

Moser also thought the money was well-spent. In addition to Monday's session with officials, he took part in Tuesday's activities, which were limited to him and village staff. He was so gung-ho about hiring Bender, that he freed up the funding by forgoing conferences he and the police chief were going to attend.

Like Cannon, Trustee Lori Kaiser also voted against the idea. But unlike her colleague, the veteran official said she didn't gain much, if anything.

"Everyone was on their good behavior so the discord typically seen on the board didn't come across," Kaiser said. "(Bender) didn't sense the divide among us that's so obviously there."