City leadership has lost residents' trust

While I certainly agree with some of your newspaper's reasoning for voters approving the home rule referendum in Prospect Heights, I believe that there are two critical flaws in your recommendation; 1. "... we have faith that residents elected a responsible board" and 2. "If council members misuse it, vote them out."

The truth is our acting mayor, the simple majority members of our city council, and other city officials have been highly irresponsible and unresponsive to city residents. For instance, they have consistently chosen the economic interests of a highly questionable proposed townhouse investor over the overwhelming majority of area residents - even forcing them to obtain legal counsel to protect our town's unique large-lot single-family homes.

At the same time, these same officials quietly ignored a serious conflict of interest by a zoning board official who voted to approve the townhouses despite having a personal financial interest in the proposed development.

Another example involves our city hall that was, until recently, only open three days a week under a "cost-saving measure." Unfortunately, our city officials still cannot identify any tax savings as all city staff continued to receive their full salaries while residents were refused city services.

Yes, home rule can be a useful and powerful tool for municipal leaders; however, it will only work when there is a reasonable level of trust with our elected officials.

Regrettably, trust is a major issue right now and far too much damage can be done in the 21/2 years remaining in many of their terms before corrective action can be taken. For the time being at least, we really have no choice but to reject this ill-advised measure!

Edward Madden

Prospect Heights