South Barrington delays withdrawal from council

South Barrington trustees Thursday tabled a proposal from Village President Frank Munao that the village withdraw from the nine-member Barrington Area Council of Governments until a joint meeting with the BACOG board on Jan. 12.

During an exchange with Tower Lakes Village President Kathleen Leitner, who serves as BACOG’s board chairman, it became clear that Munao’s strongest concern was that a large amount of “mission creep” had fogged the council’s focus and bloated its budget.

“Let’s get back to the nitty-gritty of things,” Munao told representatives of the 41-year-old organization.

BACOG was created in 1970 as both a forum for communication among the seven Barrington-area municipalities and a political representative for the region’s shared priorities. In 2004, Barrington and Cuba townships also joined.

But Munao said he’s been frustrated by the lack of response to his requests to reassess the organization’s goals in recent years.

Leitner replied that, given time, the council’s members could come to agreement on the appropriate focus and size of the organization’s mission.

“We’re trying to steer the Titanic around,” Leitner said. “I would really hate to see you pulling out of BACOG at a time when we really need your input.”

Barrington resident Bill Braithwaite spoke passionately about the need to keep the organization intact — reminding those present of how it was the whole Barrington area’s coming together decades ago that saved today’s South Barrington from becoming the site of first an atomic accelerator and then a dense development of high-rise apartment buildings.

“It takes a community. It takes a family,” Braithwaite said. “I didn’t want to come tonight to the funeral of a family member.”

Leitner told Munao the recent departure of BACOG’s global imaging systems worker would help reduce his village’s annual dues from about $36,000 to $29,500.

But Munao said a compromise had to go beyond that, focusing on such issues as emergency management at board meetings instead of proposals for dog parks.

He said he’s also concerned by how much BACOG’s legislative lobbying may overlap with that of other stronger groups like the Northwest Municipal Conference.