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Gurnee mayor criticized for memorial now in Wauconda

Gurnee Mayor Kristina Kovarik's dispute with a former elected official should not have led to a Sept. 11, 2001, memorial being built elsewhere, according to a village trustee who criticized her at a meeting.

Trustee Greg Garner criticized Kovarik from his rostrum seat during public comment time at Monday's village board meeting when he contended Gurnee lost an opportunity to have what turned out to be a Sept. 11 memorial that would have set it apart from other towns, because the mayor got personal in a disagreement with former Trustee Kirk Morris.

"I hope that in the future, this administration would count the cost of making business personal," Garner said. "I hope that we would all work harder to step outside of ourselves to support better outcomes. I believe the village of Gurnee - the community of opportunity - can do better than miss opportunities that are no-brainers."

Garner was referring to the Heroes of Freedom Memorial that Morris brought to Wauconda, where it was unveiled last month. It features a beam from a fallen World Trade Center tower.

In 2013, Morris settled a three-year-old lawsuit he filed against Gurnee and Kovarik over an unsuccessful effort to build the Heroes of Freedom Memorial specifically for troops who died in Iraq and Afghanistan on village-owned land on Old Grand Avenue. The 1-acre site is now pegged to be Richard A. Welton Village Plaza, honoring the longtime, late mayor.

Kovarik responded to Garner by saying he should check village minutes for all public conversations about the memorial that Morris had proposed in Gurnee.

"The 9/11 beam was never, ever, ever part of the discussion with this board, with the (memorial) committee, with myself," she said. "It was never on the table. There was a completely different memorial that was brought forward to this board. It was never about the 9/11 beam."

Plans for the taxpayer-owned Old Grand Avenue site went on hold in 2010 when Morris sued the village after Kovarik pushed to have his private foundation removed as leader of the Heroes of Freedom Memorial effort. Morris and Kovarik began publicly feuding in 2009 after she accused his foundation of being incapable of building the memorial in Gurnee.

Under the lawsuit settlement, Gurnee's insurance carrier paid $200,000 to the ex-trustee's Pfc. Geoffrey Morris Memorial Foundation for design work and other improvements the group made to the public land. The foundation was named for Morris' son, a Marine killed in Iraq in 2004.

Morris' Heroes of Freedom Memorial plan for Gurnee would have included life-size bronze statues of his son and others who died in Iraq and Afghanistan paid for with private donations. Morris got to keep the Heroes of Freedom name in his settlement with Gurnee.

Kovarik said after Monday's village board meeting Gurnee was prepared to honor a 2005 resolution that called for Heroes of Freedom on the Old Grand Avenue property, but that ended after Morris got to keep the name.

"The village has moved forward with plans to create a public plaza to be enjoyed by all residents, rather than a tourist destination as imagined under the failed concept," she said.

Garner said this week's Gurnee village board meeting was his first opportunity to speak publicly after he attended the dedication ceremony for the Heroes of Freedom Memorial in Wauconda. He said Wednesday that his comments were not meant to antagonistic toward the mayor.

"I couldn't help but think of the missed opportunity that was staring me in the face," he said.

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Kristina Kovarik
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