Poplar Grove has had very little new construction and there are 3,850 approved vacant lots waiting to be developed.
Village officials were thinking about connecting the two plants and possibly mothballing one of them in an effort to save money. But subsequent research determined that would cost $2 million, with the payback possibly extending out 30 years.
Written by Bob Balgemann
The township budgeted $40,000 for legal expenses and with two months left in the current fiscal year has spent $31,834.38. The same amount was earmarked for legal fees in 2011-12, with $14,311 actually being spent.
The difference in the two years is increased scrutiny over how the township handles the public’s money, sparked primarily by two issues that arose in 2011-12.
One of them was the attempted purchase of the old Eagle’s Club building on Locust Avenue. Township voters rejected that acquisition during a town hall meeting in October 2011.
Read more of the FOIA requests by clicking on the following: FOIA requests, scrutiny bring expense for Belvidere Township | Belvidere Daily Republican
We have not been contacted by the Editorial Board and do not know who makes up the board, so we are directing this letter to the editor.
We want to rely on the fact that newspaper reporting is based on fact and not hearsay; at this point, we are unable to feel that way. Your reporter has not been to a Belvidere Township meeting for several months. We do not refer to her coverage of our proceedings as “reporting” since she has not been at any meeting for some time.
In fact, we question where she is receiving her information. Can we make the assumption that Cathy Ward, your past employee, is providing her views for your stories? If this is the case, Cathy Ward’s attendance has been spotty, at best, for board meetings.
You condemn us for working with an attorney. This by itself is hardly unusual. In fact, it would be unusual if we did not work with one. Our board is unlike the County Board or city of Belvidere, which have full-time attorneys at their disposal. We believe that continued attempts at coercion on every program we attempt to implement warrants legal representation to protect the taxpayers of Belvidere Township. Let us not forget that every board member is a taxpaying citizen within Belvidere Township. Our decision affects everyone including ourselves.
In your editorial, you refer to the old Moose Club. Did you mean the Eagles Club? The township was a driving force for establishing and funding the Keen Age Center, not unlike what was proposed for the Eagles Club: the location adjacent to the YMCA would have allowed the expansion of youth programs along with needed activities in the community. The recent request of the veterans looking for space perhaps could have accommodated them in the proposed complex.
It is a shame that the Rockford Register Star has chosen to attack us with articles based on faulty information, reader polls slanted against us and editorials that are downright vindictive. Each member on the Belvidere Township Board of Trustees has the absolute best interest of the taxpayers of Belvidere Township at heart. Shouldn’t all elected officials maintain the same passion for their elected offices?
We welcome and look forward to seeing the members of your Editorial Board at any of our upcoming meetings.
Paul Zeien Jr., Debbie Carlson, Robert E. Turner, Bill Robertson, Belvidere Township Board of Trustees
The opinion piece referred above is available at: http://boonecountywatchdog.blogspot.com/2013/01/rockford-register-star-view-belvidere.html
Well the closed session minutes are now (as of 2-4-2013) available to the public. Photocopies are below. I thought it would be best to supply the reader some context to the whole situation:
First here is the 2010 story as reported by the Boone County Journal on April 2, 2010l:
Grievance Filed
Naming Former
Asst. Administrator
of County Health
Department
By James Middleton
Though reasons for the exit of the former assistant
administrator of the Boone County Health Department were
claimed to have been “personal,” documents disclose that
other reasons could have contributed to the resignation of
Stephanie Crawford. Last week The Journal was told by the
remaining assistant administrator of the health department,
Raymond Empereur that he was “not surprised” at her
resignation and her reasons were “personal.”
Materials received by The Journal, that resulted from
a Freedom of Information request directed to the Health
Department offer the potential for a different interpretation
of the matter. Documents claim that there were questions
held by some within the Boone County Health Department
regarding the quality of the work product produced by the
former assistant administrator. Further, the documents
addressed to Mr. Empereur disclose that a number of
employees produced what they described as “class action
grievances representing all the undersigned both individually
and collectively.”
The author(s) of the three-page document of grievances
indicated that “We, the undersigned employees of the Health
Department wish to file an official grievance pertaining to
the multiple violations of Section 8 of the Personnel Policy
Handbook which will be outlined in this letter.”
The author(s) further claimed that the group that signed
the document had sought to discuss their concerns with Mr.
Empereur but the author(s) added, “You, however, failed
to respond to this request.” The author(s) further stated
that they held a meeting with a supervisor who is now an
acting assistant administrator, Lisa Gonzalez on March 3,
2010 but, they also claimed, “She was unable to address the
issues.” Ms. Gonzalez said, according to the author(s) of
the grievance, to “submit their grievance in writing to the
Public Health Administrator.”
The grievances itemized in the document amounted to
11 individual items. Many of the items suggested that the
former assistant administrator had aided in creating a “hostile
work environment.” The signatories to the grievance also
expressed their concern for the overall public health of
the Boone County community resulting from the loss of
employees and the workplace environment they described.
One of the items alleged that a worker at the Health
Department might have grounds to file a claim alleging job
discrimination.
Another item alleged that the former assistant
administrator was not fulfilling a commitment for fulltime
employment. The allegation stemmed in part from
the former assistant administrator’s college commitment
seeking a Masters of Nursing degree. Mr. Empereur said
last week that the former assistant administrator pursued
her educational commitment with the knowledge and the
approval of the board.
Another claim made in the grievance offered significant
allegations regarding conduct that deserves further
investigation to confirm or deny its veracity before being
publicized. Though these allegations go to the public safety
of the community, to announce these allegations without
first obtaining third-party verification would be deemed
irresponsible.
Mr. Empereur said he was aware of receipt of the
grievance document and said he had received the letter
dated March 5 that was signed by seven employees of the
Health Department. He added that the specifics of what
was contained within the document were not immediately
discussed between him and/or the seven who signed the
document.
One claim alleged that Mr. Empereur would not respond
to oral requests made by the signatories. He told the
signatories that they should present their grievance to their
Continued on page 4
immediate supervisor. In this instance, their immediate
supervisor was Lisa Gonzalez who has now been elevated
to serve as a co-assistant administrator with Bill Hatfield
who serves in a similar capacity.
Mr. Empereur also said he met with the seven signatories
to the document on the day that Ms. Crawford issued her
letter of resignation; March 17. He said that his purpose
in meeting with them was to ascertain the nature of their
grievance. He also said, “I responded.”
Further, Mr. Empereur said that he and Ms. Gonzales
met privately with each person that signed the grievance
document.
Mr. Empereur said that he offered a written response to
the grievance letter presented on March 5. That document
was presented to the seven signatories, according to Mr.
Empereur’s recollection, either on March 23 or March
24. He also suggested that work on the employment
environment is ongoing but, for the most part, he suggested
that the problem of the alleged “hostile work environment”
disappeared when Ms. Crawford issued her resignation and
her letter was accepted by the board.
In the March meeting of the Boone County Board of
Health, the status of the search for a new candidate to fill the
vacancy left by Ms. Crawford’s resignation was discussed.
Mr. Empereur discussed a new contract that would keep
him associated with the Health Department, even though
when Ms. Crawford resigned he was removed as an assistant
administrator because his service as her mentor also ended.
In the new contract, that requires approval by Boone
County State’s Attorney Michelle Courier, Mr. Empereur
would remain associated with the Health Department as a
consultant.
He added while explaining his duties, “Bill (Hatfield) and
Lisa (Gonzalez) would remain and have been pre-qualified
as co-assistant administrators.” They were granted that title
after Ms. Crawford’s resignation and they indicated that
they would retain that title until a new administrator was
found.
Mr. Empereur told the board members that they have
information from the department policy manual that lists
the process and the qualifications required to serve as an
administrator. “These are the requirements and I recommend
we post the position and begin recruitment effective April
1,” Mr. Empereur said.
He also said the department would perform an in-house
review of the candidates that apply and proceed to the next
step with those that were found to be qualified. Then, he
added, “Those candidates would be brought to the board
search committee for an interview and then a selection
would then be brought to meet the staff.” He suggested
that with the process beginning in April, an offer should be
made in June and the new administrator might assume the
leadership role in August.
Board member George Sprecher questioned why
many of the same people on the board also served on the
search committee and various other Health Department
committees. The Health Department search committee is
made up of Dr. Kent Hess who led the search committee
when Ms. Crawford was hired; Allen Sissen, Dr. Joseph
Frost and Gary Turner are also members.
Mr. Sprecher added, “We didn’t do a good job before.”
The result of the previous search committee effort
had job interviews conducted at Giovanni’s Restaurant in
Rockford after which Ms. Crawford was hired. When her
credentials were delivered to the State of Illinois, the state
informed Boone County that she was not qualified to serve
as an administrator unless a mentor was hired to oversee
her work. It should be noted that Mr. Empereur was not
involved and was not a participant in the search that resulted
in the hiring of Ms. Crawford.
The minimum qualifications as proscribed by the State of
Illinois to serve as a public health department administrator
calls for a master’s degree in public health and two years
of full-time administrative experience in public health;
or a graduate degree in a related field from a college
or university and two years of full-time administrative
experience in public health; or, a bachelor’s degree from an
accredited college or university and four years of full-time
administrative experience of which at least two years must
be in public health.
It should also be noted that Ms. Crawford holds a degree
as a registered nurse and, according to Mr. Empereur,
was pursuing a degree as a Master’s of Nursing when she
resigned her post.
The position of administrator is now listed on the
website of the Boone County Health Department and an
advertisement will soon appear in a Rockford newspaper.
Similar advertisements will also appear on public health
websites in addition to noted publications in the industry.
For now, the work of the Health Department sustains with
Mr. Hatfield and Ms. Gonzalez serving as co-administrators.
It is presumed that after Ms. Courier evaluates the contract
from Mr. Empereur, he will continue his work at the Health
Department as a consultant.
Second, here are the minutes of open session of the March 17, 2010 meeting along with Bill’s commentary:
Below are the open session minutes of the March 17, 2010, Board of Health meeting at which Stephanie (Seaworth) Crawford resigned. At this meeting 90 days of severance pay was authorized by the board of health.
Among other items I question, how can this board authorize such a large amount of compensation without a role call vote. Apparently none of the members wish the public to really know how they voted or they all believed that level of severance was deserved by Ms. Crawford, who did not meet the initial qualifications for the job and served approximately 13 months.
Were not the employee grievances against Ms. Crawford and her mentor, Mr. Empereur? If these grievances were justified ,why would severance pay be award to Ms. Crawford?
Susan Karras was the employee who resigned because of the grievance and her record was expunge of the questionable disciplinary action. Why did Ms. Karras not receive severance? If someone deserves severance, I believe it is Ms. Karras.
Click on the photocopy to enlarge.
Third, and lastly here are the closed session minutes.
Perhaps someone should ask Mr. Larson, District 2 Republican Boone County Board, if the Open Meetings Act allows a motion to be made in closed session And tell us-- did the Health Board really delay the vote until the open session?
