Richton Park Herald

Hopefully this issue has already been addressed for the 2010 IML Conference, but just in case it hasn't... Well its that time of year for village officials across the state to start thinking about going to the IML Conference that's held in downtown Chicago every year around September. The first year I went to this conference as a Richton Park Village Trustee, I drove downtown with my own car, parked the car in a garage, spent a couple nights at The Hilton, took cabs to restaurants and bought some meals. There were some free meals involved, but when I added up all my expenses including mileage, parking, cab fare, hotel and a couple meals, the expense report came up to around $1,000. Now a lot has happened since those heady days of 2007. We found out the village was just about out of cash to the tune of 6 million dollars with spending a million dollars over budget for the prior 6 years. Then comes the economy and housng crashes of 2008 and 2009. The last IML Conference I attended in 2009, I downsized. I think my expense account was less then $100. I didn't stay overnight at a hotel. I took the train downtown, went to my classes for the day. went to one free dinner offered by our engineering firm, then drove home with my wife.

So, that was a big reduction in expenses. I did that because I knew the village was having money problems. I tried to get other board members to follow suit, but those that went did the stay downtown thing again just like we (the Village of Richton Park) had money coming out of our ears. The Village of Olympia Fields doesn't allow village personnel or officials to stay overnight for any downtown Chicago conferences. They're expected to drive back and forth. Its only 35 miles away and driving home at night after rush hour is over only takes 30 minutes. I know because I've doen it. The problem in some instances is alcohol. At most of the after-the-work-day parties there's open bars. People tend to have a few more drinks then they normally do when they're not paying for them. So staying overnight in downtown Chicago at $275 a night becomes a safety issue. But the Village of Richton Park, heck the PEOPLE of Richton Park, shouldn't be picking up the hotel tab. And that's goes for whether or not you're drinking.

The policy should be "the village will not pay for overnight hotel stays for any conference or seminar held within a 60 mile radius of Richton Park." If village personnel and officials want to stay overnight for convienience or for whatever reason, they can do so, but they do so at their own expense. And that sholld be the policy even when the economy comes back, tax revenues are up and the village coffers are full of surplus dollars! Remember, its not your money your spending, its the taxpayers of Richton Park!

I can't think of a better person to be appointed to my vacant Trustee seat. Congratulations! Both to Monica and to Richton Park. I met Monica around town at many different functions and she always seemed in tune with what was going on in Richton Park and always concerned about quality of life issues in Richton Park. I know she' sgoing to do a good job for the people of Richton Park and she's got my vote in this spring's upcoming election. (If I could vote in Richton Park, that is!) Good luck Monica!

By Harry Olson

Let me say, first of all, that this is just my opinion. What's going to happen is beyond me and certainly out of my control!

Let's start out with who should not be appointed. Any one who has previously held the office should not be appointed. In my opinion change is good. I would like to see term limits on public offices held in Richton Park. I proposed this while I was on the Board, but it didn't even get put on the agenda because "why go through all the legal expense when its just going to get voted down anyway". When incumbents say they have the experience or want to see things through, its all a bunch of nonsense. Anybody with half a head on their shoulders can do the job. The village is run by the Village Staff. They do all the work, they put the Board's agendas together and make suggestions as to the path we should take. We have legall consul, finance and accounting people, Parks and Rec, Public Works, Police and Fire. They run, maintain and protect the Village on a day to day basis. When the Board meets two times a month (more when the budget is being worked on), who's not going to vote for the vicious dog ordinance? I don't mean to belittle trustees or the work they do, but again, I think just about any resident can do the job. So no need to appoint somebody who has already been in the job. They've had their chance and if they decided to quit or got voted out of office lets leave it at that and let the village move on. I hope in the upcoming election in Spring 2011 we have 3 new trustees voted in that have no political experience whatsoever.

So who do I think should be appointed? I have a special place in my heart for Richton Park Citizens of the Year. I was one myself and it was nice to be recognized for all the volunteer efforts one does. Some of the more recent Citizens of the Year include Brian Coleman and Bill Colon. Another person I think would be good would be Monica Holden. They all seem to me to have the best for Richton Park in the forefront without any hidden agendas. But hey, that's me. Maybe the seat will remain empty until the election. In any case, I think the Village of Richton Park needs someone new without any hatchets, hidden agendas or devisive old alliances. What we need is someone with a new attitude!

Good luck Richton Park!

P.S. I'm now living in Arizona, so why don't I just keep my big fat nose out of it? Well, I lived in Richton Park for over 30 years and there's still a special place in my heart for the people in Richton Park. The village is moving along in a good direction and I'd hate to see it slip back into two opposing camps arguing with each other all the time. Isn't the internet great? Just like I'm there!

On May 4, 2010 Trustee Harry Olson sent out the following email:


Dear Village President Reinbold, Board of Trustees, Village Staff and Citizens of Richton Park,

With the recent death of my mother and the sale of my home in Richton Park, I am tendering my resignation as Trustee for the Village of Richton Park effective immediately. After living in Richton Park for the past 33 years, my wife and I will be moving full time to our house in Arizona.

I'd like to thank the people of Richton Park. Its been a great honor serving on the Board of Trustees for the village. Not only do I feel that the makeup of the board has changed for the good, I feel that while I've been on the board we've made some great progress in regards to management staff changes at the village and that our village is now headed in the right direction with the right leadership in place. I'd like to thank all the volunteers I've worked with over the years including the Merchants Chamber, the Lakewood Home Owners Association, the Cable TV committee, the Economic Development Committee and the HOA Day volunteers. I'd also like to thank the people at Park Towers, Lioncrest Town Homes and Cedar Ridge. I very much enjoyed the Diversity dinners. Hope sure throws a good party.

After long time Richton Park business L.A. Café closed its doors last year, I volunteered to help develop and host the Richton Park Business website to aid in business retention. This past year I helped develop the new Village of Richton Park website. I'm sorry I won't be around to see the finished community center.

Finally, I'd like to thank Village President Rick Reinbold and all the hard working staff at the village for all their help and encouragement they offered to me while I was a volunteer and Trustee.

Thank you and good luck Richton Park!

Sincerely,

Harry Olson

Just the other board meeting I tried to save the village about $2,000 a year and was shot down in a ball of flames. Wouldn't you like to have $2,000 you could just burn? The IML (Illinois Municipal League) conference comes to Chicago once a year in the fall and I tried to get the village to stop paying hotel lodging for village board members and staff.

The IML conference includes lots of after hours parties that include open bars. Driving back to Richton Park would not be recommended if you partaked, so staying downtown at a hotel ($150 a night) is the thing to do. Some don't drink and stay downtown for convenience. Its just too bad that the tax payers of Richton Park have to foot the bill, especially when we're raising village fees by 100% with our 5 year plan. But apparently this is the only "perk" left for the board so "hands off". It doesn't matter that our board members get paid to the tune of some $16,000 (if you don't take the health insurance option) a year. I say if you want to drink yourself silly, stay downtown at your own expense. If you don't drink, and want to stay downtown at taxpayer expense  just for convienence, shame on you. What do you think our taxpayers are made of? Pay for it yourself!

Now, I am not a saint. I stayed downtown the first two years I was in office, but when the economy nose dived and we were raising village fees, I started to feel guilty. So I decided to save the village some money and not stay downtown this year. I asked the board to also do this, but apparently the plea fell on deaf ears. I use to work for companies that threw lavish Christmas parties downtown, but if you wanted to stay downtown for the night to avoid driving home inebriated or for the convenience, you got a hotel room at your own expense. I think we should do the same for our personnel.

We're just 30 miles from downtown Chicago and I think its an expense we could do without, especially in these rough economic times. Other villages in the area, like affluent Olympia Fields, don't allow their elected officials or staff to stay overnight in Chicago for any Chicago area conference, good economy or bad economy. I went to the seminars at the IML conference, went to a dinner party hosted by one of our vendors, then drove home at 10pm. It only took me 35 minutes to get home! Yet there were others that took a cab from this very same restaurant to the hotel and stayed overnight at $150 a pop! Even if you didn't drink, and you talk about getting up early the next day to go to seminars, its something millions of people do every day, and that's called going to work! When your home is in Carbondale, Champaign or Springfield, etc., stay downtown at a hotel and let your village pay for it. But when you live just 30 miles away, drive back and forth or pay to stay downtown yourself.

In total there was over $1,800 in hotel bills, plus cab rides and other expenses for members of the board and staff that were just 30 miles away from their homes. That's a lot of money to me, but apparently not to my fellow board members. I know we're dealing with a budget of over $20,000,000, so $2,000 is just a blip on the radar screen. But I don't think our revenues are going to be $20,000,000! We're going to wish we had that $2,000 back. Every $2,000 saved is $2,000 in the bank and it all adds up!

No pay raises for village employees, capital budgets reduced, hiring freezes, maintenance not being performed on vital village infrasturcture, when is the board going to wake up and smell the coffee?

Well, its fall in Chicago. The leaves are falling and the leaves need to be picked up. If you don't rake up and get rid of the leaves, they will ruin your lawn. Or if you don't pick them up and let them blow in to you neighbor's lawn, they will ruin your neighbor's lawn. A lawn with a lot of leaves on them will be ruined because sunlight will not be able to get to the grass and in those spots the grass will die. Rake up your leaves and be a good neighbor. Don't wait to let the wind blow them out of your yard and into your neghbor's yard. Do the right thing and rake up your fair share!

Cincinatti beats the Bears into the ground. Cedric Benson has a great game against his old team and Ocho Cinco's predictions come true. The Bears look miserable, and don't give me any excuses about missing starting players. The defense is absolutley miserable and the offense isn't much better.

I'm a liifelong Bears fan, I question my resolve. I first listened to the Bears on the radio in the championship game of 1963. I was only 10 years old, but my older brothers imparted the importance of being a Bear fan on me. Since then, the Bears won a super bowl in 1985. So that's one Super Bowl win in 46 years. I am a Cubs fan and that World Series thing has been over 100 years, so if I can put up with the Cubs why can't I put up with the Bears? I guess I just can't get behind a guy named "Lovie". If it was a guy named "Hate-ie" and he got excited when something went good or really bad, then maybe I could get behind the Bears. But when things go terribly wrong (or good in some cases) and you can't tell which way its going by looking at the coach, you got to wonder what the heck is going on. I like coaches like Mike Dikta and Bill Cowher. They got excited. Good or bad things happening, but they got excited. I think that tranfers to the players attitude and they then kick it up a notch.

I think mediocore has taken over for the Bears. Show up, play the game. Whatever the outcome, see you next week, we'll do it all over again.

Let's talk about specifics of the game. Cutler is a good quaterback. The Bears have just brought him down to Bear level. See what Kyle Orton is doing? He's on a good team and he's doing well. If Cutler was on a good team, he'd be doing well. The defense didn't stop Cincinatti at all in the first half. Good job Bears defense! The Bears offense wasn't that much better. We got a field goal in the last seconds of the first half. When the second half started, the announcers said the Bears had the momentum. Good one! There was an interception by the Bengals in the third quarter. It looked to me like the Bengal player had contact with the Bear receiver, but no review called by Lovie, which would have put them back by 30 yards. But no review. Then Cedric Benson fumbled the ball and this play was reviewed by Lovie, but the review was not found in the Bears favor.

In summarization, everthing went wrong against the Bears and deservedly so. They sucked! From Defense to Offense and to the Coaches. A total team effort. When are the Bears going to wise up and get a new coahing staff and some new players?

Let's not be the Cubs of the NFL and wait 100+ yeaars for the next Super Bowl!