Walk this Saturday

I am going to be walking from the Lakewood Clubhouse which is here. Depending on how cold it is we will walk for 30-45 minutes. I have an appointment at 9, a ribbon cutting at 10 and some other stuff in the afternoon, so I have to keep it under an hour! Look forward to seeing you there!

COMMENTARY-- Four Coynes Liquor Hearing

What follows below is a copy of the decision that I took after the Liquor hearing on the Four Coynes matter last week. Mr Coynes stipulated (ie agreed with them) to the charges at the hearing, and basically asked me be lenient because of numerous family issues. I wrestled briefly with some form of mitigation but ultimately I did not feel that Mr. Coynes had been open and candid with me. Mr. Coynes was notified by fax and in writing as to my decision on Monday.

The level of professionalism by agencies involved in this, was and is impressive, Lake County MEG, all the Round Lake Area Police Departments, McHenry Police, the Lake County States Attorney, and the Round Lake Police Department were all involved and had buy in. The undercover work, two simultaneous raids, booking officers, evidence technicians, and of course the officers involved in raid exhibited a high level of sophistication and professionalism that we can all be proud of.

Here's the commentary portion of this post: We are serious about enforcing the liquor ordinances in Round Lake, if you have a license, obey the law! I have heard that one non gambling machine has been removed from a local bar already so the climate is improving. I take my job as Liquor commissioner seriously, not every decision is going to be popular, but we do need decisions to be made, and sometimes they are hard and affect peoples lives.

What follows below is the actual text of the order I wrote and had made into a legal document and then signed earlier this week.

This matter having come on to be heard upon a Citation and Notice of Hearing directing Licensee, FOUR COYNES, INC., to appear before the Local Liquor Control Commission of the Village of Round Lake, Lake County, Illinois, on an allegation of conducting illegal gambling activities upon the licensed premises at 302 Nippersink Road, Round Lake, Illinois on January 24, 2007 and upon hearing the Liquor Commissioner finding by offer of proof by the prosecution and stipulation of the Licensee that the Licensee by and through its officer and agent, SCOTT E. COYNE, did conduct illegal gambling activities as alleged and pursuant to that offer of proof and stipulation, the Liquor Commissioner further finds:

• That Licensee intentionally and knowingly disregarded the liquor ordinances in the Village of Round Lake and the State of Illinois for one and a half years with regard to the active promotion and conduct of poker games and four to five years in the matter of the slot machines, culminating in the gambling activities of the same nature on January 24, 2007.
  

That as to matters presented in mitigation, the Liquor Commissioner finds that such contentions are rendered not fully credible and off-set by the following:

• Roughly six weeks ago there was an underage drinking violation at the licensed premises, which Licensee at that liquor hearing three weeks ago, promised the Liquor Commissioner would never be repeated again, but at the time of the arrest, on January 24, 2007, there was a minor female drinking and gambling at the licensed establishment.
  
• The police report on January 3, 2007 has Licensee telling the undercover officers that if “someone walked in” no money was to be visible on the table and that the cover story was the game was for a $100 prize to be given away to the weekly poker winner and that there was no actual gambling taking place”. Licensee also added that he “had 2 run in’s with police in the last few days and the state police had performed a alcohol compliance check and that Licensee received a $150 fine and what amounted to a written warning for serving the decoy”.
  
• After the liquor hearing on January 3 2007 in front of this very same Commission for the first offense, Licensee learned nothing from the warning reprimand issued by the Liquor Commissioner other than to attempt hiding illegal activities more deeply.
  
• The explanation offered for $16,000 of the approximately $34,000 cash that was hidden as “holding it” from Licensee’s parents divorce is found to be ludicrous and does not make sense.
  
• Licensee was not sober when arrested.
  
• The drug paraphernalia and unregistered guns found in the raid on Licensee’s house, does not jibe with Licensee’s being the earnest family man portrayed at the hearing on February 7, 2007.
  

The Liquor Commissioner further finds that the foregoing together with the following specific factors compel the revocation of the subject Liquor License in this case:

• The long term nature of the violations (over four to five years for the slot machines and over one year for the card gambling); and
  
• The fact that 22 days after being warned quite severely by this Liquor Commissioner for minors drinking in the bar, Licensee had a minor female in the bar served alcohol and allowed to gamble.

IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED THAT SUCH LIQUOR LICENSE BE AND IS HEREBY REVOKED EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY.
William Gentes, Local Liquor Control Commissioner Village of Round Lake, Lake County, Illinois

Advocate has a New Website for the Hospital

Advocate sent me a link to the new website for the hospital. I have been working the phones recently talking to other taxing bodies and building support for the Advocate proposal.
If the hospital is run as professionally as the management team I have been dealing with, North West Lake County is in for exceptional service! I am fired up!

Round Lake Area Park District-- Wine Tasting Fundraiser

"A Taste of the Grape" wine tasting fundraiser is going to be held on Saturday, March 10 from 6:30-10:00 pm at the Rolek Community Center. Tickets are $30 per person and are on sale at the Registration desk at the Rolek Community Center, 814 Hart Rd. Round Lake, and the Sports Center 2005 Municipal Way, Round Lake Beach. This event is the first in a series of fundraisers to raise money to renovate the Hart's Woods playground. Bring your friends.

The format is simple, everyone gets a glass and can move around 4-5 tables sampling, and deciding on which wines they want to "load up" by ordering for home use. In addition there will be a beer table as well for beer samples!

Queens, Bowling, Walking and Running

Yesterday was an active day. The rescheduled walk/run was held with a nice turnout (me and Mike Vanata). It was quite cold so we barely did 2 miles, but we did it.

In the afternoon, at Lakes Bowl, we had the Round Lake Area Queens Bowling Fundraiser, the Queens did a great job, separating me from my money! My team won high score as well with a 136, which shows the level of skill on display! We also had high game in the crazy bowl with a 108.

I saw Lori and Brian Brubaker, Sue and Paul Hollingsworth all the queens and there families (to numerous to mention here) and overall had a nice time. I even have some pictures being emailed to me of me with posing with the queens, some might replace this picture I took from my dinner table!

Number 100,000 was Mayor McCheese!

At 7:13 last night we hit unique user 100,000! It was Mayor McCheese! Since I am not on the Atkins diet right now I ate him! Mmmmmm tasty!

I am bowling tonight at Lakes Bowl with the Round Lake Queens. Last year I was the high game among all the Mayors present. I was the only Mayor present. I did manage to throw a strike left handed in the goofy bowling portion which still shocks me! I am aiming to throw more strikes this year!

Run Walk this Saturday

Don't forget that this Saturday at 7am is the run/walk that we rescheduled from last week when Round Lake became part of the ice age! We will meet for the run portion at 7am around the park on the North Side of Valley Lakes and then the walk will start at 7:30

100,000th Visitor! Coming Soon

At some point late tomorrow or early saturday the 100,000th visitor to the blog will be arriving, since my bizarre pre- thanksgiving spike in visits the blog has settled down to a solid 380-400 unique users a day. The trend appears to be 5-10 new visitors on the average each week.

Anyway I am looking forward to getting into six figures!

Some sort of issue with uploading pictures this morning, so this is going to be a pictureless post for awhile.

NOTE: Its Friday morning right now and we are about 150 away.

Lakewood HOA Talk Last Night

I was invited to talk to the Lakewood Homes HOA meeting last night. They might be regretting that since I went on for about 2 hours until Sherry Perkowitz dragged me away from the Q &A. Hopefully I did not wear out my welcome.

I got some great questions, transportation, SSA's, multiple taxing districts, questions on parks, and on commercial. Overall it was very good for me, I heard lots of things that we need to address as a village.

They have a very nice new web page which is linked above, they also have an energized forthright HOA board which is a huge step forward.

Round Lake is awarded Tree City USA designation

Thanks to the efforts of Trustee Sherry Perkowitz the Village of Round Lake has been named a Tree City USA community by the National Arbor Day Foundation. The recognition results from the village’s commitment to community forestry.

For more than a decade, Illinois has ranked second in the nation for the number of communities participating in the Tree City USA program.

“Illinois Tree City USA communities spend $82 million annually on tree planting and care,” said IDNR Tree City USA Program Coordinator Reinee Hildebrandt. “Urban and community forestry is a part of a $4.7 billion industry in Illinois.”

Four criteria must be met to be eligible to participate in the Tree City USA program:

• A community must legally designate a city official or volunteer tree advocate as having authority over the management and care of the community’s urban forest.
• A community must have a community tree ordinance that specifically recognizes the local tree authority and identifies urban forest management and tree care standards by which the community will abide.
• The community must invest at least $2 per resident in its urban forestry program.
• Communities must conduct an annual Arbor Day tree planting ceremony with an official Arbor Day proclamation.

“This recognition showcases the dedicated efforts of our public works employees, elected officials and village administration in planning, planting and caring for our community forest. This prestigious award is an excellent indication that there is a solid foundation in place for making Round Lake one of the most desirable communities in western Lake County,” said village trustee Sherry Perkowitz.

LCML Legislative Meeting Last Saturday

Saturday I attended the Lake County Municipal League's (LCML) annual Legislative Meeting along with Trustee Michael Blum and Trustee Sherry Perkowitz. There were about 70 attendees from around the county, maybe 20 mayors, 10 state legislators, and a variety of trustees attended. The major initiatives that were on the agenda were as follows:

• Transportation-- Develop a capital plan to fund the 2005 and 2006 projects.
• Education Funding Reform-- A more equitable state education funding formula and including accountability of local districts.
  
• Improve academic and fiscal accountability, management practices and cost control efforts.
  
• Develop an accountability system & stick with it.
  
• New State revenues to under-funded school districts.

There was quite a bit of other issues that we took stands on, such as pension reform, and reform of the Motor Fuel Tax administration. Link to the documnet is here.

Wind Chill Advisory for the Round Lake Area

Wind Chill Advisory--Lake (Illinois)

URGENT - WINTER WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHICAGO/ROMEOVILLE IL
333 PM CST SAT FEB 3 2007
...WIND CHILL ADVISORY IN EFFECT THROUGH TUESDAY MORNING...
.BITTERLY COLD ARCTIC AIR WILL CONTINUE TO POUR INTO THE MIDWEST
THIS WEEKEND ON BLUSTERY WINDS. THE COMBINATION OF BITTER COLD AIR
TEMPERATURES AND GUSTY WINDS WILL RESULT IN DANGEROUSLY COLD WIND
CHILL TEMPERATURES LOWER THAN 20 BELOW ZERO OVER THE NEXT FEW
DAYS.
...WIND CHILL ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 9 AM CST TUESDAY...
BITTERLY COLD TEMPERATURES WILL DROP BELOW ZERO OVERNIGHT...AND
WILL STRUGGLE TO RISE BACK TO ZERO ON SUNDAY. ALTHOUGH GUSTY WEST
WINDS OF 20 TO 30 MPH WILL GRADUALLY DIMINISH THIS EVENING...THE
COMBINATION OF SUBFREEZING AND BLUSTERY WINDS WILL RESULT IN
FRIGID WIND CHILL VALUES OF 25 BELOW TO 30 BELOW ZERO RANGE
TONIGHT AND SUNDAY. BITTERLY COLD AIR TEMPERATURES AND BLUSTERY
WINDS WILL CONTINUE TO KEEP WIND CHILLS IN THIS RANGE THROUGH
TUESDAY MORNING.
A WIND CHILL ADVISORY MEANS THAT VERY COLD AIR AND STRONG WINDS
WILL COMBINE TO GENERATE WIND CHILLS AT OR LESS THEN 20 BELOW
ZERO. THIS WILL RESULT IN FROST BITE AND LEAD TO HYPOTHERMIA IF
PRECAUTIONS ARE NOT TAKEN. IF YOU MUST VENTURE OUTDOORS...DRESS
IN LAYERS AND COVER ALL SKIN. MAKE SURE YOU WEAR A HAT AND
GLOVES. LIMIT OUTDOOR ACTIVITY TO MINIMIZE EXPOSURE...AS
FROSTBITE CAN OCCUR IN 30 MINUTES OR LESS.
PETS ARE ALSO SUSCEPTIBLE TO THE EXTREME COLD AS MUCH AS YOU ARE.
KEEP PETS INDOORS AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE. IF THIS IS NOT POSSIBLE...
MAKE SURE OUTDOOR PETS HAVE WARM DRY SHELTER. PROVIDE SUFFICIENT
FOOD AND FRESH UNFROZEN WATER.

Mayors Run/Walk on Sunday

I know I rescheduled the run/walk from this Saturday to Sunday, but after reviewing the weather report and temperature in the single digits, with wind chills in the -20 range. I think its best not to have the run/walk this weekend. Lets shoot for next Saturday!

Sorry about that, but unlike every other single minuscule detail in the village I have been unable to manipulate the weather to suit my narrow needs! Drats!

Homeowners Associations-- A Short History

When you buy a house in a new subdivision or planned unit development, you may be subject to a host of rules and regulations! Are you shocked yet? I know many of you are, because I get more complaints about the dreaded words "Homeowners Association" or the HOA! I have noticed that there is a typical pattern that HOA's tend to follow over the years.

It starts with the village stepping in to beat up the developer, because of homeowner complaints. The developer runs the HOA until a certain percentage of occupancy is met. Then usually because the village forced the developer to turn over the HOA to the residents the problems and complaints shift to the new "resident board". Usually the first thing that happens is the new HOA board decides the old management company (usually a creature of the developer) needs to take a long walk off a short pier. Then the board goes through a shake out and some energetic resident leadership takes over and things tend to smooth out and normalcy returns.

Some of the things you will look for from your HOA are:

• Maintenance: Once a developer'’s responsibility has expired, the owners have to pay for repairs when things start to break down. Having an adequate reserve and a planned maintenance program is essential to preserving the community and your property'’s value.
• Fees and Assessments: Generally, homeowners associations levy mandatory monthly fees to maintain common property, such as lawns, swimming pools, hiking trails, golf courses, or tennis courts Fees may increase as expenses rise and special assessments may also be imposed for major costs such as a new roof for a community sports center or private street repair.
• Liens and foreclosures: If you fail to pay your association dues, or run afoul of its regulations, you can be charged a fine. A lien can even be imposed on your property resulting in potential foreclosure, sometimes over trivial amounts. If you dispute the charges in court and lose, you may also have to pay the association'’s legal fees.
• Governance: Most homeowners association board members are volunteers elected by the property owners. Sometimes inexperience can cause mistakes, resulting in additional expenses. Often, more than 50 percent of the dues collected by an association are used to pay for the management companies and attorneys it employs.
• Regulations: Together with their management partners, homeowners associations function very much as private governments. Once property owners sign a contract agreeing to comply with an association'’s laws, that often supersedes their individual property rights. It'’s not easy to change community regulations imposed by a homeowners association. To do so generally requires the approval of the majority of members.

My mayoral radar tells me this will be a lively debate on the comment section of my blog so I promise to blog further on the subject since I am sure I will get some ideas from the feedback. A couple of interesting facts on HOA's are that they are:

• The fastest growing form of government in the US in the last 15 years.
• 1 in 6 Americans live in a HOA environment.
• There are at least 20 HOA's in Round Lake.
• The Village has taken over one HOA, Bright Meadows! By the way the residents requested it.

By the way this is an article from a few months ago, but I am pressed for time this morning.

Customer Service, Furniture, and Phones

Sometimes you have to wonder how some places stay in business. We ordered a new couch about 3 weeks ago, and had to struggle with the company to schedule a delivery date, since it was to hard for them to deliver inside of three weeks. So today was the day, we had a firm delivery date, confirmed by phone call 2 days ago. From 4pm to 8pm without fail. I rearranged a few things so I could be here.



The old couch was removed over the weekend (see picture, next time hard wood floors by the way), and its been annoying to have to sit in odd locations. Of course the lawn chairs and the like made their appearances but a clear end was in sight...Wednesday between 4pm and 8pm the new couch was coming. Well time came and time went and no show from the delivery service. Which I suppose I could deal with that, its the lack of a phone call from the delivery service. Ah well....$116 delivery fees I am sure no longer guarantee you a phone call.

So upon investigation its a service contracted by Wickes that delivers, so its not Wickes proper. But you know what to me...its Wickes. This sounds like the old cable stories you hear about, with installation times. You get used to improving customer service and then you are confronted with challenges.

Oh we called the store at 8:05 to see what was going on, and were confronted by a phone tree and 9 calls later to various departments we were disconnected, and then I called back and they were closed, I would guess I was hung up.

I am reminded of the old Lou Holtz (some small division 3 college football coach who is sort of famous for some reason) story about how he had a horrible night/customer service nightmare at the O'Hare Hilton, and so for the next three years he mentioned the customer service nightmare he had every single time he spoke, much to the chagrin of the O'Hare Hilton. Somehow after about 3 years the folks at Hilton got him calmed down and the speech is no longer given that way.

POSTSCRIPT: Ding dong....the doorbell rings this evening, and with no apologies no response to our calls the couch is delivered. Amazing.