On October 15, 2019, I received a yellow
postcard in the mail that read:
|
Be a part of the Rockland Fire Protection District’s CITIZENS
REVIEW COMMITTEE. The purpose of the committee is to provide transparency and objective
facts about the outsourcing of our fire services: How we got to where we are today Current and future financial impact Current state of operations If you are interested in facts If you’re willing to help with research If you can commit to attending 4 meetings over 3-4 months WE WANT YOU TO APPLY! For information or to volunteer, email Amy Bernstein at… |
Underscore in the original; boldface
mine – though I thought all facts were objective. Being a person always interested in objective
facts, I responded and on the morning of November 12th I received an
email from Secretary Bernstein informing me that I had been chosen and that our
first meeting would be on December 16th.
On December 16th I arrived to
find assigned seating with a 3-ring notebook at each place displaying a
committee member’s name on its cover.
The tables were arranged in a “U” shape so that a video camera could
view the three members of the board and the treasurer at the head tables with
committee members facing each other on the left and right of the field of view.
Across from my seat was the vacant seat
of an absent member, Mr. William Stein, Mr. Wayne Spath
and Ms. Heather Grum.
On my left was Mr. Chris Johnson and on my right was Ms. Theresa Yakes and Mr. Bill Knesley.
Board President Malinowski took
attendance and conducted the Pledge.
Then Secretary Bernstein took us through THE PAGES OF THE NOTEBOOK:
The CRC Mission Statement, with which she began,
concludes, “The role of the CRC is to fact find and analyze information to
assist RFPD trustees into building a factual account and transparent report to
be prepared by counsel and presented to the community for review.”
So the end result of the
Committee’s effort will be a report that will be published and publicized. It was not clear to me how counsel would
accurately reflect the findings of the Committee, nor if the Committee would
have any editorial veto of the counsel’s report.
The CRC Guiding Principles include:
Take personal responsibility for the
quality of our community
Act with integrity, accountability and
in the best interest of all
Be inclusive, welcoming and open-minded
Interact with respect and civility in
all circumstances
Embrace a positive, forward looking
orientation
#4 “respect and civility” hereinafter R&C is
worrisome. It is often used by Social
Justice Warriors to impose Political Correctness, along with cries of
“inappropriateness.” But whatever,
man. I’m down with R&C.
Reading from the Scope of the CRC pages, Secretary Bernstein
quoted her own comments (advocating the creation of the CRC) from the board
meeting last July, “…I asked the question, where I could find copies of the
studies or assessments of the process leading up to the closing…Former Trustee Snoblin responded with, there are no studies, they do not
exist…I intend to answer the following questions in three Sections: Financial…Operations…Disposition of assets
and general review.”
The first three points listed for the
financial section were (1) What is the financial impact of outsourcing services
vs. what was established as the former Knollwood Fire Department, (2) what are
the current operating costs vs. prior to Oct. 2018, and (3) what will the
future costs be for the RFPD for the next 5 years?
I think this is crucial.
RFPD is not a community center.
It has no business spending the taxpayers’ money on “making Knollwood a
friendly, happy place.” It is a tax
district. Its sole mission is to provide
adequate fire & rescue for the minimal price. I think much of the festering anger flows
from a fundamental misunderstanding of what the RFPD is.
Reviewing the six-page RESOLUTION 2019-02 that
established the CRC, Member Grum (a different person
from Secretary Grum) noticed (on page 2 of 6) that we
would “research” the “termination of District employees.” She asked if they would be reinstated or if
we would initiate a lawsuit to have them reinstated. She was told, “We cannot answer that yet” and
was referred to the thumb drive that was included in our notebook that held an
audio recording of a special meeting of the board.
“Yet” is ominous. My
greatest fear is that we will spend our money to sue ourselves. If that happens then, win or lose, we lose.
At the time that the outsourcing was
being considered, the Rockland Board consisted of three appointed
trustees: President Rogers, Secretary Grum and Trustee Snoblin – the
Rogers Board. The first page following
the “background” tab of our notebooks is Trustee Appointment which observes that County
Board President Arron Lawlor, District 12 Representative Mike Rummel and District 13 Representative Sandy Hardt [sic] do
not live within the Rockland District.
Crimeny. Sandy Hart lives in the Lake Bluff house I
lived in for decades so she is our neighbor. When she was elected a year ago by the county
board members to be President of the Lake County Board, she became the first
Democrat to ever hold that office and she was elected by people of the Rockland
District. We were not told who prepared
the pages of the notebook, but whoever it was, that person was clueless. We really should get the spelling of proper
nouns right. I wouldn’t call this a
violation of R&C, it is just clueless, like the person who did it.
As to the appointment – trustees come from somewhere. If they are not elected, they are
appointed. Exactly what authority does
Clueless want to make the appointment if residency is required? Just who?
Of course the county board members whose
districts contain the RFPD should make the appointment. Who else? And what does residency have to do
with it? This is such a petty complaint
that it demeans the CRC to voice it.
In light of the
outsourcing, there was a movement to have the Rockland trustees elected instead
of appointed. That change required a
referendum that passed in April, 2017 though the
trustees would not be elected until April, 2019. (resulting in President Malinowski, Secretary
Bernstein and Trustee Anderson – the Malinowski Board.) The Referendum and Vote page of our notebooks noted
that prior to the referendum, Dan Rogers wrote to district residents to
influence the referendum. He wrote as a
private citizen (not as a board member) but he used an image of the Rockland
Fire Department logo that made the letter seems like official letterhead. Member Spath said
he investigated the use of the logo and determined that there was “no violation”
in its use.
Again, petty. If
this is a settled matter – the logo is a non-starter – then why bitch about it
now? If private-citizen Dan Rogers spent
a considerable amount of personal funds to express his opinion to his neighbors
on a matter of civic interest, isn’t that commendable? Isn’t that grassroots democratic
participation?
This complaint is not about civic engagement, nor is it
about the logo. It is simply a
smear. Clueless doesn’t like Dan
Rogers. Therefore
anything Dan Rogers does is cast as improper by Clueless. This is clearly a violation of R&C.
A year before the April 4, 2017 election
that included the referendum, on April 6, 2016, the Libertyville Fire Chief
sent an email to the Libertyville Village Manager that is explored on the Libertyville Fire Department
Chief Email page which notes that then-President of the RFPD Board Ed
Whitehead had no knowledge of his own pending replacement. Secretary Bernstein emphasized the two
questions at the bottom of that page: (1) How does the Fire Chief of a
neighboring town know that a board change is immanent? [sic] and (2) Further
why does he believe that the RFPD will approach for [sic] a proposal to take
over services?
I wonder how Clueless got out of middle school with such
lame spelling and grammar. Is this why
we pay counsel to write the final report – to clean it up? Regardless, as to matters of substance, what
is the accusation here? Is Clueless
implying some kind of conspiracy theory? And even if so, how does that bear on the
virtue of outsourcing? As President
Malinowski explained, Illinois has many line-items on the real estate tax bill and each has its own board. There is an entirely rational push to
consolidate those line-items. Debate is
necessary and good. Suppressing debate
is censorship, or worse: Political
Correctness.
Secretary Bernstein suggested that there
had been “inappropriate behavior” and Treasurer Snoblin
said that “it had never been discussed by the board.” Secretary Bernstein noted that Bob Grum was seated on the RFPD board on July 18, 2016. Member Johnson noted the Mr. Grum worked for the Lake Forest Fire Department and would
be acquainted with fire officials in neighboring towns. He further commented that he believed there
was nothing illegal about work-related communication between such
acquaintances, “just inappropriate.”
Secretary Snoblin said that President
Whitehead had reapplied but was ignored.
“Inappropriate” is nothing more than a way of saying, “You
didn’t do anything wrong, but I don’t approve.”
Fine. So
what is the CRC to do with that?
The Inappropriate Behavior page notes that “In the
Spring of 2016…Dan Rogers was already on the board” and “Robert Grum was appointed in May of 2016” but on April 15, 2016 he
had written an email to the Libertyville Fire Chief about meetings regarding
outsourcing which Secretary Bernstein characterized as a “violation of
trust.” The Libertyville Police and Fire Committee held
a meeting on April 19, 2016 at which the Libertyville Fire Chief discusses a
proposal to close the Knollwood Fire Department. The After Appointment page quotes
Secretary Grum at his first RFPD Board meeting on
July 18, 2016 describing his meetings with the Libertyville Fire Chief. Treasurer Snoblin
said Secretary Grum “basically lied about the nature
of the meetings.”
A “violation of trust” is a very serious accusation to
those of us who take “trust” seriously. So I would be very interested to know just where the
violation occurred. Specifically, why is
it surprising that the person appointed to the Fire Board is a fire
professional who engages with other fire people on fire topics?
The next page of our notebook contained
only the following statement, printed so large that it took the entire page:
The next two slides indicate proof that
Bob Grum and Dan Rogers are not working for the
Knollwood/Sanctuary Community They are appointed agents for the Lake County
Board
WTF. How could
Clueless possibly “prove” that Grum and Rogers are
“not working for the…community?”
This is reckless.
The words exude a seething anger that has no place in public
service. If there is “proof” then just
lay it out dispassionately. If not, then
STFU. The CRC of the RFPD is not the
place for emotional venting and it should not be tolerated. How did this get into print? Print so large that it took the entire page?
The next page (“slide”) Violation of Trust #1
draws conclusions about Secretary Grum’s meeting
described in an email of the Libertyville Fire Chief on October 28, 2016 and
his interaction with then-RFPD Board President Snoblin which implies that he
should have had prior authorization. The
Violation of Trust
#2 slide includes an email from (my nearby neighbor) Tim Hughes appealing to
county representatives to reappoint him to the RFPD Board and Dan Rogers’
reaction in an email chain of March 10&11, 2016 which the slide
characterizes as “suspect,” “unethical” and a “lie.” Treasurer Snoblin
commented that there were “50 emails sent to Lawlor” opposing Rogers
appointment.
Violation of Trust #1 contemplates prior
authorization. But as a duly installed
trustee he had independent authority and responsibility to research and inform
himself on board-relevant matters.
Indeed, he had a due diligence obligation.
This alleged “violation” is just Clueless working backward
from a conclusion to the precedent acts.
Having decided that outsourcing is a bad result, any act leading to that
result is also bad. The accusation is cruel and the application is illogical.
Violation of Trust #2 arises from Dan’s offer to “keep you
informed” because the recipient is not a District resident and, as Clueless
says, “Dan Rogers is supposed to keep the residents of Knollwood
and the Sanctuary informed.” So Dan is at fault for informing a non-resident? Yes, says Clueless: “This behavior by Dan Rogers is
suspect?” (I’m not sure what the
superfluous question mark is intended to do.)
(And then, Clueless misspells the county Board President’s
name.)
“2nd, how unethical can Dan Rogers be.” (Ah, so that’s where the question mark belongs. Middle school, Clueless.) “Dan, advises Rummel on how to lie” is a grotesque distortion of what was
written in the subject email. Perhaps
Clueless does not think that calling someone a liar is a big deal. Perhaps because Clueless is a casual
liar. But no fair reading results in a
conclusion that Dan is.
Both shrill and vapid, Clueless is in clear violation of
R&C. That Guiding Principle is
absent from the Background section of the 3-ring notebooks. Where’s the beef? We are left with only the bitterness of sour
grapes.
There was some discussion about the
changed work environment that anticipated the outsourcing and resulting
resignations. Member Johnson commented
on the IAFF union rules.
Still within the “background” tab of our
notebooks, Secretary Bernstein reached a page that read simply “Financial
Impact, proposals and contracts, future concerns.”
Proposal #1 Libertyville Fire Dept of July,
2016 and Proposal #2
Libertyville Fire Dept of January, 2017 represent internal discussion at
Libertyville, both less than $400 thousand p.a.
New Board President
Officially Discuses (sic) Consolidation cites a letter from President
Rogers on July 20, 2017 that reads, “The RFPD Board of Trustees is asking the
Village of Libertyville to submit an all
inclusive proposal to take over all fire and rescue
services…” Member Johnson asked if it
were an RFP and Treasurer Snoblin affirmed but called
it informal.
A formal Proposal #3 Joint proposal Libertyville and Lake Forest
Fire Dept is more than $500 thousand p.a. Member Grum
noted. Member Johnson observed that the
only feasible service providers are North Chicago, Lake Forest and
Libertyville, but not Lake Bluff, another volunteer department. Treasurer Snoblin
suggested that Libertyville did not have the capacity to service all Knollwood
without response-time impact and had to partner with Lake Forest.
A January 5, 2018 email from President
Rogers to the Libertyville Fire Chief presented in President Acts on his own requests return
to the lower-priced single-department-provider proposal. A January 9, 2018 email from the Libertyville
Fire Chief presented on To (sic) Expensive indicated a willingness to lower
the price. Secretary Bernstein asserted
that next year, the contract that is now in place will cost $515 thousand p.a.
though she did not say how she came up with that number. Treasurer Snoblin
said an Executive Session of the board was improperly held using the excuse of
“job related” which the attorney general rejected on February 2nd,
ordering the minutes and video released – presumably the thumb drive contents.
The RFPD President is haggling over price, and effectively,
as it turned out. But Clueless is
unhappy with both high prices and low prices, writing in “To (sic) Expensive”
“Libertyville and Lake Forest gave a fee for what they feel the service will
cost them. Why would they lower the fee
and keep it low.”
But also: “What
if they…raise” it? The reason that the
Open Meetings law allows Executive Session for discussion of pending contracts
is to protect people like Dan from people like Clueless.
The volunteer fire department of Lake
Bluff offered to merge with the volunteer fire department of Knollwood and to
meet on that topic March 19th giving rise to Potential Inappropriate County Influence. On March 6, 2018 President Rogers sent an
email to the two county board members writing, “You both represent the area and
I am inviting you to attend the meeting and discuss the proposal.” Lake Forest area representative Mike Rummel attends but Lake Bluff area representative Sandy Hart Declines.
Dan writes, “You both represent the area and I am inviting
you to attend the meeting and discuss the proposal.” Clueless frets, “…why would Dan Rogers invite
two Lake County Board members to this meeting?”
Merging the two volunteer departments is an alternative to outsourcing
that preserves local operations, so isn’t Dan doing what Clueless wants? “Does Dan Rogers have a clue what he’s doing?...How can we trust Dan Rogers to do the right thing
to serve the community?” The only thing
consistent about Clueless is that Dan Rogers is always wrong – damned if he
does, and damned if he doesn’t.
This is not helpful.
This does not direct the CRC toward “objective facts” nor does it
conform to minimal R&C.
Of the three Important Points, the one emphasized by
Treasurer Snoblin was that the RFPD Fire Chief was
not involved in the Libertyville (& Lake Forest) proposals; only with the
Lake Bluff merger. He also criticized
the public hearing at Gorton and noted that Secretary Bernstein had asked for
response time studies. Member Spath said there was no vote on the Lake Bluff
proposal. This marked the end of
Secretary Bernstein’s reading from the 3-ring binder.
Treasurer Snoblin
worried that the district would go bankrupt saying that three percent increases
were necessary just to break even. He
said that in ten years, there would only be $260 thousand left, not including
the disposition of the building. He said
that if we don’t increase the levy, we would go bankrupt. He said that Libertyville and Lake Forest
“knew what our levy capacity was” and “they priced it to break-even.”
These points are disputed on another page of these
notes. Fortunately, numbers are easy. We must remember, however, that projections
are not “objective facts.”
Treasurer Snoblin
continued, saying that “both models are financially viable” to which Member Spath responded “finance is not what this is about.” Treasurer Snoblin
observed that in and around the RFPD there are “too many departments and too
many [fire]trucks” but a limited number of firemen. Member Spath
inferred that if the volunteers of the Knollwood Fire Department are not
available to assist neighboring district, “everybody suffers” – a sentiment
echoed by Member Grum.
Treasurer Snoblin
said that in January 2018 the League of Women Voters urged the (appointed)
Rogers Board to defer any decision until the elected board (the Malinowski Board) was seated. Also, in August 2018, the Sanctuary
Homeowners Association made a similar appeal.
Members Grum and Stein grumbled that these two
bodies were “ignored.”
Member Spath
noted that “they say they didn’t do anything illegal” but went on to note that
the State’s Attorney is a Republican and “this was driven by Republicans” –
presumably President Rogers and Secretary Grum. He then went on to say something about
unfunded pensions and Republican coffers.
Perhaps encouraged by the tone of the background section of
our notebooks, Member Spath goes a bit astray
here. He prefaced his remarks saying, “I
don’t want to get political…” but that does not inoculate him from his own
words. Conspiracy theories, rumor
mongering and flat-out propaganda should be disqualifying by the R&C
standard.
The January 31, 2017 Chicago Tribune reported that the RFPD
attorney specifically addressed the absurd suggestion that some unfunded
pension of the Village of Libertyville will burden the RFPD contract. Only the most gullible among us could think
so. It is undignified for Member Spath to exploit their ignorance.
Member Stein asked, “Did we ever figure
out who was pulling the strings of Dan Rogers?”
He said that President Rogers said that he (Rogers) was “given this
assignment (to outsource) four years earlier.”
“When did you stop beating your wife?” That is the classical question used in law
schools to illustrate an assumed premise that is false – “assumes facts not in
evidence” as they say. I sat through the
whole CRC meeting and listened carefully.
I have read the whole notebook. I
am nobody’s fool. I am not aware of any
basis to believe that Dan Rogers is anyone’s marionette. Quite the opposite; he is his own man. It is unfair for Member Stein to imply
otherwise.
Secretary Bernstein asked us to read the
rest of the material in our 3-ring notebooks and President Malinowski set
Monday, January 20, 2020 for our next meeting.
Member Johnson expressed a wish for response time from ’14, ’15, ’16
& ’17. He and Treasurer Snoblin discussed how staffing in Lake Bluff changed in the
absence of the Knollwood Fire Department.
Member Spath noted that Lake Forest does more
to service Rockland than Libertyville, inconsistent with how the split their
fee. The meeting ended after an hour and
a half.