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Trustee Larry Gomberg's Comments Made During the October 8th Village Board Meeting
The following are my comments concerning the $1,150,000 acquisition of a municipal government facility made during last night's village board meeting.
"I have various objections to this purchase. For one, I have never seen the property, nor was I invited to see it. I don't know many people who would buy any structure sight unseen for $1,150,000. Two, no second reading in two weeks is required here. The board received all the legal documents involved in this purchase three days ago and a vote is asked for this evening. I certainly was not given ample time to leaf through the details of this purchase and ask the pertinent questions needed to give an informed vote. But, what is equally as important, and possibly more important, no public input was asked for on this issue."
"Also, how does this purchase compare with other proposed expenditures in the 2013 budget? I don't believe this board will see the budget until later this month. Yet we are asked to vote on a project tonight without being able to decide if this project is more or less important than other long term infrastructure needs which might be contained in the 2013 budget."
"Less than 2 months after this chamber was crowded with people demanding answers to why we took action on what they felt was a controversial project, we are now asked to cast a vote concerning a project costing in excess of $1,000,000 with no public input and only an online story by the Morton Grove Champion today concerning the proposed purchase."
"Mr. President, you have said in the past that the people of Morton Grove are still feeling the effects of the recent recession. In fact, according to Yahoo Homes, we still have 176 foreclosed properties in our village. But here we are, ready to spend in excess of $1,000,000 on a municipal government facility with no public input. I ask you, is our due diligence to the community limited to an online story in a local newspaper on the day of the vote?"
"Mr. President, instead of simply hanging a $1,150,000 tab on a still unsuspecting public, maybe we should have informed the public of our intentions earlier than today when this online story appeared in the local press, ask for opinions and then develop a cost/benefit analysis of this purchase. Absent that, I will do my own analysis and conclude that the cost of losing crediblility with the community is greater than the benefit of spending this large amount of money under the circumstances I have stated."
"Thank you."
grandpa
3:36 pm on Tuesday, October 9, 2012
Trustee Gomberg you put a rather interesting spin on what happened here. If I didn't know better, I would think you were trying to find an issue for your mayoral campaign. But, since you seem to be enamoured of asking questions, perhaps you can answer a few;
1) Where were you over the past eight or so years when the subject of needing to upgrade the police station facilities came up?
2) If you agree that the police station needs an upgrade and you do not agree with the purchase of this property, what is YOUR plan to fix the problem?
3) Considering that legal issues, personnel and real estate are discussed in closed sessions, are you claiming that this issue was not discussed before the past week.
4) Having been a part of village government for more than 4 years, can you share how many times any administration "shared" information about properties under consideration for purchase?
5) You have apparently worked in the real estate business for a time. Are you telling us that it takes you more than three days to read and digest a 4 page real estate contract?
Since your new-found voiced concern strangely coincides with your mayoral campaign I submit that your credibility as well as your motives can be questioned.