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Budget overage

 I have been working to get some transparency in out Village finances. The emails below show my inquiries into money that is unaccounted for.   I recently got a reply, but not all questions were answered, and the answers that I got are completely different from what the Village Administrator told the Board. Also, the new explanations still leave thousands of dollars unaccounted for. The ongoing vagueness and inconsistencies in this area raises red flags for me.       Granted, the current treasurer after almost 4 months is still sorting out the mess left by the previous treasurer, but we need a better accounting of taxpayer money than what we are getting. The Village Board is supposed to review the entire financial report once a month, but our financial situation has basically gone black since September of 2021, with no information at all coming forth until very recently, and the report that finally came out is still not accurate.      The situation is sounding so bad, that in my opinio
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What a Waste of a Yard Waste Site

  Someone asked the question on Nextdoor: “ I was wondering why the residents were not informed Before this was sold to Mitch King,? I feel the residents really did not have much of a say or input into this deal. The small area where what is now to be our waste site was all wetland and swamp. Are you going to eventually move the compost and mulch over to our site? “ Here is my answer: You are correct. The public barely knew about this sale. Actually, it turned out that the Village Board didn't even know about it half as much as we thought we did at the time of the approval of the sale. This was due to key information that was withheld from the Village Board by the Village Administrator and Community Development Director. When Mr. Paul Jaeger complained to Community Development Director Randy Fifrick about the secrecy surrounding the sale, and why the piece wasn't made available for sale on the open market, Mr. Fifrick's response was basically “because l
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Why is Mr. King Hauling Away Truckloads of Compost from the Village Yard Waste Site?

  The short answer to that question is this: The Village Board found little value in those many thousands of yards of compost on the Village Yard Waste Site property, and in 2021 they basically gave it all to Mr. King as part of a leaseback deal in which the Village needed to rent back from Mr. King part of the property that they just sold to him. I argued that at a minimum, the mountains of compost there was worth $20,000. I also argued in favor of the residents' having compost available for their own free use, and managed to get this included in the 5 year least agreement. Here is the longer story – Community Development Director Randy Fifrick, under Mr. Downey's supervision, advocated to the Board for the sale of the 38 acre yard waste site to Mr. King, who offered to buy the parcel in 2014. Negotiations went back and forth from 2014 to 2018, when the Board voted to sell about 30 acres to King, and keep about 7-8 acres to use as the new village Yard Waste
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(Un)Ethics in Kronenwetter- Why was this report hidden from the public?

    Update:   The information below was posted before the May 22, 2023 Village Board meeting. At that meeting President Voll delayed discussion on the issue, citing his personal confusion as to what this agenda item was to address.     I was prepared to present my reasons for clearing this issue off the Board's radar, and I believe Mr Vedvik was ready to discuss the issue as well, but as a courtesy to President Voll, we agreed to delay discussion and repost the item on the next Board meeting agenda so Voll could have time to get his act together. Below is the original post from May 22:        _________________________________________________________________    A group of about 8-10 core members apparently calling themselves "Concerned Citizens for a Better Kronenwetter" (CCBK) has made many vague and unsubstantiated claims, innuendo, and accusations of ethics violations against the Village Board for the past year or so, about ethics violations.     CCBK and it's appar
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My Ethics Complaint to President Voll March 4, 2021 - No Reply

  This is the text of a March, 2021 email to Chris Voll, complete with typos. A few notes for clarification are added and highlighted in  yellow. President Voll,    Below is the complaint against Mr Downey that he requested at the retreat that I  write up . I know it is a bit long, but the full narrative needed to be presented, along with evidence for all aspects of the complaint.       I have at least 3 other major complaints to make from 2020, in addition to one for this current handling of the Strand contract. They will come as time allows. While you can consider this information with his evaluation, I'm sure you'll realize that the nature and scope of this complaint goes far beyond the evaluation level.     I'm sending this complaint to you  to read through , and I’ll leave it for you to decide who you want to send it to, and how you're going to deal with it. As you’ll see, there is quite a bit more here than just ordinance violations.       Complaint and Informatio
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Jaeger's comments on "micromanaging"

     I have been running a clean, positive campaign, but I thought I had better briefly address  some of the opposition's dirty political tactics. Mr. Jaeger has addressed just the tip of the iceberg about the false "micromanaging" accusation. I will back up his comments with some not-so-pleasant truth. This may sound like political commentary, but it is actually meant as a public service, being what all Kronenwetter residents should know, no matter who gets elected. The following is what I have actually done and observed: Background on the 2022 implosion Over the past few years I have sent carefully documented complaints to President Voll about the former administrator's incompetence, dishonesty, and misconduct (this means illegal activity). Mr. Voll consistently did nothing but bury the information and/or shield the administrator from any kind of accountability whatsoever. In doing so, he often also covered up his own culpability in certain matters. Under
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Ethics in Kronenwetter –the Real Issues

  Ethics in Kronenwetter –the Real Issues by Ken Charneski There are two types of behavior currently being discussed at the APC committee which I chair, both under the heading of “ethics”. There are statutory ethics (improper personal gain or advantage) as one type. Then, there is the more subjective personal behavior kind of ethics which is not ethics at all, but simply an individual's behavior that someone else wishes to determined as unacceptable. The t rue statutory ethics violations can always be reported to the police for prosecution, which to my knowledge has never been done, or had reason to be done in this Village. There is a basis for enacting that kind of Ethics Code, though past experience shows that it is easier said than done. The Problem The problem with a proposed enforceable personal conduct kind of ethics, is the question of the ethics and integrity of those who would presume to enforce it . There is a small group (about 8 c
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