Audit shows big trouble

The long awaited 2008 Brookfield audit has finally appeared, eight months into the next fiscal year. It would appear that the campaign crowing about how timely they prepare this document is at an end.

The financial condition of the village of Brookfield is worse than what was predicted by some forward thinkers. Bankrupt! Unreserved funds in the general fund at 2008 year end were at a negative $93,314. Does anyone remember the statement made in March, 2009 by Trustee Kit Ketchmark, financial liaison, that there was $3.1 million in the general fund? No wonder we are in trouble.

At the end of the 2005-06 fiscal year, Brookfield had $2.8 million in its general fund. In four years, this has disappeared. Some of this eroding of Brookfield's reserves has no doubt been due to the downturn in the economy, but people have to take a long look at the management of our village for further answers.

The lack of a finance director from 2006 to 2009 showed gross negligence by the village officials and to quote the Landmark newspaper (May 12, 2009), "Mainly, there wasn't a whole lot of direction given by this board, which has in the past couple of years become incredibly docile in the face of increasing financial pressures and there seems to be an apparent lack of concern over how the village got into this predicament."

This statement points to a definite failing and lack of oversight by Brookfield's officials.
The village of Brookfield seemed to purchase or pay for anything that came down the pike. Every alley paved cost the village about $25,000 in legal and engineering fees.

While it is desirable to accept grants, most come with a matching contribution by the village. You can go broke getting grants. The purchase of new cars for the code department would be a prudent expense if we had the money. Raises and questionable positions at the upper management level and Public Works Department are also extravagant; laptop computers for everyone, closed circuit TVs in the courtroom, the list goes on and on.

All expenses that in a perfect world could have been desirable, but as we all know, you have to live within your means. I was at most of the village board meetings that approved these expenditures. The lack of discussion was shocking. At the Feb. 23, 2009 village board meeting, I asked what the balance in the general fund and was told around $900,000, clearly a guess.

Sure, it's easy to say now let them do their job, but it is incumbent upon the citizens of Brookfield to demand accountability and answers. It is your money. Now, with no cushion in the general fund, the only alternatives are to issue tax anticipation warrants, borrow more from the bank, reduce village services and increase fees. Unfortunately, all of these result in added cost or inconvenience to us the residents. Maybe some will now see that the emperor has no clothes.

Wilfred Brennan-
Brookfield

Mixed signals being sent by the PEP Board
February 25, 2009

If you looked at the Agenda for the Brookfield Committee of the Whole meeting February 23, 2009 you may have noted that there was an item on the agenda titled IV- Line of Credit Extension. This was initially discussed as a need to renew the line of credit that the Village of Brookfield has at the 1st National Bank of Brookfield. The recommendation was to renew it for 1.5 million at an interest rate of 6%. The discussion then expanded to include a $25,000 buy out to induce employees to retire early, a 5 day unpaid furlough for employees, removal of the clean up week pick up and other cost cutting measures. These drastic measures have a huge impact on the Village and its residents; it is unfortunate that they were not included on the agenda as topics of discussion. There are many residents that view the agenda on-line or stop at the village hall to obtain a copy of the agenda. It’s a shame that residents will have to read about this in the paper, if at all. But, maybe that was the intent.

Interestingly, the next item on the agenda was to renew the contract for contract mowing of grass in the village. If the village is in such dire financial condition, why would it spend money for something that can be done in-house? They will tell you that the Public Works employees make too much to have them cut grass, but when necessity calls, the ends justify the means.

The questions that beg answering! Why did the Village Manager get a $10,000 raise in the face of this looming financial crisis? How much did his assistant get? They were both rewarded for the Library Levy boondoggle. Why are we paying for the Village Managers dues to an alumni Association? How much did it it cost the Village for the catered breakfasts for the staff on Tuesday Mornings? How much does it cost for lunches (out of town) on credit cards? Why did the Village re-hire the planner that quit in the midst of a hiring freeze?

Newcomers for trustee on VIP slate Zoning board member, veteran among candidates for office By BOB UPHUES Editor Brookfield's VIP Party announced the remainder of its 2009 slate via e-mail and online video over the weekend. With a pair of political veterans, Wil Brennan and Bill Russ, already on the ticket as the party's candidates for president and clerk respectively, the three trustee candidates are all new. The candidate who may be the best known of the three is Leanne Digan, who has been a member of the Brookfield Zoning Board of Appeals for several years. Her running mates for trustee will be Richard "Dutch" Kostelnik, an Army veteran who served both in Afghanistan and Iraq in 2006-07, and Timothy W. Heilenbach. Both Digan and Kostelnik appear in a video announcement of the VIP slate, which began running late last week. Digan called for the village to spend its money more wisely and decried the one-party rule of the current PEP-dominated board, saying board members should be "more representative of our residents here in Brookfield." Meanwhile, Kostelnik said in the video that he is a lifelong resident of Brookfield and had served many years in Chicagoland chambers of commerce. He said he wants to leverage the popularity of Brookfield Zoo as a major regional attraction to help improve business in Brookfield. Heilenbach does not appear in the video. However, in the final segment of the video, which appears to introduce the slate as a package, former trustee Linda Stevanovich is present. When asked if there was a late switch in fielding the slate, John Gallagher, VIP's nomination chairman and vice president, said Stevanovich was never part of the slate. "She was just there when they were filming it," Gallagher said. "It was incidental." Brennan laid out two major themes for VIP's campaign in his segment of the video, saying he had "serious apprehensions about the direction that our government is taking us." He characterized Brookfield's spending as "spiraling out of control" and called village staff salaries "excessive." Such a combination, Brennan said could lead to a loss of services and tax increases. The salaries of village management were a key issue during the 2007 election, in which Brennan and Russ both ran as candidates for trustee. Another issue that surfaced in that campaign-that village staff were impersonal and treated residents with a "my way or the highway" approach-is part of the 2009 campaign as well. Russ, in his video segment, called the VIP platform one that will "bring back common sense to village government."

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