Trustees donate almost $15,000 to Justice

[All the right moves]

Village of Justice's five trustees unanimously voted to adopt a resolution asking all elected officials of the Village of Justice to suspend their wages for the remainder of calendar/fiscal year 2010 as a means of demonstrating leadership and helping offset the budget deficit that the Village will face in the coming months.
Trustee Phil DePaola said the Village completed an analysis of its budget and concluded that there is “no quick fix” for the economic challenges facing the Village of Justice.
The resolution asked the Village’s elected officials, who are all part-time, to agree to voluntarily forgo their monthly wages in order to strengthen the public resolve to fight to improve the economy.
“We need to lead by example … this job can’t be about pay,” DePaola explained in presenting the resolution for a vote.
Each of the trustees, including newly installed trustee John Koslowski, voted to suspend their own pay. No one was forced to surrender their pay, the resolution was strictly voluntary. Mayor Kris Wasowicz, who is part-time and has been covering much of his office expenses through his wages and Clerk Kathleen Svoboda whose salary is her only source of income declined to participate.
“As we move into our 2011 budget and continue to have hardships, we need to address the financial issues facing our Village,” said Trustee Kinga Bartoszek, the primary sponsor of the resolution. Bartoszek, who was interviewed on WBBM AM Radio prior to the board meeting, said she hoped that not only would the move reinforce public confidence that the village board is serious about tackling the budget challenges but that it might also spread to other suburban communities.
“I think this is a good step for other suburban communities to take action and demonstrate leadership. As public servants we have to strengthen public confidence in good government. We were elected by the residents and entrusted to be good stewards of this Village's resources,” Bartoszek said.
Trustee Mary McGee also supported the resolution, saying,“I will participate. With the current economy and the way it has impacted families we need to demonstrate leadership.… Leading by example is a principle that I follow in my personal life.”
Newly installed Trustee John Koslowski told the board,“I feel we are here not for money but to make the village a better place to live. A lot of people in this village are willing to sacrifice and I am willing to do so too. We need to come together as a community and I believe this is a good move forward to strengthen that community spirit.”
Trustee George Pastorino also said he supports the resolution and agrees to suspend his salary, explaining “ We are doing the right thing. The Village needs some help now and Leadership is called for, that must start with us.”
DePaola emphasized that the move was not politically motivated nor should any judgments be made about officials who could or could not participate in the voluntary salary suspension.“Do not hold it against anyone who cannot do this pledge,” DePaola said.
The resolution will continue through the end of the Fiscal Year, Dec. 31, 2010.
Pastorino also responded strongly to one member of the audience who tried to turn the issue into a political statement, saying that the community members he has spoken to support the measure and believe the village is moving in the right direction.
“We’re doing many good things in the Village of Justice and we will not let a small handful of people who do nothing but complain derail the progress this village is making in order to move forward,” Pastorino said.
“We have a new trustee, John Koslowski, who has a long history living in Justice with his family joining our board. He brings with him his experience, his passion for this community and his enthusiasm that will help us move forward. We’re very proud of the direction and the achievements we are seeing. We need to continue to work together in order to move this Village in the next direction.”

[resident]

what a political stunt come on people wake up lets see kinga and sebastian like they need the money how much do they steal already from justice with towing repair work and body work. Depayola aka double dipper like hes not getting paid already and Mcgee they put her husband on the payroll. For the mayor and Kathy refusing i dont blame them didnt they get screwed enough already by kinga and company. Hopefully the residents wake up at election time because this is a joke!!!!!!!!

[Just sayin]

It's too bad that we have so many negative people living in this town like John small and company. Can't they just move out of town? They bring the property values down.

[learntolivetoget her]

A political stunt is the correct phrase here.

The present board is the one who got us into this mess and now they are playing martyrs and philanthropists at the same time,give me a friggin brake.
They have governed with fiscal irresponsability, they have not listened to the concerned residents that attend commitee meetings and board meetings on weekly basis.
I say they should start by eliminating the $56,000
salary that they are paying their office manager and the $12,000 a year they pay "the publicist".

My question though, is what do they expect to happen on January 1, 2011?? Obama's stimulus package?? I don't have a crystal ball, but I see this village going bankrupt in the near future.

Don't let these esurient politicians fool you when they say they are public servants, they're only looking to serve themselves.

[Banks here]

Are john small, rinkus, cookie and rusch good candidates?Last I checked these are all people noone wanted in office.

Rusch had his chance.kranig he was there.

Sparr, Jurgel, maruzak, and berkowiz they were all there.

Not sure who's left.

[John Q Public]

Interesting how everyone in this town falls into one of three categories:
1) A ruthless, manipulative despot who's always out to screw everyone. e.g. Kinga
2) A poor dupe who doesn't even know he's getting screwed by the above. e.g. Kris
3) An absolute waste of skin. e.g. Mike Murray
OR maybe it's just a convienent storyline for those on this blog who just love to complain, complain, complain.
No wonder this town is so backwards.
Are there bad apples in the town? Sure. Is everyone in the town a bad apple? Hardly.

[a resident]

Concern might describe what people are writing about here. The fact is the village is in extremely poor shape financially. They are at least 600 thousand dollars in the hole from revenue in based on statements made by Trustee Bartoszek. The are behind in payables to their vendors, they are not collecting payments due from certain contracts. They have created TIF3 and now TIF4 they are going to try to develop these areas by issuing bonds upwards to the tune of 30 million dollars or more. The taxes on those properties will not generate enough tax revenue to pay down the bonds and will bankrupt the village. The only ones benefiting from the delevopment will be the attorneys and the builder. The property owners will be left holding the bag for the difference.

Choice is yours. Get involved ask questions and watch the money or watch your village go down the drain and your property value with it

[North Sider]

Didn't Trustee Bartoszek and Fairman make campaign promises to donate their salaries back into the community when they ran for election last time? So really this should be a moot point as far as Trustee Bartoszek goes she should have been donating her salary back into the community as soon as she was elected.

Of course that happening the way it should have wouldn't get her free air time on WGN and a boat load of self promotion and the ability to grand stand this through the election when her seat is up in two years.

[time always tells]

It's ironic that the 'small group of people that complain' make the current administration so nervous that they have to take to topix, hire a media writer, blog, and go to all sorts of lengths to try to keep mentioning them and attacking them and give them lots of free publicity.
It's good to see that this "small group of people" are getting under their skin. If there wasn't anything going wrong, and if they weren't doing anything wrong, then there wouldn't be all of this protesting going on.

I guess at the very least the residents are benefitting from the uses of their tax dollars for this salary somehow! Someone might want to remind the current board about freedom of speech.
Oh wait, that's an amendment that they aren't too happy about the residents actually using- unless it's to their benefit but then again this town has practically been bled dry for their benefit you'd think someone'd hook a life support machine up to it and call time of death on the village already.

You know there aren't a lot of bad apples in this town. Just a bunch of worms for trustees!

[learntolivetoget her]

time always tells wrote:

It's ironic that the 'small group of people that complain' make the current administration so nervous that they have to take to topix, hire a media writer, blog, and go to all sorts of lengths to try to keep mentioning them and attacking them and give them lots of free publicity.
It's good to see that this "small group of people" are getting under their skin. If there wasn't anything going wrong, and if they weren't doing anything wrong, then there wouldn't be all of this protesting going on.
I guess at the very least the residents are benefitting from the uses of their tax dollars for this salary somehow! Someone might want to remind the current board about freedom of speech.
Oh wait, that's an amendment that they aren't too happy about the residents actually using- unless it's to their benefit but then again this town has practically been bled dry for their benefit you'd think someone'd hook a life support machine up to it and call time of death on the village already.
You know there aren't a lot of bad apples in this town. Just a bunch of worms for trustees!

Very well said, I'm sure 99.9% of the residents object to this wormy board taking the village on this ride of Titanic proportions.

There were very informed residents at the meetings they should at least have gotten a chance to be heard.

[GET A LIFE]

resident wrote:

what a political stunt come on people wake up lets see kinga and sebastian like they need the money how much do they steal already from justice with towing repair work and body work. Depayola aka double dipper like hes not getting paid already and Mcgee they put her husband on the payroll. For the mayor and Kathy refusing i dont blame them didnt they get screwed enough already by kinga and company. Hopefully the residents wake up at election time because this is a joke!!!!!!!!

Ohhh Yeah that right last time i looked all of them have a real job but the mayor and clerk. maybe if they got them selves a job that was not in the village they would participate in what all of the trustees are doing. When you say steal can you please show me proof since you now so much. Everything that the board does all you please do is just put it down. maybe they should do nothing like the past board did and you would be happy.

[out of options]

GET A LIFE wrote:

<quoted text>
Ohhh Yeah that right last time i looked all of them have a real job but the mayor and clerk. maybe if they got them selves a job that was not in the village they would participate in what all of the trustees are doing. When you say steal can you please show me proof since you now so much. Everything that the board does all you please do is just put it down. maybe they should do nothing like the past board did and you would be happy.

Until the board cut the Clerk's job down and salary several months ago that was her 'Real' job. The mayor's job is a part time job, which requires him to work more hours than the Trustees are required to work for their $600. Speaking of full time jobs one of our Trustees is already getting a village pension and working for the JWS water commission. He's already getting village money maybe he should offer back his village pension as a gesture of sincerity to show how he cares about the financial state of the village.

While what the board is doing is a nice gesture it is a very politically motivated gesture in an election year where Trustees McGee, Pastorino will have to consider running for re election. If newly appointed Trustee Koslowski elects to run then it will also be a nice PR item for him to campaign on.

The donation of their salaries are a thimble in an ocean of debt that the village is in.

In my opinion if they were sincerely motivated to do this out of care and concern for the village then Trustee Depaola the would not have called for an embarassing public vote as he did. That was tacky, crude and classless and all of the board members that went along with that should be embarassed.

If the current board can't handle the heat and maybe then they don't need to be sitting on the board when their terms are up. Maybe they should be working on the problems of the village instead of fishing for compliments on the internet.

Speaking of people that were on the "past board" that would be Trustee Bartoszek wouldn't it?

[GET A LIFE]

out of options wrote:

<quoted text>
Until the board cut the Clerk's job down and salary several months ago that was her 'Real' job. The mayor's job is a part time job, which requires him to work more hours than the Trustees are required to work for their $600. Speaking of full time jobs one of our Trustees is already getting a village pension and working for the JWS water commission. He's already getting village money maybe he should offer back his village pension as a gesture of sincerity to show how he cares about the financial state of the village.
While what the board is doing is a nice gesture it is a very politically motivated gesture in an election year where Trustees McGee, Pastorino will have to consider running for re election. If newly appointed Trustee Koslowski elects to run then it will also be a nice PR item for him to campaign on.
The donation of their salaries are a thimble in an ocean of debt that the village is in.
In my opinion if they were sincerely motivated to do this out of care and concern for the village then Trustee Depaola the would not have called for an embarassing public vote as he did. That was tacky, crude and classless and all of the board members that went along with that should be embarassed.
If the current board can't handle the heat and maybe then they don't need to be sitting on the board when their terms are up. Maybe they should be working on the problems of the village instead of fishing for compliments on the internet.
Speaking of people that were on the "past board" that would be Trustee Bartoszek wouldn't it?

.

Yes your correct let blame everything on Trustee Bartoszek i think she was on the board for 4 mths. Its all her fault!!!

[Banks here]

Is it true what people are saying about John small and Kathy?

I can't believe it.

[86th AVE here]

Banks here wrote:

Is it true what people are saying about John small and Kathy?
I can't believe it.

I cant believe it either.. what about his wife sue small? she should really change her last name is really isn't that small.. LOL :)~

[out of options]

GET A LIFE wrote:

<quoted text>.
Yes your correct let blame everything on Trustee Bartoszek i think she was on the board for 4 mths. Its all her fault!!!

Who is blaming EVERYTHING on one Trustee? It is the make up of the entire board. However if you keep saying it's the old board she's part of the old board pick a point and stick to it and stop being a flip flopper when the point can be bent to fit to suit your needs.

If you want to blame the old board for the problems then she's part of the sins of the old board.

You can't have it both ways. Which is what you're trying to do.

[cronies]

86th AVE here wrote:

<quoted text>
I cant believe it either.. what about his wife sue small? she should really change her last name is really isn't that small.. LOL :)~

More classy talk from the people's voice party.

Great to see our board and their classy supporters in action!

[Learnto live together]

time always tells wrote:

It's ironic that the 'small group of people that complain' make the current administration so nervous that they have to take to topix, hire a media writer, blog, and go to all sorts of lengths to try to keep mentioning them and attacking them and give them lots of free publicity.
It's good to see that this "small group of people" are getting under their skin. If there wasn't anything going wrong, and if they weren't doing anything wrong, then there wouldn't be all of this protesting going on.
I guess at the very least the residents are benefitting from the uses of their tax dollars for this salary somehow! Someone might want to remind the current board about freedom of speech.
Oh wait, that's an amendment that they aren't too happy about the residents actually using- unless it's to their benefit but then again this town has practically been bled dry for their benefit you'd think someone'd hook a life support machine up to it and call time of death on the village already.
You know there aren't a lot of bad apples in this town. Just a bunch of worms for trustees!

You know, it is ironic that they would use the Justice Forum on Topix.com when they have that dead wood publicist getting paid
$12,000 year to do the same thing. I would have to say that that example is why the village board has driven this village into near bankrupcy.

[Banks here]

Someone just called me and they heard about john small and Kathy. This is gonna be all over town soon.

[cronies]

Learnto live together wrote:

<quoted text>
You know, it is ironic that they would use the Justice Forum on Topix.com when they have that dead wood publicist getting paid
$12,000 year to do the same thing. I would have to say that that example is why the village board has driven this village into near bankrupcy.

They are using topix because no one uses the village blog that the taxpayer dollars is paying for. No one has been on it reading it or commenting on the articles because people see through them for what they are, biased, slanted and bordering on campaign material. If you attend a board meeting, then read the write up that goes up there after the board meeting you know that what goes up there is 110% different that what is actually happening.

Still I cannot blame the "media writer" he's collecting a check and doing what he's told to do.

I blame the board for hiring him, to date, for what seems to be the sole purpose of trying to make them look better to the public. What's the old saying about lipstick on pig?