Public hearings on local government budgets are usually quiet affairs. Few show up, fewer still ask questions.
In the realm of things, it’s definitely not routine for a public official from one unit of government to ask questions of another.
But that has happened twice in two weeks at River Forest Township meetings. The first was the recent River Forest Township educational forum. The second was during the public hearing on the River Forest Township’s 2014-2015 budget on May 20.
In both instances, the public official asking the question received a curt response from a township trustee.
During the educational forum it was River Forest Village Trustee Tom Cargie. During the budget hearing, it was Molly Hague, president of the River Forest Park District. The township trustee was Anna Marie Romeo, who told Hague to put her questions in writing.
Five or six people attended the May 20 meeting excluding Hague. She was the only one to query the township.
Here’s Hague’s account. The afternoon of the meeting she emailed Township Supervisor Carla Sloan to get a copy of the budget. She compared this year’s and last year’s and prepared a list of questions.
As Sloan, who was chairing the meeting, started going through highlights of the budget, Hague asked about the deficit reflected in the budget and how it would be covered (expenses for the current fiscal year would be $671,254; income would be an estimated $558,000; the deficit would be $113,254). Sloan told her that cash reserves would cover the shortfall. Information about the cash reserves was not part of the budget that Hague received, but was on another sheet that was available at the meeting. Hague said she was fine with that issue.
Hague then asked why the legal services budget had gone from $16,000 to $27,000. There was no response from Sloan or any other township trustee.
She asked one other question – why the township couldn’t outsource its building management – and proceeded to ask a second question on the Opportunity Knocks non-profit which is a tenant at the River Forest Community Center. It was then that Romeo said Hague had to put her questions in writing; she said that not once but twice, Hague said.
Hague said she would. She sent her questions off to Sloan Thursday afternoon. She asked that they be included as part of the minutes of the May 20 meeting.
Hague was indignant about what happened. “Shouldn’t they be accountable,” Hague said. “If people come to the park board budget hearing with specific questions, staff will answer them immediately if they can. If someone asked a question about why costs went up so much for something, we would answer it immediately.”
That’s what would happen at an Oak Park Township budget hearing as well, according to its manager. It’s rare when people show up and rare that they ask questions, said Gavin Morgan, township manager. But when people come to the meeting and ask simple questions, such as what does this number mean, the question is answered, he said.
If it’s a complicated question, residents will get their answers in a day or two. Sometimes people will ask questions a day or two in advance and they get the responses during a meeting, Morgan said.
The last time he remembers that there were a lot of questions asked during a budget hearing was in 2009. The person making many of the queries was Ryan Christian Vaskovsky who ran for election against current supervisor David Boulanger.
“We don’t require them in writing. We’re very open to answering questions that anyone has at any time,” Morgan said. “Typically board members will thank someone for their input or tell them they will take that under consideration.”
After several calls and email, Sloan, in an email, said she preferred to respond to questions about the budget in writing.
