Tag: Groundhog Day

1. Although he has known since November that Mayor Knudsen did not violate the Faulkner Act, Councilman Voigt went after her publicly AGAIN.  He did it twice in December, and now he did it again.  Three times he has publicly accused the Mayor of illegal action after knowing that she did not break any law.  Three times.  This time he spiced it up by having a member of the public “innocently” lob a question about the alleged violation…….which then enabled Councilman Voigt to read (yes read) a lengthy (very lengthy) sermon that he had typed and prepared for just this moment.  Interestingly, but not surprisingly, Councilman Voigt did NOT address the question about how Mayor Knudsen allegedly broke the law (because she did NOT break any law).  Instead he sang the praises of the Financial Advisory Committee and various members and all that they have accomplished. Matt Rogers explained that he had given a legal opinion that no law was broken, no violation of the Faulkner Act occurred…..and he clarified that Councilman Voigt knew this in November.  Jeff flippantly said something along the lines of Matt Rogers’ legal opinion being exactly that, just an opinion.  Come on Jeff, do you think if you keep throwing this lie around it will eventually stick?   Guess what Jeff, it is bouncing back and sticking all over you.  You look ridiculous.  Worse than ridiculous, you look sneaky, nasty, and downright evil.  Mayor Knudsen, meanwhile, was the essence of grace, calm, and civility.

2. Rurik Halaby went to the microphone and accused the Mayor of evicting Roberta Sonenfeld from office, suggested that she violated the Open Public Meetings Act, and that she should be investigated for this.  Again……groundhog day……again it had to be explained to Mr. Halaby  by Matt Rogers that no laws were broken, that in fact a letter of resignation was received, and the procedure for accepting the resignation was correct.  Sigh . . . . .

3. And Mr. Halaby continues to call Mayor Knudsen “Mayor Kah-nudsen.”  It has been explained to him that the “K” is silent, he knows it full well, but apparently he thinks it is clever to be disrespectful in such a manner.  And he still loves his little catch phrases like “pandering to your base” and “vocalantis,” really, over and over and over.

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A few new things happened, too.  We learned that a motorcycle may be donated to our police force, a female firefighter’s hire will necessitate the construction of a women’s locker room at the firehouse, and Graydon Park annual passes will remain the same price (although day passes might go up).  Bylaws for every board and committee will need to follow a standard format, will need to be synced with the resolution that created them in the first place, and will need to be approved by the Village Council.  Some items that have the 1 and 2 recycle numbers can no longer be recycled – such as salad and bakery containers.

And we also learned that sometime last year Councilman Voigt asked a member of the public to have coffee.  Over coffee, Mr. Voigt asked Mr. Saurabh Dani to come to a public meeting and ask specific questions so that Jeff could then have the entree to give scripted answers.  Mr. Dani refused to play such an unethical game……but he spoke up about it tonight after witnessing the exact same scenario playing out between Jeff Voigt and Hans Lehmann.  He also called for the resignation of Councilman Voigt.

We could hear someone shouting from the audience toward the end of the meeting, but not exactly what they were saying.  He was shushed by the Mayor because he was out of order.

Wow, I wish I had gotten a babysitter tonight so I could have been there in person, but it was exciting enough from the comfort of my couch.