HUNTLEY – Twenty-five days before Grafton Township’s first scheduled monthly meeting with its new officers, a special meeting was called on May 23 in the Grafton Township office on Vine Street in Huntley.
The second half of the meeting was held in private executive session to discuss “pending litigation and personnel involving the township.”
New supervisor Jim Kearns and the board of trustees dis¬cussed these matters for about an hour before returning to conclude the meeting.
Though the information from the executive session will be made public at a later date, much was discussed publicly during the meeting.
New officers of Grafton Township gathered for a special meeting on May 23. Much of the meeting concerned passing a new balanced budget, but a large portion was discussed in private executive session. (Mason Souza I Sun Day Photo)
The focus of the meeting was reviewing a newly balanced $1.27 million budget, which the board passed unanimously.
The current Grafton administration – the only returning member is trustee Betty Zirk – has inherited a township $224,000 in debt due to legal fees on lawsuits between officials and money owed to former Highway Supervisor Jack Freund.
With a balanced budget set, Kearns said the new administration can overcome their challenges.
“The world’s not coming to an end; we’re going to take care of this,” he said.
Part of the plan includes better management and organization of funds. A motion was passed early on to adopt Robert’s Rules of Order, a book on guidelines for holding public meetings.
Motions were passed to bring new staff on board, including the decision to hire a new township accountant and Kearns’ appointment of Joe Gottemoller as the township attorney. The new township budget calls for $87,000 to cover legal services and old legal expenses.
Kearns called for categorizing money in the General Assistance Fund as opposed to the “lump sum” plan used by his predecessor Linda Moore.
“We’re budgeting so that if people need for those reasons, we can give to them,” he said. “If they qualify, we need to be able to give it to them.”
A draft of Grafton’s 2013- 2014 budget can be viewed online at graftontownship.us in the public notices section of the clerk’s page.
