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Why is this News to Our Village CAO or Attorney?

Writer's picture: Tricia BabischkinTricia Babischkin

One of the big things that has happened this past week was our CAO got a response from her request of the State's Attorney's Office to investigate Trustee Bryan Younge for harassment. Shockingly, it wasn't a simple "no, we decline to investigation" -- it was a "NO, we don't do that!"


So -- here's my question, we spend a LOT of money for a village attorney. I know from reading the bills that CAO Smith is essentially on the phone with Mr. Smoron daily. So, don't you think that at some point in all that time, he'd mention to her that what she's asking the State's Attorney's office to do isn't what they actually do? Why does this seem like a reasonable conversation:

CAO: Hey, Michael, I think we need to have Younge investigated because he's annoying the Trustees. Do you think I should send a letter to the State's Attorney for that?
Mr. Smoron: Well, you could, but it won't do much good -- since that's not their job. I'd suggest if you think he's committed a crime that you report it to the police department INSIDE YOUR OWN BUILDING.

Now, had this been the conversation, my respect for Mr. Smoron might have gone through the roof. However, I'm not entirely sure that CAO Smith even asked him about this idea -- since he mentioned in the last board meeting we had that he received the packet on Friday to review and had not seen some of the pieces that related to Trustee Younge. It was in that statement that he basically ensured that his legal firm would be the prime beneficiary of the issues between the board and Trustee Younge by basically requiring him to FOIA every single thing he needed from the village -- all at an amazing profit to the law firm of ZFRM.


But back to CAO Smith -- one must ask where did she get the idea to write a letter accusing a sitting Trustee of harassment to the State's Attorney's office? If we assume that Mr. Smoron knows the limits of the office, we can assume that he'd have advised against this truly odd move. So, who and at the end of the day, one must ask why and what was gained other than wasting time, money on legal bills, and a little grandstanding at a meeting?


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Tricia Babischkin
Tricia Babischkin
Aug 20, 2020

Yes, the Trustees voted for that letter to be sent to State’s Attorney’s Office. Amy Odom voted Nay and Bryan Younge was not called on to vote.

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chain7604
Aug 20, 2020

Refresh my memory. Did the trustees vote to have the letter sent to the State's Attorney to investigate Trustee Younge? If so, who all voted yes?

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On May 4, 2020, the news published video of a disturbing altercation in front of Village Hall. Appalled and outraged, I decided I needed to learn what happened. From this beginning, I built this to be able to share the truth behind the allegations, to sort fact from fiction, and ultimately shine the light into the inner workings of village politics.

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