LITH Officials Should Pay Village Back $11,000: Rep Skillicorn

LAKE IN THE HILLS, IL — Lake in the Hills officials are under scrutiny after spending over $11,000 during a three-day municipal conference, according to reports, and one state official said officials should reimburse the village.

Rep. Allen Skillicorn, a Republican from East Dundee, said "For a conference and a banquet so close to home, the idea of staying in a luxury hotel versus taking the train doesn't seem appropriate to me," according to the Northwest Herald. The nine LITH attendees of the conference, seven elected officials and two employees, stayed at the Hilton Chicago Hotel, and spent the $11,071.50 on registration, food, transportation and hotel room costs.

Registration fees were $2,790, the Herald reported. The attendees were Village President Russ Ruzanski, Village Clerk Crystal Ulen, Finance Director Shane Johnson, Village Administrator Jen Clough and Trustees Stephen Harlfinger, Ray Bogdanowski, Bob Huckins, David McPhee and Suzanne Artinghelli.

On top of the registration fees were $7,156.80 in hotel rooms a over $1,000 on parking, half of which was on hotel valet parking. Clough said valet parking was the only parking left for some.

Clough said four elected officials were new, so costs were higher due to a larger number of people. "They are responsible for making important decisions and setting our policies and budget, and they need expertise and education to do so," she said, according to the Herald.

"This is a conference this board attends for its training and education. We don't go there to waste the taxpayers' money, we go there to learn how to be a better trustee and a better steward for this village," Huckins said. "I have no problem paying back $1,000, but the benefit that I gain from that is more than $1,000 that was spent by this village."

The conference is designed to train municipal officials on budgeting, risk management, zoning codes and other topics necessary for running a town.

Skillicorn said he use to handle transportation and hotel costs himself when he was an East Dundee trustee, the Herald reported.

According to the Herald, Cary sent three people for under $1,000 and Algonquin sent one person, costing the town a total of $330.

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