Former Trustee Discusses Reasons Behind Her Resignation

HOMER GLEN, IL — When Homer Glen Trustee Ann Holtz shared her resignation on social media April 30, she cited a difference in vision for the village. In her letter of resignation, Holtz said she felt strongly about the latest extension of Gov. J.B. Pritzker's stay-at-home order.

Patch reached out for more details from Holtz and the reasons behind her resignation.

"There has been a pattern of negativity towards me, and a dismissive nature with regards to anything I raise as a suggestion or idea," Holtz told Patch. "This whole debacle is just the latest."

Holtz disagrees with the extension of the stay-at-home order in Illinois.

"I did not and do not think the village should be enforcing the order based on the fact that it is clear in the Emergency Management Agency Act that the governor is limited to 30 days of powers," Holtz said.

She said she tried to raise the issue of enforcement of the order during the village board meeting April 22.

"We discussed the topic a bit, though the comments by the other trustees were not on topic, and frankly I had to repeat my question of setting the policy three separate times," Holtz said.

Holtz wanted to schedule an emergency board meeting before May 1 (the day the order was extended) and discuss setting a policy on enforcement. Holtz said no meeting date was set to discuss the policy.

"The voters and business owners have a right to hear their elected officials viewpoints and perspective and how it applies to setting such a policy," Holtz said. "It is the job of the board to set policy and enact laws pertaining to village operations."

Instead, Holtz said Village Manager Karie Friling shared an email with the board about legal advice and protocols for handling the enforcement of the stay-at-home order.

"It is the board's JOB to set policy," Holtz told Patch. "Not the village manager and attorney."

Holtz said she read that email from Friling and immediately wrote her resignation letter.

"There have been several occasions where the mayor has been disrespectful or made assumptions and accusations. I do not want to put up with this anymore, nor do I want to be a part of operations that are handled routinely the way they are," Holtz told Patch. "I'm wasting my time and energy. I am hopeful that my resignation will raise awareness to the residents that they need to become more engaged with what is going on, start attending meetings or watching the video coverage, and become more vocal and interactive with trustees."

While the stay-at-home order was just the latest issue, Holtz also cited Heritage Park, support for businesses and the finances of the village as reasons for her resignation.

At its April 8 meeting, the village approved moving $700,000 in surplus from the general fund to the park and recreation fund. Holtz said this was done in order to achieve the $6.3 million needed for the next phase of Heritage Park.

"I was the sole holdout to both the fund transfer and the inclusion of the $6.3 million in park spending," Holtz told Patch. "I feel the optics are horrible — at this time of economic shutdown and record unemployment, and no way to accurately predict what are revenues for the fiscal year would even be, how on earth to we justify spending $6.3 million on a park, all the while not do more to help our businesses stay afloat? I felt it was incredibly fiscally irresponsible."

Holtz also took issue with a discussion at the March 25 meeting, when the board was talking about the Keep the Lights On program and discussing waiving liquor license fees to help restaurants affected by the closures.

The discussion quickly turned heated when Mayor George Yukich, who owns an auto repair shop, and was in favor of waiting to see if they should waive fees, said, "I have a business too," and added that he was also currently shut down.

"Auto repair shops are not shut down from the essential order from the governor," Holtz during in the meeting.

"Don't tell me how my business works," Yukich responded, before banging his gavel, turning to Holtz and saying, "Enough."

"I was stunned at this," Holtz said. "After a few seconds of thought, and not wanting the situation to get worse. I got up and left. I never finished my thoughts on the Keep the Lights on program and the fact that it excludes home based businesses. Obviously I regret the decision to leave, but I was not going to sit there and be treated that way simply for stating the truth."

When Patch reached out to Friling and Yukich for a statement about Holtz's resignation, Friling responded saying, "The mayor has accepted Ms. Holtz's resignation and wishes her well in the future. He will be discussing her replacement on the village board with the other trustees and an appointment is expected in the coming weeks."

"I know for a fact a lot of meetings are held behind the scenes and quite frankly, by the time an item is on the agenda for approval by the board, a consensus has already been reached," Holtz said. "The actual vote, in my opinion, is just for show. True open discussion is not taking place. And if you are in the minority, you have no chance of reversing this course."