Meyer is given 6 extra months to study for the test...

So, this is not much of a surprise:  Meyer was granted a 6 month extension in order to make their case before the Village Board.  That's right:  6 extra months.  And you know when that meeting will most likely be?

July 3.

Yes, there is a board meeting on July 3 and Meyer now has to that meeting to plan for their presentation to the Village.  And what better time to ask the board to give them the ability to forgo paying fees to the village and mine an additional four years than the day before a national holiday when many residents will not even be in town?

Here's how the meeting went down:

First of all, the Village Administrator apologized for the "oversight" in not posting the agenda online.  Of course, I explained in the public comment section that this was not just an "oversight," but a pattern.  After all, the minutes from the December 6th meeting are still not available.  The Mayor later blamed this on the "archaic" website and not the people running it.  (For this website, I simply use "Google Docs" and can have things online---in any format---in a matter of seconds.  And its free.  Apparently, the Village of Cary hasn't heard of a thing called "google.")

Then, the mayor brought up for a vote the proposal to grant Meyer an additional 6 months extension.  Even though the Zoning Board made their recommendation, not all of the trustees were at that meeting and apparently hadn't read the report.    And it was clear that many did not know that they had 60 days to act on Meyer's proposal.

Sixty days would be January 10.  And, the mayor explained, with the "holidays and everything" there just wasn't enough time to plan that meeting.  Especially since they would have to get information out to the residents and post the meeting in the newpaper.

It was like the holidays snuck up on them.  

And then Mike Coppedge, this so-called lawyer our tax dollars pay for, decided to amp things up a bit by scaring the trustees to vote in a particular way.  He said that Meyer as the "petitioner" has a right to a fair hearing in front of the board.  He said that if they failed to grant Meyer the extension, then they would have to vote on Meyer's plan that night.  And that would not have been "fair" to "Meyer or the residents," he said.

So the vote was taken.  Chisholm voted yes.  So did Kaplan and Kraus.

Lukasik, Bragg and Dudek voted no.

Mayor Tom Kierna, Meyer Super Fan

It was a tie.

And here is the best part:  Coppedge then made a dramatic gesture to the Mayor, waving his arms in the air to attract the attention of the person taking roll, apparently intent on making sure that everyone knew the mayor had the tie-breaking vote.

Calmly and with a slight smile, Kierna voted "yes."  Done and done.  On to the next order of business.

Once again the residents got screwed.

Happy New Year, everyone.  See you on July 3rd for the next round.