Campton Hills board censures trustee

The Campton Hills Village Board majority voted to censure Trustee Janet Burson at its Jan. 7 meeting.

Trustee Jim McKelvie read a statement before vote, alleging that she leaked confidential information from closed meetings and abused appointed officials, creating a hostile environment for them.

Burson said all of the allegations are untrue.

“We are not attempting to limit your ability to achieve what you seek through your office,” McKelvie said. “But we will not allow a member of the corporate authorities of the Village of Campton Hills to engage in conduct which raises new potential liabilities, expenditures and compliance issues for our village. It is for this reason that the members of the board hereby censure you as a result of your actions.”

Trustee Ed Muncie said officials told her numerous times to stop.

“The list was three pages long – the list of infractions - which included much more than what was in that statement,” Muncie said.

“It is warranted,” Muncie said of the censure. “This is not a political attack at all.”

Burson responded that she never disclosed closed meeting information to anyone – and besides that – it isn’t against the law.

“There is no statute ... there is no village code, regarding the confidence of closed session,” Burson said.

At the Illinois Municipal League training they all took, it was made clear that village boards in Illinois are prohibited from censuring members for alleged violations of closed session confidence, Burson said.

“As it relates to what I may or may not say to other members of the board – I think I can say what I want," Burson said. “And I don’t think that you or any combination of members on the board are in a position to tell me what I can and can’t say. And in particular, there are no possible restrictions over what I can say politically outside of this room.”

Burson said the board has had some heated policy discussions.

“Policy disagreements, no matter how strong, are fair game in our meetings,” Burson said. “Personal attacks and petty political theater such as this are not...I will not be bullied out of a position to which I was elected by residents with a nearly two to one majority. And I will continue to do my work here.”

Campton Hills incorporated in 2007. This is the second time in eight years that its village board censured an elected official.

In 2016, trustees voted to censure then-Village President Harry Blecker because he spoke to the media about a closed session discussion.

At the time, Blecker defended his action, saying that when a public body goes into closed session citing the exemption of litigation, there actually has to be actual, pending, probable or immanent litigation.

And in that case, Blecker had said there was not.

At the time, Blecker spoke to the Kane County Chronicle about the board holding a closed meeting Sept. 28, 2016.

The closed session was not for any type of litigation, Blecker had said, but to discuss hiring an outside law firm.

The board did not release the three pages of infractions – not even to Burson – that night. But after officials initially denied a Freedom of Information Act request and the Kane County Chronicle filed a request for review, their attorney Carmen Forte changed course, released it and notified the Attorney General’s Public Access Counselor.

Larsen lawsuit, Planning and Zoning

Before Burson’s election as trustee in 2023, the village was suing resident Brian Larsen for more than $22 million over alleged zoning code violations.

Larsen is known for his Larsen’s Christmas Lights Show which he relocated to Pingree Grove.

The lawsuit has since been settled, but Village President Barbara Wojnicki said Burson went to Larsen’s property to talk to him after she was elected in April 2023.

“It was not right for her to go speak with him,” Wojnicki said. “She violated the trust of the board to do that”

Burson said when she went to Larsen’s property, she had not been sworn in and had not been part of any closed meetings.

As to the dissolving of the existing Planning and Zoning Commission and the creation of a new commission, the board kept two previous members and appointed five new ones.

“The only reason she was angry was because we didn’t include (her friend) in the new Zoning and Planning Board commissioners,” Wojnicki said. “She’s forgetting that decisions we make here are not for one or two people, but what is best for the village. ... She berated both the attorney and (Village Administrator) Mark Rooney.”

Burson said she spoke to Rooney and Forte before the meeting started.

“I spoke...in strong terms that I was upset and disappointed,” Burson said.

Rooney said he told Burson she was wasting her breath because neither he nor Forte decide these appointments.

“That was the gist of her anger. After the meeting, she made some pretty pointed comments about what (her friend) and she could do with social media to make my life and reputation unemployable,” Rooney said.

Burson said she was not upset just for her friend, but for throwing existing members off the commission.

“It was high-handed and disrespectful to our residents, Burson said. “We have 38 people serving on eight committees. ... They’re volunteers. It seemed to be a chilling effect on people’s willingness to volunteer.”

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on March 24, 2022, that a public board’s censure of another board member’s actions is protected speech under the First Amendment.