God Bless our Veterans and their Proud Service to our Country and I Honor you for your Service and Sacrifice ! I do have a question for the Mayor though , are any other of the more than 100 worthwhile Charities in Mokena allowed the use of Village Resources/Employees/Tax dollars to promote their Events ? No matter how well intended the Mayor is using his position for a private event and that's wrong .

The Mokena Downtown Merchant's Association is collecting for OPERATION CARE PACKAGE for the troops The collection location is MOKENA U HAUL/STAR SPANGLED SALES AND DAVE'S AUTO SALES AND SERVICE,11120 Front Street,Mokena,Ill. 60448 -- 708-479-9619 The list of acceptable items is available at that location. All contributions will be readily accepted.

The Golf Outing , Carnival and his other events over the years have used Village Resources and Employees , I don't believe you are supposed to commingle Tax Dollars and private Entities especially when you have " INFLUENCE " over the resources being utilized ! The Tax Dollars belong to all the residents and to use them in this fashion is wrong regardless of the Intention ! Lets ask all the Charities you the Patch listed in your " Mokena's Favorite Charity " column to call the Village and ask for equal time and resources ! The Mayor cannot pick and choose who gets this access and he uses it for his Political gain ! IT'S WRONG ! I will be making a Donation to a local Veterans Organization as its the right thing to do , but the Mayor is tainted by his abuse of Tax Dollars .

The last sentence of this article directs anyone with questions regarding entering the chili contest, etc. to contact the Mokena Village Hall for more information. Based on this statement, I think the indivual answering the Village Hall phone is an employee of the Village and not the Foundation; therefore it does seem that Village resources are being used further Foundation efforts. I'm relatively certain that if the Knights of Columbus or the American Cancer Society asked that information regarding their events be provided by Village Staff on a Village phone line, the answer would be NO.

Why then did the Mayor have the board approve the use of Village Resources under the Consent Agenda at the November 12th Board Meeting if he doesn't use Village Resources for " His Charity " ? I also think he did it prior to " His Golf Outing " in August ? Did he tell you he did this when you asked him about my concerns ?

A Village Resource such as phone doesn't answer itself nor does a website program itself , a Village employee paid by Tax Dollars ( funds ) is registering participants taking these calls and taking time away from their responsibility to the Taxpayer. This is wrong and the Mayor knows it and thats why wasn't he forthcoming and tell you ? Look further there's much more !

Please accept I'm not trying to diminish the value of supporting our Honored Veterans ,nor am I'm I saying you are not looking hard enough , I'm just trying to show the impropriety that exists here and give you information ! The Mayor is not being Honest !

the wounded warrior is a worthy I won't be at thw cook out but would encourge all the good folks from Mokena to donte directly to our warriors.

Anna Schier have u gone away ? Please don't turn a blind eye ,ask the questions , file the FOIA documents and find out where abuse of power/authority starts ! The Mayor has already given u the reason by not being forthcoming ! Look into this !

He has not offered it to others publicly ! Lets see him make a statement at a Board Meeting inviting the more than 100 Charities the use of Taxpayer Funded Village Resources ! This has been going on for years and ask him why " His Charity " does not just have a Spokesperson come to a meeting like everyone else does and during Public Comments explain the Fundraiser ! No matter how worthwhile the Charity " HIS " money goes to its absolutely wrong to use tax dollars ford this purpose . Imagine an employee who doesn't agree with what is being done saying they don't want to participate ? The Mayor uses " Undo Influence " because of his position and that's wrong ! This was always done on the Sly until they were called out on it ! The Chili Party does a great thing for the Veterans but it should use the same procedure as other groups holding functions in town ! Don't believe his statement it's offered to EVERYONE that's far from the truth , do other Mayors use Tax Dollars to promote themselves ? He's front and center for the whole process and gains POLITICAL benefit from this ! WRONG from start to finish !

Find out why they had to put it on the Consent Agenda recently ? Why wasn't a full motion made by a Trustee ? It was not done like that so it would not stand out and get noticed !

Thank You ! Transparency in Govt. is crucial when Tax Dollars are in play especially when those that control it use it for their purposes . The village lawyer was notified of this practice last year but it continued , maybe because the Mayor picks her ? :)

Any news on the consent agenda question ?

Anna Schie, r it is incredible timing with questions regarding the use of Tax Dollars to promote " The Mayors Golf Outing and Other Events " , check out next Mondays meeting agenda and then attend the meeting and watch "The Show " he puts on . Again the Charities are very worthwhile and deserving, but the Mayor TAINTS the process using "OUR TAX DOLLARS " to promote HIMSELF ! He had been hiding this from the Taxpayers for years and until recently after being called out on it he sneakily included it in the Consent Agenda portion of a board meeting ! Why did he hide the truth ??? Why ?

Anna , please call the Attorney Generals Office / Public Integrity Unit and ask them ? ( 312/814-1134) The village phone doesn't answer itself and the " Resources " you mention are paid for using our "Tax Dollars". I'm disappointed you don't see the conflict here , they have HID this practice and that should make you want to see more ? Ask the mayor to make a "PUBLIC ANNOUNCMENT " at a meeting informing that any and all Mokena Charities and Non-Profits can use the Village Resources to promote ,announce , register and then celebrate the event at a village board meeting afterwards ! The BGA finds this a concern too !

Pam Zekman , Dane Plako , Mike Flannery , Dave Savini and Anna Schier ! Find the Truth

Anna put Fox News on now , Dane Plako is interviewing a Mayor who uses Village Resources ! 9:10pm

To the best of my knowledge any OTHER Mokena organization gets nothing more from the Village than an announcement during the Village Clerk's Community Calendar and a 15 or 20 second slide announcement on Channel 6. I'm confident that NO OTHER organization other than the MMCF can have Village Staff take phone calls, photos,etc. for their event/s. it's time for OUR Mayor to realize that using taxpayer dollars for self-promotion is unacceptable.

Any resident ( Tax Payer ) reading this should call any and all Charitable Group their affiliated with and have them let Village Employees paid with Tax Dollars take calls and registration for their groups ! The Mayor controls all of this and he has hid its actions for years using it to promote himself , you should all watch the board meeting ( or better show up ) and watch the Big Show he puts on during a Village Board Meeting giving out the checks from "HIS PRIVATE GROUP" during a meeting that is for Village Business ! OUR BUSINESS !

Again to reiterate , the PATCH ran an article about choosing "your "favorite Charity in Mokena and I believe there were over 75 listed but only a select few chosen by the MAYOR ( all good organizations though ) receive the "MAYORS" check each year ? If your one of the other Charities call and ask for some of the money ! PATCH ,'please post all the Charities and Non-Profits within out community please !