It's interesting how our Mayor now states " his organization is independent from the village " but he uses our TAX MONEY ( village employees during work hours ) to put together the functions of HIS charity ! This is so wrong on every level and if you watched the meeting last night his constant self promotion and need to always be the center of attention even joking about " Wigs " when the Cancer Support Center representative was explaining what services they offer . Hey Mayor they were talking about patients who have lost their hair due to cancer treatments and your joking about it was extremely disrespectful ! There are over 100 Charities in Mokena and they are all deserving so how do they get a check from you or get to use the same resources you do ? You use your position of Mayor and its powers to use resources others cannot and that's absolutely WRONG !

I tuned in late to meeting last night and I still cannot get it out of my head or figure out what was Mayor Werner talking about when he was standing up talking about his suit ? Why or how does he think its part of a Village Board meeting to ramble on about himself , It was really kind of weird ! Really Weird !

So it is made clear, all the Charities present last night are well deserving , dedicated community organizations who have nothing to do with the "Mayors abuse of Village Resources". There are also dozens of other deserving Charities in our Community and they should all have been included in this process ! Their exclusion by the Mayor is shameful !

After watching the December 10th Mokena Village Board Meeting, I'm CONFUSED. At some point in time our Village Counsel meetings have apparently been transformed into a talk show, hosted by Mokena's answer to Oprah, Mayor Joe Werner. While the work of the Mokena Mayor's Charity Foundation has always been commendable, the long-winded presentations by our Mayor merely serve to further his own self-aggrandizing agenda, and subsequently diminish the good deeds of the Foundation and its benefactor charities. It's also painfully obvious that our Mayor and Village Board have little "real" business to deal with, since Mayor Joe can pontificate relentlessly on his recent weight loss. The only thing missing from the weightloss monologue was the coaster wagon filled with fat-trimmings, "a la Oprah". If there's such a thing as a local cable access awards show, last nights meeting should surely be a contender for "Best Talk Show masquerading as a Village Board Meeting".

OMG , it looked like for a minute he was going to rip open his shirt and become " Super Joe ". That was pretty creepy !

Can someone explain what the Mayor is doing with Village Resources that nobody else can ? Is it allowable ?

As taxpayers we entrust out elected officials ( Mayor Werner and Trustees ) to use our tax dollars for the business of the Village and not for any pet projects or personal gain. We expect any deviation of this to be brought to us in a forethcoming and transparent fashion like a board meeting on the Agenda and open to discussion . We expect out officials to hold themselves to a higher legal and moral standard and be guardians of our tax money, but our Mayor seems to think he has a little "slush fund" using OUR money to promote HIS CHARITY using Village Employees , Equipment and Time . It doesn't matter that he gives monies raised to other Charities its obvious he does it to "promote himself and gain Politcal Mileage " and if you doubt this watch the Dec 10 th board meeting and watch the " Werner Show " . It would be so more genuine if a Charity were to come to a board meeting in the future and "Thank the Mayor " but he needs to control the propaganda and its blatant . Mayor you know residents are offended by your actions so JUST STOP !

To the PATCH STAFF , you can see there is a problem here with resident concerns of how their tax money is being spent and it seems a legal issue . There obviously is an Ethical Situation so take a look FOIA Documents and find out what the Mayors Charity costs the Taxpayer and find out if other Charities get the same opportunity ! The Mayor and Village Board and Attorney were asked in Aug. 2011 by letter and in Oct. 2011 ( Southtown Speak-Out ) statement "well before it would become a Political Issue "to please stop using our money in this fashion but its still going on ! The Mokena Mayors Charitable Foundation is an entity that should not be stained by inappropriate actions ! WE'RE WATCHING !

If "Mayor Joe" spent even 1/4 of the time he spends promoting himself, his pet projects/hobbies, etc. on promoting and growing our Village we'd probably have a tax base similar to that of our neighbors, Frankfort & New Lenox. Can't wait to see how much campaigning our "Mayor" does from his pulpit when the election season starts, in earnest!

Look at the " Golf Outing "Anna ,the Chili Party is a small event . You listen to a mayor who didn't openly disclose to you about the Consent Agenda being used to slip approval of the resource use through ? You had to call him again to have him be forthright about it ! Look at the Golf Outing ! It's your job to look into things , break a story !

Set aside the fact the monies raised goes to other local Charities who can easily be found and do not need a " CONDUIT " as he calls himself ! Also let him publicly explain at a Board Meeting how our other local charities can utilize these services , theres over 100 and we would probably have to hire a someone for the service !