How does East Dundee move past recent board battles?

Near the end of last week's East Dundee village board meeting, the six trustees and Village President Jeff Lynam shared some laughs while picking a new color scheme for a village water tower.

It was a rare moment of levity during a tumultuous time for the village's government.

Between the debate over Scott Andresen's trustee seat and the recent firing - then rehiring - of Village Administrator Jennifer Johnsen, East Dundee meetings have devolved into argument-riddled events since the April election that saw Lynam become president after four terms as a trustee.

While many of the trustees contend Lynam continually oversteps the bounds of his duties with unilateral decisions, Lynam and his backers claim the majority of board members haven't allowed him to lead and are intent on thwarting his efforts.

As Lynam took the reins from two-term Village President Lael Miller, and three new trustees - Sarah Brittin, Tricia Saviano and Rich Treiber - filled open seats, it was expected to be a fluid few months for the village.

But no one saw this coming. And no one knows how to end the bitterness.

"We have a very contentious situation and we need to get past that," Brittin said. "I don't know how to do that at this point, but we need to get to the business of helping the residents again."

April changes

The tug-of-war over Andresen's seat began when he didn't run for a second term in April but wanted to remain after the election when only Brittin and Saviano ran for three spots and a fourth seat opened with Lynam's shift to village president. Lynam believes Andresen's seat should be declared vacant, but Andresen, who has the support of most of the board, feels the seat is his based on legal opinions from village attorneys.

"Legal counsel has been very clear in their guidance," Andresen said. "There is no vacancy."

Lynam, however, is confident independent counsel will back his opinion and rule differently than the village attorneys, a stalemate that eventually could land the issue in court.

"I really don't want it to come down to that," said Lynam, who has failed in multiple attempts to appoint new trustees to fill Andresen's seat because the board declined to act on motions.

"It's just a distraction," he said. "We've got a lot of work to do, and a lot of wonderful things we can do for the residents. But I need to see that we have a duly seated board before we get to any of that."

Then there's the situation with Johnsen, the village administrator since 2016 who acknowledged in an email to the staff that she was in a relationship with Assistant Village Administrator Brad Mitchell; she said they were expecting a baby in October and plan to marry. But Lynam fired her before the June 7 meeting, without consulting the trustees, citing an ethical lapse in judgment and the liability risks he believes they brought to the village.

"This whole situation between her and Brad Mitchell has been an embarrassing one for the village," Lynam said.

"It does not in any way reflect how we view our responsibilities in East Dundee, both as a government and as a town."

At last week's board meeting, the trustees voted 5-1 to reinstate Johnsen despite Lynam's request for a delay until the conclusion of investigations he says are being conducted.

"The reasons that were listed for the termination were, in my opinion, unpersuasive at best and manufactured at worst," Andresen said.

Only Treiber, a Lynam appointee, voted against reinstatement.

Newcomers

The bickering has placed Brittin, Saviano and Treiber in an awkward position as newcomers alongside Lynam and veteran Trustees Andresen, Scott Kunze and Kathleen Mahony.

"It's very frustrating," Brittin said. "I wanted to participate in continuing to grow the village."

Brittin and Saviano ran with hopes of maintaining the momentum of the last several years with a revitalized downtown and development throughout East Dundee. Treiber had the same goal when he accepted the appointment to fill Lynam's seat.

"I really do think that the board itself has a duty to extend an olive branch to Jeff," he said. "He has not been treated fairly since he was sworn in."

The three newcomers remain hopeful the board can resume normal meetings again soon.

"This is a really good board," Saviano said. "We're just going to have to make it happen regardless of the distractions."

The future

After joyfully negotiating designs for the water tank, Kunze, Mahony and Lynam struck a conciliatory tone about the recent difficulties.

"None of this is insurmountable," Lynam said. "We're going to get through this."

"We do want to get past this," Mahony said, "and find that mutual trust, understanding, transparency, collaboration among everyone on the team."

"I don't think there should be a Team Lynam or a Team Board," Kunze said. "I think we should be Team East Dundee."

The opportunity remains for East Dundee to keep the momentum going. Downtown is buzzing again, Santa's Village recently reopened and developments such as the Althofer Caterpillar project are helping diversify the local economy.

All sides agree, though, the key to success is ending the dysfunction in the board room.

"We're at the point where we have to start getting stuff done," Saviano said. "We're ready to get going."