New Homer Glen Mayor Neitzke-Troike Called “Dictator” by Concerned Citizens Who Say She is Illegally Changing Form of Government
New Homer Glen Mayor Neitzke-Troike Called “Dictator” by Concerned Citizens Who Say She is Illegally Changing Form of Government (Homer Glen, IL) – Concerned Citizens of Homer Glen are wary of several items on the agenda for the May 10th Village Board meeting in Homer Glen, IL. It is being alleged that newly-elected Mayor Christina Neitzke-Troike has taken office as a dictator and is attempting to change the current form of government in Homer Glen without referendum.
The current form of government is what is considered a Council-Manager form of government. The concerned citizens are alleging that Mayor Neitzke-Troike is trying to establish a “Strong Mayor” form of government, which would require referendum to change the government system from the current Council-Manager form to Mayor-Council style. Mayor Neitzke-Troike was successful in the most recent April 2023 election for Mayor while getting her slate of three trustees elected. That would give the incoming Mayor three votes, with the Mayor’s vote being the tie breaker.
Agenda Item K15:
Mayor Christina Neitzke-Troike here apparently wants to completely rescind the censure for the previous Mayor (George Yukich) and repeal it in it’s entirety. Proposed Resolution No. 22-011, claims the censure is no longer relevant or necessary. The village board recently found via an outside investigation that Mayor Yukich lied in his official capacity as the mayor regarding his signature being forged. The previous board took away his signing authority and forced him to sign all documents in front of the Village Manager and/or the Deputy Clerk. The new Mayor, Neitzke-Troike, is looking for unmonitored signing authority for herself. She also wants to abolish the current censure of former Mayor Yukich.
The link to “Previous” Resolution No. 22-011 that current Mayor Neitzke-Troike is looking to amend: https://ecode360.com/documents/HO3123/public/717707763.pdf
Agenda Item K16:
K16 considers to approve ordinance No. 23-026 – an ordinance amending Homer Glen Village Code section 45-8(A) entitled: “Duties and Authority: Termination of Employees.” It appears that Mayor Neitzke-Troike is taking away all advice and consent of the village board of trustees for hiring and appointments of any department head, department director, manager, or superintendent and giving herself sole discretion and approval. There are many legal questions to answer. The form of government that Homer Glen currently has makes it so that termination of employees are allowed with the “consent of the council.” Most recently in neighboring Orland Park, a referendum was held to change forms of government. The referendum failed to pass. This compels the question of whether this proposed ordinance is legal and whether it would have to go to referendum.
Link to previous Homer Glen ordinance is here: https://ecode360.com/28849580
Agenda Item K17
This agenda item considers to approve ordinance No. 23-027 – an ordinance amending Homer Glen Village Code sections 10-6 and 10-7 regarding appointment of standing committees, subcommittees and task forces. Mayor Neitzke-Troike is seemingly looking to remove all authority from the Village Board of Trustees to approve, appoint and dismiss chair and co-chair appointments, as well as the members of each committee. She seems to give herself full authority for these decisions with “recommendations” from the board of Trustees. There is also language included that permits co-chairs to be residents – and not members from the Village board. The legality of this ordinance is also in question.
https://ecode360.com/documents/HO3123/public/624627080.pdf
Agenda Item E
Agenda item E is for the hire of a new village attorney, current Orland Township Supervisor Paul O’Grady. This move is a shameless patronage hire, as O’Grady made significant financial contributions to Neitzke-Troike and her slate of candidates.
New Homer Glen Mayor Neitzke-Troike Called “Dictator” by Concerned Citizens Who Say She is Illegally Changing Form of Government
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