Two days after the July 6 board meeting, where both attorneys sat at the table and the board voted to keep Joe Cainkar's firm over the mayor's objection, four trustees spent about 75 minutes on ordinary business: a pickleball league, park benches, a backlog of public works repairs, a gaming license request and the auditor's last bill. Mayor LaMore and Trustees Barry and Vaughn were not there. No one at the table raised the attorney dispute directly, but the Village administrator referred to Cainkar as "our village attorney," and Trustee Gesky said Cainkar would help write the letter giving Gotion its fire brigade deadlines: a signed agreement by the end of July and a working brigade by the end of August.
Two days later, on July 10, the Village filed suit against the same four trustees (No. 26CH21). The motion is dated July 7, the day before this meeting.
This recording was not written up when it happened. We are adding it to the record now. It sits between the July 6 board meeting and July 20. New here? Start with the two-minute version or the Fact Check.
The Village's recording, about 82 minutes. The meeting opens at about 5:30 in the video.
Graded November 3, 2026 against the meeting recording, the posted agenda, the approved minutes of both committees, later Village minutes and the Illinois Compiled Statutes. A grade is a statement about the evidence, not about anyone's honesty. Nobody named on this page is accused of any wrongdoing.
Properties & Recreation (Trustee Gesky, chair) ran first, roughly 5:30 to 54:55. Planning & Zoning (Trustee Boudreau, chair) followed, roughly 54:55 to 1:21:45.
Both sets of minutes list Trustees Crockett, Gesky, Boudreau and Zimbelman present, and Mayor LaMore and Trustees Barry and Vaughn not present. Staff present: Village Administrator Chris LaRocque, Treasurer Sheila Martin, Marketing Director Ashley Peterson and Village Clerk Steven Orth. Public Works Superintendent Jim Hanley was away; the chair said on the recording that he was on vacation.
The motions, in order:
Properties & Recreation, June 10 minutes: moved by Crockett, seconded by Zimbelman (both audible), approved 4–0 per the minutes.
Properties & Recreation, adjourn: moved by Boudreau, seconded by Crockett, at 7:50 a.m., per the minutes.
Planning & Zoning, June 10 minutes: moved by Gesky, seconded by Zimbelman, 4–0, per the minutes. (The captions render the names "Gowski" and "Zimbleman.")
Planning & Zoning, adjourn: moved by Gesky, seconded by Crockett, at 8:15 a.m., per the minutes and the recording.
Neither committee took public comment; the chairs said there was none. Every other item ended in consensus, a referral to a later agenda, or no action.
Sources: recording, 6:00, 54:55, 1:21:30; Properties & Recreation minutes; Planning & Zoning minutes.
On the dry cleaner item (Section 3), the presenter, whom the minutes identify as Mr. LaRocque, said: ⚠ "our village attorney Joe Kankar is advised not to do this." The minutes record it as "Mr. Cainkar has advised the Village against this course of action." Later, Trustee Gesky listed who would attend a 1:30 p.m. meeting that day to draft the Gotion letter, including ⚠ "Joe Canar." Those are the captions' spellings of Cainkar.
Context. On July 6 the board voted to approve Cainkar's retention letter over the mayor's ruling that the item was out of order; the mayor said she was vetoing it. Our earlier reporting and the Videos page give that vote as 4–1–1. The Village's approved July 6 minutes record it as "5-1, with Trustee Vaughn voting No and Trustee Barry Abstaining (abstaining vote counted with the majority...)." The mayor formally vetoed the appointment on July 20, per that meeting's minutes. The Village's suit, filed July 10, asked the court to bar Cainkar's firm from acting as Village counsel; it was dismissed July 21. See The Lawsuit. Nothing on the July 8 recording discusses the dispute itself.
Sources: recording, 59:00–1:00:00, 1:19:00–1:20:00; both July 8 minutes; July 6 board minutes, p. 3–4; July 20 board minutes, p. 2.
Trustee Gesky chaired and took the agenda out of order so speakers could leave early, roughly 5:30 to 54:55.
Jeff Dexter, introduced by the chair, described himself as co-founder and director of Paddle Together Pickleball, a volunteer group he said has 792 members, with Manteno its second-largest community. He told the committee a survey of members drew about 10 percent back, roughly 80 responses, enough to fill both nights, and that those responses would serve as the sign-up list. He called it a pilot with three divisions (instructional, recreational and advanced) and suggested nights tied to local businesses. The other courts stay open for public play during league hours.
Asked when it could start, he said within two weeks, ⚠ "like starting July 22nd." The chair asked for any opposition, heard none, and told Mr. Dexter to start marketing and to send the sign-up link to Village Hall for the Village's website and Facebook page. The minutes record: "Committee agreed to go forward with the proposal."
One detail. July 22, 2026 is a Wednesday, and the league nights are Tuesday and Thursday. The first night would presumably fall on July 21 or 23; the recording does not settle it.
Sources: recording, 6:30–19:00 (presentation), 19:00–20:00 (start date), 31:30–33:30 (approval); Properties & Recreation minutes, p. 1.
Mr. Dexter proposed a fee so players have ⚠ "skin in the game" and show up: ⚠ "five bucks a week... It'd be 30 bucks," for a six-week season. He asked that $5 per player come back to his group for balls, medals and water, with the rest to the Village. The chair then proposed that the money be ⚠ "payable to the village," so that the volunteers are covered under the Village for liability, the way staff-run events are. Another trustee asked how that squares with the youth leagues, which run under their own agreements; the answer from the table was that this is a Village event, not an outside organization.
Context. The minutes summarize this as "a small fee of $5 would be collected from the participants (divided between the league and Village of Manteno)." The recording makes clear the $5 is weekly, about $30 a season, and that the chair proposed the Village collect it. No fee was set by vote on July 8.
Sources: recording, 15:00–16:30, 20:00–25:00; Properties & Recreation minutes, p. 1.
The benches for the bike paths were budgeted as three at $2,500 each, with a donor placard. Asked how many businesses had called, the chair said ⚠ "five or six." A trustee then explained how the item came up: ⚠ "go had offered to sponsor all three benches right and um we obviously have some issues that are ongoing that we're addressing but um we didn't want to limit it to just being go." Another speaker said ⚠ "I emailed back and I said at most let's give them one off the bat." The committee agreed the first three are set, with that company taking one, and that more benches could go in, first come, first served, if businesses pay the full cost. Possible sites mentioned: Legacy pier, the new park at Winfield and Eagles Landing.
Why we read "go" as Gotion, pending an audio check. The captions render the company's name as "go." Later in the same recording they render Gotion the same way, in "send a letter to go outlining what is expected for this fire brigade," a letter the minutes confirm was to Gotion. The "ongoing issues" also fit. The minutes record only that donations exceeded the number of benches and do not name any donor. The Bourbs has not confirmed the offer with Gotion or the Village.
Sources: recording, 35:30–39:30 (offer at about 38:00), 1:19:30; Properties & Recreation minutes, p. 2.
Bob Earley of True Golf Links, an indoor golf simulator business, said it had been open almost 10 months and that customers at group parties had asked for gaming. The item was pulled forward from the Planning & Zoning agenda. A trustee, identified in the minutes as Trustee Boudreau, said the Village had asked him to show a sustainable business first and that he had. Another trustee said it was ⚠ "just like we were consistent asking on Monday with the wine bar." The committee agreed to put it on the next board agenda.
Context and follow-up. At the July 6 board meeting, per its minutes, Trustees Boudreau and Gesky said the Village "has consistently withheld gaming approval until a business had operated for over 6 months." On July 20 the board passed Ordinance 26-09, described in the minutes as adding "a Class A license for a business that wants to add video gaming," 6–0 on a consent agenda. The minutes do not name the business.
Sources: recording, 33:30–35:30; Properties & Recreation minutes, p. 2; July 6 board minutes, p. 3; July 20 board minutes, p. 4.
The chair, Trustee Gesky, said he drove the town, listed 19 items needing repair, and met with Mr. Hanley. He said Trustee Vaughn separately emailed a list of her own. He singled out Memorial Park, its pergola and signs, as ⚠ "designed to memorialize someone's loved one," and lights out on the square and Division Street. He said ⚠ "he's down over three guys right now," that the summer interns leave next month, and that ⚠ "some of the cutbacks that we've done for them have hurt them too much." He proposed two seasonal workers kept through October. Another trustee urged regular subcontracting of specialty work such as painting light poles and fertilizing. A trustee also noted public works had staffed an event every day the previous week.
Open. Asked whether the hires need a board vote, Mr. LaRocque said he would check. The minutes record the action item as discussing "at the next Board meeting a proposal to provide two additional seasonal staff and to potentially subcontract some Public Works projects." The July 20 board minutes show no vote on seasonal staff. We have not confirmed whether the positions were posted or filled.
Sources: recording, 39:30–49:30; Properties & Recreation minutes, p. 2; July 20 board minutes.
Summarizing Mr. Hanley's last report, the table said the pavilion is on temporary power until ComEd connects it, and the two mini-split units may not run until then. Grading and turf around the building were expected in a couple of weeks, and the stone blocks for the columns had arrived. On finishing the cedar, the committee leaned toward the same gray semi-transparent stain used at the park, applied by an outside contractor because public works is behind, with one trustee asking for a longer-lasting product than a basic water sealer. Nothing was voted.
Later. By September the staining had been deferred to spring. See September 21.
Sources: recording, 49:30–52:30; Properties & Recreation minutes, p. 2.
The chair told the committee that after Scenic won the job it bought the trees, ⚠ "and then when the mayor vetoed it, they proceeded they had to sell those trees." With the trees sold and the weather now too hot to plant, he said, Scenic ⚠ "cannot honor our contract price," so the nine trees will be added to the larger tree bid. The minutes: "Since the Village's delay with ultimate approval, Scenic sold the trees and will not honor the contract."
The record. The mayor's veto of "estimate from Scenic Landscaping in the Amount of $9,350.00 to Replace 9 Trees on Main Street" is in the June 1 board minutes. On June 15 the board reconsidered and approved it over the veto, 5–1, Trustee Barry voting no. What we could not check: Scenic's reasons come to us secondhand, from the chair; we have not seen Scenic's correspondence. What happened next: on July 20 the board tabled an engineering agreement for Main Street tree removal and replacement, 6–0, and in September the larger replacement, about 139 trees, was pushed to spring. See September 9.
Sources: recording, 52:30–54:30; Properties & Recreation minutes, p. 2; June 1 board minutes; June 15 board minutes, p. 4; July 20 board minutes, p. 4.
Trustee Boudreau chaired, roughly 54:55 to 1:07:00.
Mr. LaRocque (per the minutes) reported the final invoice, $13,600, ⚠ "to complete the full contract of $168,000." He said the auditor emailed Monday that the mayor had picked up the printed copies of the audit on Friday; staff said they had not seen them, so the audit could not yet be posted for residents who had asked. Trustee Boudreau said he would ask the mayor when she would bring them in.
A trustee, identified in the minutes as Trustee Gesky, asked for a tally of the cost of changing the Village's accounts. The treasurer said they were still waiting on the invoice for new checks. The trustee said ⚠ "any cost that we incurred as a result of having to change it over should be deducted from the final payment." The committee put the invoice on the next Finance Committee agenda.
Context. The minutes tie the account changes to "the Auditor's release of information." On August 12 the Planning & Zoning minutes record Trustee Boudreau suggesting the final payment be made "minus the amount that was needed to change the Village's bank account numbers," with "some disagreement" among members. The board's August 12 special-meeting agenda carried a "Final Audit Invoice" of $12,270.92. The difference from $13,600 is $1,329.08; no record we have read explains it. See The Audit.
Sources: recording, 55:00–56:30; Planning & Zoning minutes, p. 1; August 12 Planning & Zoning minutes.
Trustee Boudreau said Mr. Hanley told him the Village just replaced a 2008 truck; the remaining trucks are a 2015, a 2017, a 2018 and two 2023s, so the next replacement should be about 2035 on a 20-year life, and two Peterbilts may last 25. Mr. LaRocque said big equipment is typically bought from the road and bridge fund, about $100,000 to $150,000 a year, not the general fund. Awareness only; no action.
One discrepancy. On the recording the fund is the one ⚠ "that we get from the township." The minutes say "(from the county)." We have not checked which body remits it.
Sources: recording, 56:30–58:30; Planning & Zoning minutes, pp. 1–2.
Pioneer Engineering, handling cleanup of a former dry cleaner on North Oak Street, has asked for about a year and a half for an ordinance under which, as presented, the Village would take responsibility if anyone used the contaminated groundwater. The presenter said the Village attorney advised against it, that it is the ⚠ "cheapest, easiest way" for the company, that the main part of the site has been cleaned, and that Manteno does not allow private wells, even for sprinklers. Someone at the table said ⚠ "this is probably the third time they've asked for it." The committee agreed not to entertain it.
Sources: recording, 59:00–1:01:30; Planning & Zoning minutes, p. 2.
From the quarterly recap Mr. LaRocque presented (per the minutes): 14 residential projects under construction; four new single-family homes started in the quarter plus three units in Eagles Landing; 187 permits; inspections of 162 by the presenter, 33 by public works, 41 plumbing and 37 electrical; 25 sidewalk inspections on property sales; and 119 contractor registrations. On the commercial side: a vacant unit in the Domino's building, the former Copeland's reopening under a new name, a second-floor rebuild of another building, a Riverside parking lot awaiting completion now that its state permit is in, a completed Circle K remodel on Route 50, and a gut rehab on North Locust. The presenter added that Security Lumber had bought single-family lots in Winfield and started a spec house.
Caption caution. These figures are as spoken and captioned; the printed charts were handed to the committee and are not in the posted packet.
Sources: recording, 1:01:30–1:07:00; Planning & Zoning minutes, p. 2.
General discussion, roughly 1:07:00 to 1:14:00 and 1:21:00.
Trustee Boudreau said clerks ⚠ "make $4,000 and then the deputy clerks makes $1,500," while trustees can make up to about $4,800 attending every meeting, and suggested the clerk's pay be raised to match the work, which might also help fill the deputy job. Another trustee said trustees are paid per meeting, now $100 (up from $50), and suggested the clerk and deputy be paid per meeting too, perhaps $150. The committee agreed to look at other towns and take it to General Government.
Why "Open." The amounts are as spoken; we have not read the Village's pay ordinance. What happened next: on August 12, per those minutes, Trustee Boudreau proposed "$75 per meeting attended, which would raise the total compensation to about $8000 per year," to go to the board for a vote.
Sources: recording, 1:08:00–1:11:00; Planning & Zoning minutes, p. 2; August 12 Planning & Zoning minutes, p. 2.
A trustee said ⚠ "just to be clear, we can't change it for Steve right now," and that a change would take effect after the April election. That matches state law. The Illinois Municipal Code says: "Salaries or other compensation shall not be increased or diminished so as to take effect during the term of any officer holding an elective office." Manteno's clerk is an elected office. The statute's looser rule for appointed officers expressly excludes "those appointed to fill vacancies in elective offices," which is how Clerk Orth took office (appointed 6–0 on June 1, per those minutes).
Sources: recording, 1:08:30–1:09:00; 65 ILCS 5/3.1-50-5; June 1 board minutes.
Asked where the search for a new clerk stood, someone at the table said ⚠ "that's a mayoral appointment." A trustee read the Village code aloud, ⚠ "the president and the board of trustees shall appoint a successor," and said he reads it as the president nominating and the board approving. Trustees agreed the mayor should be reminded to look, and Trustee Zimbelman (per the minutes) asked that the clerk replacement go on the General Government agenda.
The law. That reading matches state law. When an elective office other than mayor or trustee falls vacant with less than 28 months left in the term, "the mayor or president... must appoint a qualified person to hold the office until the office is filled by election, subject to the advice and consent of... the board of trustees." Manteno's code, 1-8-3, says on a clerk vacancy "the president and board of trustees shall appoint a successor" (see September 21). One trustee predicted few would take an appointment this close to the April election. On August 12 the mayor said she had two candidates.
Sources: recording, 1:11:30–1:13:30, 1:21:00; Planning & Zoning minutes, p. 2; 65 ILCS 5/3.1-10-50(f)(3); August 12 Planning & Zoning minutes.
Asked ⚠ "Stephen, are you staying on," the clerk answered that he was waiting until a replacement, ⚠ "That's correct." A trustee thanked him for not leaving the Village ⚠ "in a bind," and said that if he left, ⚠ "we have no one to sign the licenses," because no Village Hall employee can sign them. The same trustee responded to criticism that a staff member had been ⚠ "pretending to be the clerk," saying she filled in because there was no one else.
Context. The captions render the staff member's name as "Don." The Village's administrative assistant and FOIA officer is Dawn Gesky, who is married to Trustee Gesky (see August 3); the recording does not spell the name. By August 12 the minutes refer to "the resignation of the current clerk," and by October the Village had a temporary clerk appointed by the mayor on September 21.
Sources: recording, 1:11:00–1:12:30; August 12 Planning & Zoning minutes; October 19.
The last item, roughly 1:19:00 to 1:21:00.
Trustee Gesky said that at 1:30 that afternoon he, Mr. LaRocque, Trustee Mike Barry, B&F Technical (as the captions render it) and Mr. Cainkar would meet to set the terms of a letter to Gotion with deadlines: ⚠ "we've been kicking this can down the road, it's time to put it in writing." He proposed ⚠ "the signed agreement with them by the end of J July and that the fire brigade should be up and running by the end of August," and asked whether anyone opposed. No one did. He said the terms follow what B&F set out and that there is ⚠ "not a lot of negotiations." A trustee pointed to the closed-session minutes of June 15 for more detail.
Confirmed later. The July 20 board minutes record that the letter "requested an agreement by July 31, 2026 and for the actions to be fully implemented and in force by August 31, 2026," on pain of the occupancy permit. For how those deadlines played out, see July 20 and September 8.
Sources: recording, 1:19:00–1:21:00; Planning & Zoning minutes, p. 2; July 20 board minutes, p. 3.
General discussion.
Trustee Gesky raised a resident's complaints about the drainage pond next to his home, a separate parcel the resident owns. Mr. LaRocque said engineers have found it built and working as designed: it is meant to hold water and release it slowly, and it drains to a Village pond downstream. He said Manteno has 21 privately owned ponds or lakes. The committee agreed to send a letter offering to buy the parcel at fair market value, on the understanding that the Village would maintain it to its normal standard. The minutes place it at the southeast corner of Walnut and 8th Street. We are not naming the resident.
Sources: recording, 1:14:00–1:19:00; Planning & Zoning minutes, p. 2.
Reviewing the code sections on the mayor, trustees and clerk, Trustee Boudreau said they all say "he," noting the Village now has a female mayor and has had female clerks, and called it an easy cleanup. No action was taken.
Sources: recording, 1:07:00–1:08:00; Planning & Zoning minutes, p. 2.
Minutes, and what they leave out.
The Open Meetings Act says: "A public body shall approve the minutes of its open meeting within 30 days after that meeting or at the public body's second subsequent regular meeting, whichever is later." Both committees approved the July 8 minutes at their next meeting, August 12, each 4–0 (per the August 12 minutes), which is within that window. The Act also requires open-meeting minutes to be "available for public inspection within 10 days after the approval." Both files are on the Village's meetings index now, linked with the agenda and video.
Where the minutes and the recording differ. The minutes do not mention Gotion's bench offer (card 5), describe the pickleball fee only as "a small fee of $5" (card 4), and say the road and bridge money comes "from the county" where the speaker said "the township" (card 11). Their start and end times, 7:00, 7:50 and 8:15 a.m., match the recording. We could not determine when the minutes were first posted; the PDF files themselves carry an internal creation date of October 5, 2026, which does not by itself establish a posting date. The 10-day website-posting rule in the same subsection applies to "a regular meeting of its governing body," not to committees.
Sources: both July 8 minutes; August 12 Planning & Zoning and Properties & Recreation minutes; 5 ILCS 120/2.06(b); Village meetings index, checked November 3, 2026.
From the Village's later minutes and our own pages.
Friday, July 10: the Village, through the mayor's counsel, filed an emergency motion against Trustees Boudreau, Zimbelman, Crockett and Gesky, No. 26CH21. Tuesday, July 21: dismissed for lack of a complaint. See The Lawsuit.
Monday, July 20: the mayor vetoed the July 6 Cainkar vote; Trustee Gesky presented the Gotion letter with its July 31 and August 31 dates; Ordinance 26-09, adding a liquor license class for a business that wants video gaming, passed 6–0; the Main Street tree engineering agreement was tabled. See July 20.
Wednesday, August 12: the same committees approved these minutes, discussed paying the auditor minus the bank account costs, took up a $75-per-meeting clerk pay proposal, and heard the mayor say she had two clerk candidates.
Documents mentioned at the table that are not in the posted packet.
On the benches: the sponsorship offers received, including any from Gotion, and the email reply limiting one sponsor to one bench.
On public works: Trustee Gesky's 19-item list and Trustee Vaughn's email, and any posting for seasonal workers.
On the trees: Scenic Landscaping's correspondence declining to honor the $9,350 estimate.
On the audit: the auditor's $13,600 final invoice, the July email about the printed copies, and the bank and check-printing invoices for the account change.
On the dry cleaner: Pioneer Engineering's requests and the attorney's advice, to the extent not privileged.
On the building department: the second quarter 2026 permit and inspection charts.
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