ECEVED
CLEF’s
OFF!CE
MAY
..
Public
Comment
submitted
to
the Pollution
Control
Board
STATE
RE:
Case #
PCB
2007-146,
Fox
Moraine
LLC
v.
United
City
of
Yerkville
pojj
April
28, 2009
rd
I am
Judy
Gilmour,
resident
of Yorkville,
IL, and
secretary
of “Friends
of Greater
Yorkville,”
also
known
as
FOGY.
I have
held
this
position
since
the beginning
of FOGY
in
November,
2006.
FOGY
is
a
small
group
of citizens
who
opposed
the
application
for
siting
of the
Fox
Moraine
landfill
in Yorkville.
I
wish to
comment
on the
“Amended
Motion
of
Petitioner,
Fox
Moraine,
LLC,
for
a
Finding
That
Valerie
Burd
Was
Not
a Credible
Witness”.
This
was
presented
on April
23,
2009,
at
the
conclusion
of the
appeal
public
hearing,
by
the
Fox Moraine
attorney.
It contains
several
inaccuracies,
which
I can
attest
to,
as
I was present
during
the
times
referred
to
in
this motion
and
have first-hand
knowledge
of the individuals
who
are
mentioned
by name.
I am
offering
the
following
observations:
1. In
item
#3, Fox
Moraine
admits
that
the complete
transcript
of
the hearing
is
absent.
Indeed,
in its
absence,
Fox Moraine
assumes
some
things
that
are just
plain
inaccurate,
as the
transcripts
will
prove
when
they
are read.
2.
Item
#4
claims
that
Valerie
Burd
ran
as
an “anti-landfill
candidate”
in her
campaign
for
mayor,
and
“prejudged
the
merits
of the
case”.
Fox
Moraine
is
unable
to
show
any
evidence
in
this
Motion
to
this, just
as they
were
unable
to substantiate this
during
the
hearing.
Furthermore,
in her
role
as
mayor,
Burd
did not
vote on
the
landfill
application
in
May,
2007.
3.
In
Item
#5, even
though
Burd
said
that Ron
Parrish
and
Todd Milliron
were
members
of
her
campaign
committee,
she testified
in the
hearings
that
they never
discussed
the landfill.
Therefore,
the
issue
of an
individual’s
right
to
help in
a campaign,
even
if it coincides
with
a
39.2
landfill
siting
hearing,
should
not be
a
matter
of concern,
as it
is
that
person’s
Constitutional
rights
of freedom
of
speech
and
freedom
of
assembly.
And
if Burd
testified
that
they never
discussed
the
landfill,
she
therefore
fhlfilled
the
spirit of
the
law
by
not exchanging
in ex
parte
contact.
4.
The
series of
quotations
by
Ron
Parrish,
Todd
Milliron,
and
Randy
Scott
are all
protected
under
the Constitution,
Amendment
I, which
protects
a
citizen’s
freedom
of
speech.
Parrish’s
and
Scott’s
statements
referred
to
in the Motion
were
all made
prior
to the
date
of
the
landfill
application
(12-1-06)
and
are
therefore
outside
of
the
record.
Additionally,
Burd’s
testimony
in the appeal
hearing
was
that
she
did not
recall
statements
made
by Parrish
or
Milliron
and
that they
did
not
discuss
the
landfill.
Fox
Moraine
cannot
hope
to
prove
what
is or
is
not part
of Burd’s
recall,
just by
reprinting
excerpts
of
statements
made
by Parrish
and
Milliron
in the
Motion.
5.
Item
#6
says
that
other witness
had
no
difficulty
acknowledging
that both
Parrish
and
Milliron
were
landfill
opponents.
Again,
does
Fox
Moraine
think
that
this
in
some
way
proves
what
Burd
recalls?
Furthermore,
Fox
Moraine
says
in this
same
item
that
Parrish
remained
a
“vocal
landfill
opponent
through
the
siting
hearing
process.”
I attended
every
siting hearing,
and
can say
that
Parrish
absolutely
was
not
a vocal
landfill
opponent
during
the
hearings,
and
did
not
speak
publicly
during
this
time.
Fox
Moraine
makes
this
statement,
but offers
absolutely
no
proof of
it.
This
is
another
example
of
an
inaccurate
and
unsubstantiated
statement
by
Fox
Moraine.
6. Item
#7
discusses
campaign
contributions
from
members
of FOGY
to
Burd’s
campaign.
I
wish
to
emphasize
that
any member
of
FOGY
has
a
right
to
contribute
his
or
her
money
to
any
cause,
acting
as
an
individual
apart
from
his
or
her role in
FOGY.
Furthermore,
Parish
was a
member
of
FOGY
but
only for
a
very
brief time,
and Burd
testified
in
the appeal
hearings
that she
did
not know
Parrish
was a
member
of
FOGY.
7. Item #8
mentions
Ed Sleezer,
who was
an
acquaintance
of Burd’s,
but was
not
an
official member
of
her
campaign
committee.
Again,
even though
he appeared
as
a witness in
the
siting
hearings,
this
fact
should not
hinder his
right
to
help
support
Burd
as a mayoral
candidate.
This is another
example
of Fox
Moraine’s
attempt to
trample
on a person’s
freedom of
speech.
A
statement
made by
Arden
Plocher,
saying
that
Sleezer
was on
Burd’s campaign
committee,
is
absolutely
untrue,
and can
be
proven
by
checking
with the
campaign
statement
submitted
to
the
State
of Illinois
during
Burd’
s
campaign.
I believe
Plocher
was
simply
mistaken
about
this.
8. Item
#9 is an
untrue
statement:
“In his
testimony,
Werderich
identified
Plocher
as
another
FOGY
member.”
Werderich
did not
say
this, and
this can
easily be proven
by
reading
the
transcripts
of the
hearings.
Additionally,
as
Secretary
of FOGY,
I can attest
to
the fact
that at
no time was
Plocher
ever
a FOGY
member
and had no
affiliation
with
FOGY
at
any time.
The
above statements
made
by Fox
Moraine
are just
more examples
of
unsubstantiated
attempts
to
show bias,
which
will
be made
clear when
they
are
examined
using
the
actual facts
Along
with the above
unsubstantiated
statements
by Fox
Moraine,
remains
another
false
accusation
made against
FOGY
by
Fox
Moraine
in their
“Petition
for
Review.”
Here
FOGY
is
accused
of engaging
in
prejudicial
ex
parte
contacts
with
members
ofthe
Yorkville
City
Council.
This is
absolutely
untrue; furthermore,
Fox Moraine
has
been unable
to
offer
any proof
or
substance
to
this statement.
In the
appeal
hearing
proceedings,
Fox
Moraine
was
even
unclear
who
the
members
of
FOGY
are, and
confused
us
with
other
people who
were never
members
of
FOGY, namely
Todd
Milliron and
Arden
Plocher.
Ron
Parrish
was
briefly
a
member
of FOGY,
but
resigned
on December
15, 2006,
and
had
no
further
contact
with
FOGY
after
his
resignation.
I wish
to
thank
the Pollution
Control
Board
for
its
consideration
of my
comments
in
this
matter.
Sincerely,
Judy
Gilmour
23 Fox
Glen
Dr., Yorkville,
IL 60560