Moore censure: Part 1

B.    Supervisor Moore permitted unauthorized members of the public to enter the Clerk’s office on the day that the Grafton Township Food Pantry moved out.

C.    Supervisor Linda Moore has engaged in numerous inappropriate actions related to the Grafton Township Food Pantry, which is an independent Illinois not-for-profit corporation not controlled by Grafton Township.  Upon information and belief, these acts are as follows:

i.    Supervisor Moore changed the locks on the area that was occupied by the Grafton Township Food Pantry, thereby locking out the not-for-profit corporation from operating in the area it had been using as a base of operations.  Supervisor had no legal authority whatsoever to lock out or restrict access to the Food Pantry, as she is not the legal landlord of the property.

ii.    Supervisor Linda Moore has refused to inform people who have come to the Township seeking services from the Grafton Township Food Pantry, Corp., of the new location or contact information for the Food Pantry, thereby depriving people who are in the need of social services and food from having access to the Food Pantry.  

iii.    In August, 2009, Supervisor Linda Moore interfered with mail delivery for the Grafton Township Food Pantry Corp. by misrepresenting to the Huntley Post Office that she was affiliated with the corporation and terminating a mail-forwarding order that the corporation had filed with the Post Office.  This termination caused confusion and resulted in a loss of donations.  Supervisor Linda Moore did not have any lawful authority to terminate the order on behalf of the corporation.

iv.    In August, 2009, Supervisor Linda Moore attempted to use the power of the Supervisor’s office to access financial records of the Grafton Township Food Pantry Corp. at Harris Bank on two occasions, although she is not an officer or employee of the corporation, nor is she authorized to access the financial accounts of the Food Pantry.

v.    Supervisor Moore has interfered with the operation of the Grafton Township Food Pantry by telling individuals that the food pantry has closed, by contacting the Northern Illinois Food Bank and falsely telling them that and by contacting the Pantry’s landlord and falsely misrepresenting that the company was not insured.

D.    On or about May 19, 2009, Supervisor Linda Moore published two legal notices under the name of the Township Clerk in the Northwest Herald, without the authority or approval of the Township Clerk.  The Clerk is the elected official responsible for posting and publishing the Township’s legal notices and misrepresented, through such publication, that the Township Clerk was publishing notices that, in fact, the Supervisor was publishing.

E.    On or about May 26, 2009, Supervisor Linda Moore, without authority or approval, appointed Mr. Frank Kearns as Sergeant-at-Arms for the meeting.

F.    On or about May 26, 2009, Supervisor Linda Moore terminated Township Attorney James Kelly without Board approval in the middle of litigation against the Township, in which Linda Moore was a plaintiff against the Township.

G.    In May, 2009, Supervisor Linda Moore, instated a direct payroll deposit system by accessing the personal banking information of Township employees without their knowledge or approval.  She accessed the employees’ financial institution accounts with debits and credits and without the authorization from the employees.  Authorization for direct payroll deposit had been revoked by the Township employees prior to Linda Moore taking office and bank debit batches were removed as requested.  Linda Moore reestablished the payroll information without authorization of the employees.

H.    Supervisor Linda Moore accessed the personal bank accounts of Township employee Mary Hardy and added and withdrew funds from Ms. Hardy’s account without her knowledge or permission.

I.    In May, 2009, Supervisor Linda Moore withheld from the Township Trustees mail addressed to them from Brown and Co. accounting firm, introducing the firm to the Board of Trustees and proposing to be considered to perform auditing services of the 2009 fiscal year.  

J.    In May 2009, Supervisor Linda Moore failed to present the audit firm of Brown and Co. to the Township Board for consideration for appointment.  The Supervisor presented the Township Board with only one choice for auditor, and the Supervisor’s chosen firm has ended up costing the Township more than double what the cost would have been of another auditing firm.

K.    In May 2009, Supervisor Moore violated and compromised the privacy and confidentiality of the General Assistance Recipients and exposed official township records to a member of the public, David Moore, who is not an elected official or a Township employee.  

L.    Supervisor Linda Moore has provided a member of the public, David Moore, with the code to the Township’s security system, permitting him to have unauthorized access to the Township Hall, as well as with unauthorized access to offices within the Township Hall, including the Clerk’s file room.

M.    In May, 2009, Supervisor Linda Moore withheld from the Assessor a Freedom of Information Act request related to the employees under the Assessor’s supervision.  Further, Supervisor Linda Moore responded to the FOIA request by publicly disclosing private and personal information about the employees which was exempt from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act.

N.    On or about June 2, 2009, Supervisor Linda Moore instructed and permitted her assistant, Trudy Jurs, to have unauthorized access to Township records located in the Clerk’s file room without knowledge or permission of the Township Clerk.  Since then, Supervisor Moore has demanded that the Township Clerk produce certain records to her which are missing since others have had unauthorized access to the Clerk’s file room without the Clerk’s knowledge or permission.

O.    Since approximately July, 2009, Supervisor Moore has been withholding certain claims and invoices from the Township Board, thereby preventing the Township Trustees from performing their auditing function.

P.    In July, 2009, Supervisor Moore canceled the Township’s membership with the Huntley Chamber of Commerce without the Township Board’s knowledge or permission, knowing that the Board had specifically appropriated funds in the budget to continue the membership.

Q.    In August, 2009, Supervisor Linda Moore refused to present a bill to the Township Board from Attorneys Matuszewich Kelly & McKeever for legal service related to the defense of the Township in pending litigation.  

R.    In July – September, 2009, the Township Board authorized the payment of legal invoices to Matuszewish, Kelly & McKeever.  Notwithstanding this approval, Supervisor Linda Moore failed to perform her legal obligation to pay the invoices and refused to pay the bills.

S.    On or about August 12, 2009, Supervisor Linda Moore, without the approval of the Township Board, terminated the Internet service provided to the Township Clerk, which had been previously authorized by the Township Board on May 21, 2009.

T.    In August, 2009, Linda Moore removed a legally-posted notice and agenda of a special meeting that had been called by two trustees and posted by the Township Clerk in accordance with the Township Code and the Open Meetings Act, and subsequently refused to recognize the legal meeting and called her own special meeting, with a different agenda, completely disregarding the agenda for the meeting noticed by the trustees.

U.    In September, 2009, Linda Moore implemented a unilateral increase in the Senior Transportation Fee for out-of-Township riders without any approval or authority from the Township Board.

V.    On September 3, 2009, Linda Moore refused to pay an invoice for attorneys’ fees submitted by attorney Jim Kelly for over 60 days after the invoice was approved by the Township Board.

W.    Supervisor Linda Moore has continually refused to pay approved invoices for Township legal fees.

X.    Supervisor Linda Moore has repeatedly failed to follow the Grafton Township Board Rules adopted by the Township Board on September 3, 2009 by failing to include agenda items requested to be included on the agenda by the Trustees, and requiring the Township Board to designate the Township Attorney to prepare the agenda which would usually be prepared by the Supervisor without expense to the Township.

Y.    Supervisor Linda Moore withheld several Freedom of Information Act requests, (including a request from the law firm of Roth and Melei which was received on September 16, 2009), from the Township Clerk until September 25, 2009, which would be the last day to comply with the request, significantly hindering the Clerk’s ability to respond to the request in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act.

Z.    On September 29, 2009, Trustee Betty Zirk presented Linda Moore with a letter requesting that Linda Moore place certain agenda items on the upcoming meeting agenda, which Linda Moore ignored in violation of the Board Rules adopted by the Township Board; and

AA.    On October 2 and 3rd, 2009, Supervisor Linda Moore intercepted and withheld legal correspondence addressed to the Township Trustees from the law firm of Franks, Gerkin and McKenna.

BB.    On October 9, 2009, Supervisor Moore intercepted, opened and withheld official United States mail from the Illinois Secretary of State Records Management Department addressed to Township Clerk Dina Frigo.

CC.    In October and November, 2009, the Township Board was required to call special meetings to include agenda items which Supervisor Linda Moore refused to include on the Township Board meeting agendas.  On the dates set by the Board for the special meetings, Supervisor Linda Moore called special meetings for different times and locations.

DD.    In November, 2009, the Township Board rejected the warrant payment to James Ketchmark CPA, an accountant that she hired without Township Board approval.  The Township Board believes that Supervisor Linda Moore paid this accountant’s invoice from Township’s funds notwithstanding the Township Board’s disapproval of the invoice.

EE.    In December, 2009, Supervisor Linda Moore falsely informed the Township Attorneys that they were terminated when they had not been terminated by the Township Board.  

FF.    In December, 2009, Supervisor Linda Moore sent a letter to the McHenry County  Board of Review falsely informing the Board of Review that Ancel, Glink had been terminated as Township Attorneys.

GG.    In December, 2009, Supervisor Linda Moore removed and altered previously appropriated funds recorded in the Township’s accounting software without approval of the Township Board.

HH.    In November, 2009, Supervisor Linda Moore again failed to comply with the Board’s rules and procedures for posting and preparing meeting agendas and posted meetings without following the proper procedures, thereby causing it to appear that the Township Trustees were not attending meetings which were proper when the meetings were, in fact, not proper.  In fact, Supervisor Linda Moore called a special meeting for one evening when the Township Board specifically had informed Linda Moore that they were calling a special meeting for the same night and wanted the meeting short because of the holiday week.

II.    On December 4, 2009, Supervisor Linda Moore received a call from a lender trying to verify the Township Clerk’s starting date and title.  She refused to provide the lender with the information and defamed the Clerk’s character to the lender.

JJ.    Supervisor Linda Moore, without any lawful authority or approval of the Township Board, and without notice to the Assessor, canceled the Assessor’s office’s credit card used to purchase gas, leaving the Assessor’s employees stranded.

KK.    Supervisor Linda Moore has repeatedly harassed the Township Clerk by falsely accusing her of taking down notices, receiving information she has not received, and hiding or refusing to produce records that are not in the Clerk’s possession since Moore herself has jeopardized the security of the Township’s records by permitting members of the public to have access to them.

LL.    Supervisor Linda Moore has terminated Township employees without the approval of the Township Board and without legal authority do to so and following specific direction of the Township Board not to terminate the employees.

SECTION 2:        The Township Board of the Grafton Township hereby censures Supervisor Linda Moore for these inappropriate and unauthorized acts and requests that Supervisor Linda Moore immediately cease and desist from actions which are beyond the authority of the Township Supervisor or otherwise inappropriate.  

SECTION 3:        If any section, paragraph, clause, or provision of this Resolution shall be held invalid, the invalidity thereof shall not affect any of the other provisions of this Resolution.

SECTION 4:        This Resolution shall be in full force and effect from after its passage, approval and publication as provided by law."