LF 081717

LakeForestLeader.com NEws
the lake forest leader | August 17, 2017 | 3
Documents: City Manager aware of holding track four years ago
Robert Kiely:
‘No recollection’
of attending or
speaking during
2012 webinar
Alyssa Groh, Editor
Lake Forest residents
were surprised to learn in
October 2016 there was a
proposal to build a freight
train holding track in Lake
Forest, and the City only
had a month to react to
it.
It appears now, after The
Lake Forest Leader reviewed
public documents,
that despite its claims, the
City had known for years
about the plans.
According to a log from
a 2012 webinar by The
Wisconsin Department of
Transportation, not only
did Lake Forest City Manager
Robert Kiely participate
in the session on the
holding track, he posed a
question to WisDot.
At a City Council meeting
in Nov. 7, 2016, Kiely
repeatedly stated that he
had no prior knowledge of
the holding track.
“(At that meeting) I had
no recollection of participating
in the [webinar],”
Kiely told The Leader on
Monday, Aug. 14. “That
meeting took place three
years ago, and I had no
recollection of participating
in the webinar.”
Lake Forest residents
first learned about the
Hiawatha Expansion
project, which included
plans to build a milelong
freight train holding
track in Lake Forest, on
Oct. 12, 2016, and began
asking questions during
the City’s Annual Town
Hall meeting on Nov. 1,
2016.
Discussion about the
holding track continued
during the City Council
meeting on Nov. 7, 2016,
when residents and council
members alike expressed
their frustration
with the proposal and the
minimal time they had
to react to it. The open
comment session of the
track’s environmental assessment
ended Nov. 15,
2016, giving the City just
over a month to express
concerns.
During the City Council
meeting on Nov. 7,
2016, residents learned
the project’s environmental
assessment had been
ongoing since 2012 and
questioned why the council
was just reporting the
information.
Kiely admitting that
he received emailed invitations
to a webinar
but told residents that the
city did not participate in
them.
“There was a webinar in
2012 and I think a webinar
in 2014,” Kiely said during
the Nov. 7 City Council
meeting. “...There is no
record that we did participate,”
he continued.
An email obtained from
a Freedom of Information
Act show that Kiely was
personally thanked for
“participating in the Chicago-Milwaukee
agency
coordination webinar on
Dec. 2.”
At the webinar, according
to the log, Kiely asked
IDOT a question. This is
what is noted: “Bob Kiely
of Lake Forest said that he
is aware that the stop in
“I think we would disagree with the residents
that we haven’t been transparent. We have given
information out when it is available.”
-Robert Kiely — Lake Forest City Manager told The Leader on Monday,
Aug. 14 referring to a letter from residents addressing his involvement in
Hiawatha Expansion project in 2012.
Lake Forest is not included
within the Chicago-Milwaukee
[environmental
assessment] and that the
project is not precluded
by the [environmental assessment]
work, but will
the proposed improvement
projects help Lake Forests’s
chance of getting a
stop?”
Following the webinar,
Kiely sent out a memo,
which he asked to be kept
“confidential,” to Metra
and WisDot officials asking
for comments on his
draft resolution, which
endorsed the freight train
holding track as “reasonable
and acceptable to the
community.”
“I would prefer that you
keep this document confidential
as it has not been
circulated in Lake Forest,”
Kiely wrote in the memo.
Kiley told The Leader
Monday he wanted it confidential
because the City
does not make preliminary
drafts public.
“When the email was
sent to the people at Wis-
Dot and IDOT it was in the
draft stages of the resolution,”
he said. “We never
make preliminary drafts
public drafts while they
are being prepared. So it
was made public before
the City Council, and the
City Council chose not to
act on it but that was during
that phase or stage in
which that resolution was
still being drafted.”
Mayor: Prior knowledge
‘would not have had an
impact’
Residents of Academy
Woods neighborhood,
Pine Oaks condo association
and others posted a
letter to Facebook Aug.
2 that they claimed was
sent to Lake Forest Mayor
Robert T.E. Lansing and
the members of the City
Council. Lansing, however,
said the letter has not
been sent to him but he has
seen the letter.
In the letter, the residents
not only spoke about
discovering Kiely’s prior
knowledge of the project,
but also expressed how
they felt about the lack of
communication.
“We write to notify you
of egregious violations
of the principles of honesty
and truthfulness in the
Lake Forest City Manager’s
office that threaten to
undermine the credibility
of City Hall and destroy
the trust of City residents
in their leadership,” the
letter says.
Despite their claims,
Kiely disagrees, saying
the City does not want to
make information public
prematurely.
“I think we would disagree
with the residents
that we haven’t been transparent,”
Kiely said. “We
have given information
out when it is available.
There are times when we
are pushing WisDot to do
additional testing and until
we had confirmation that
the testing was underway
we are not going to be out
there saying anything.”
Despite never directly
receiving the letter from
the residents who wrote it,
Lansing wrote a response
letter to them.
“There may have been
conversations in 2012 and
2014 that our City Manager
does not specifically
recollect, however, that
does not justify the statements
and the offensive
assertion that somehow
the City is not promoting
a community spirit of
trust, respect, and citizen
involvement,” he said in
the letter.
He also stated that
whether a City staff member
was aware of the
proposal years ago and
may have participated in
a meeting where it was
discussed, it “would not
have had an impact on the
issue.”
Lansing also spoke
visit us online at www.LAKEFORESTLEADER.com
about the issue of the holding
track and the process it
has gone through.
“All Lake Forest residents
should also know
[the] City Council has
fully evaluated the proposed
project from many
perspectives and, at present,
finds no basis under
which the City should take
any formal legal action at
this time,” he wrote in the
letter.
He also commented
on the City’s support of
the expansion long before
the proposal became
public.
“The City Council and
I are always mindful of
our duties to balance the
local interests of those
living in proximity to
the Milwaukee District
North line with Lake Forest’s
overall, long-term
best interests,” the letter
reads. “Long before the
proposed rail infrastructure
project and the draft
[environmental assessment]
became public, our
community has supported
the improvement and expansion
of commuter rail
service throughout Lake
Forest. We have worked
consistently with state
and federal legislators to
accomplish this goal. Regardless
of the outcome
of the [environmental assessment],
we are committed
to pursuing safer,
expanded and more convenient
commuter rail
service. We believe this is
in the best long-term interests
of all Lake Forest
homeowners.”
The Leader attempted
to contact the resident
who sent in the letter
and never received a
reply.