The Milestone Sand Pit Approval - A textbook case of corruption and incompetence.

 This is a very basic list of some of the issues describing the disreputable tactics involved with Pres Joling's mishandling of the Milestone sand pit permit appeal. 

  These bullet-point allegations are all based on facts, nearly all of which are a matter of record.

   The lack of accountability for the fundamental corruption that marked to appeal process, has only served to enable more such dirty dealings in Village government since then.  

 

Fact Sheet Regarding the January 2026 Milestone CUP (Conditional Use Permit) Appeal
Mr. Joling did the following:
• Hired a pro-mining lawyer who falsely claimed "to represent the Village for purposes of the appeal". He did so without input or  authorization from the Village Board
• Had secret closed door meetings with the pro-mine lawyer without Village Board knowledge. It is alleged that Joling and Admin Davel were given instructions at those meetings to make sure the sand pit permit was approved.
• Never divulged to the Board what was discussed or agreed to, but he came out of the first meeting extremely adamant that the sand pit be approved, regardless of procedure requirements or facts that required denial of the permit.
• Lobbied the other Board members individually, seeking approval of the sand mine CUP. 
• Openly advocated for preferential treatment for businesses making CUP applications.
• Excluded the regular (presumably objective) Village Attorney from knowledge or participation in the appeal process.
• Prevented the Village Attorney from instructing the Village Board as to their obligations, or the rules of the appeal procedure
• Refused to provide a transcript of the Plan Commission meeting for the Village Board to review.
• Tried to exclude a knowledgeable trustee from the appeal meeting while not excluding himself due to his inherent heavy bias in favor of the applicant.
• Neglected to poll the Board as to ex-parte discussions or information they may have been exposed to outside of the appeal meeting. 
• Stated on record that this was an appeal for review of the Plan Commission denial of the sand mine CUP and that "no new evidence is allowed", but then immediately turned the floor over to the Milestone Attorney to present new evidence and answer 
questions.
• In contrast, he prohibited comment from affected residents who were not in favor of the sand pit. 
• Apparently made up his own rules for the appeal, allowing one party to provide extensive new information, while the other could not say anything.
• Completely failed to identify or address any of PC's findings let alone specifically find any fault with them. This is supposed to be the exact purpose of the "appeal review".
• Instead, the meeting rambled, with Milestone's presentation of arguments and softball questions.
• The meeting provided no conclusions or consensus on any of the 5 criteria. Which is required in order the Village Board decision to be legally acceptable. 
• The Board motion was simply to reverse the PC denial of the permit, without reasons.
• Three days later, Joling came up with a "affirmative finding report", based mostly on speculation and arbitrary rhetoric copied from the Milestone attorney's arguments.
• The findings of that report are not consistent with that of an objective reasonable person based on facts presented at the Plan Commission meeting, as required by law.
• Joling's makeshift report was not based on discussion or deliberation at the meeting. 
• By creating that report after the meeting, Mr Joling avoided having to debate or explain his rationale. The report is not a part of the record of the appeal.
    Over all, it appears that Attorney Vanderwaal, President Joling, and Administrator Davel saw to it that the Board was as uninformed and disorganized as possible. Basically playing the Board members as pawns to get an approval for a multi-million dollar windfall for Milestone, while betraying the best interests of the Village in general, and the property rights of the neighbors who will clearly be negatively impacted by this sand pit approval.