The Village Board made history Tuesday night by allowing a trustee to participate in a meeting and vote by long-distance telephone, but the trustee voted to abstain at least nine times.
One of the first orders of business at the meeting was a vote on whether to allow Trustee Richard Cashman to participate from his hotel room in Florida, where he is reportedly on business.
The other trustees voted 3-2 in favor of allowing Cashman to participate after Village Atty. Bob Kenny said legal precedent for this action had been set in a 1995 Illinois Appellate Court ruling that telephone votes were proper.
Trustees Thom Koch and Cindy Hebda nevertheless voted against allowing Cashman to participate.
Cashman was expected to vote during a committee of the whole meeting on the Storage USA proposal to build a self-storage building at U.S. Highway 45 and Butterfield Road.
Members of the Westwood Homeowners Association, whose homes border the proposed site, have worked against the proposal since the beginning.
Cashman abstained on the controversial matter. The final committee vote was 4-1 in favor of allowing the facility to be built. The board is expected to take a final vote at its next meeting May 20.
