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March 28, 2024

Algonquin Township Road District – Miller unable to truthfully admit or deny creating any record of bargaining with Local 150

By Kirk Allen & John Kraft

On January 5, 2020

McHenry Co. (ECWd)

The Algonquin Township Road District former Highway Commissioner Bob Miller signed a Collective Bargaining  Agreement with Local 150 Union just twenty days before leaving office.  That agreement points to its taking effect on May 1, 2017, just two weeks prior to Miller’s departure from office due to losing the election.  While that agreement and the termination of certain employees has been an ongoing legal battle.  Labor issues aside, the Road District sued Miller in civil court in relation to numerous issues and once again we review certain answers to the interrogatories and request to admit records in that case.

From the Interrogatory:

8. Identify any records related to bargaining with Local 150 during the time period of January 1, 2017, to May 17, 2017.

ANSWER:
“I know of no such records. Nothing is in my possession or under my control”

Related to bargaining?  How about the Collective Bargaining Agreement?  Would that not be related to bargaining with local 150?

Would provisions wanted in the contract being shared with soon to be union personnel and Miller constitute as being related to bargaining?

From previous articles

 April 21, 2017, Derek Lee emails Bob Miller with suggested changes to the collective bargaining agreement, (called contract in the email), as suggested by his wife, Miller’s daughter, Rebecca Lee.

 March 15, 2017, a letter from Union 150 to Bob Miller informing him they are filing a representation petition for employees in the Highway Department.

While those records may not be in his possession or under Miller’s control, we find it very odd that he knows of no such records related to bargaining with local 150 in light of the communications that are in the public record and actually published as part of this article disproving Ed Komenda’s reporting on the reasoning behind the unionization.

From the Request to Admit

5. No record was ever created by You of any bargaining with Local 150 for a Collective Bargaining Agreement.

ANSWER:
Defendant ROBERT MILLER sets forth a specific objection to request number 5 on the basis of relevancy as any issues involving “Local 150” are not a part of the instant litigation and are a part of separate lawsuit of which Defendant ROBERT MILLER is not a part. Answering over objection, Defendant ROBERT MILLER, cannot either truthfully admit or deny request number 5 as Defendant ROBERT MILLER is not in possession of any records of the Algonquin Township Road District to determine whether or not a record was created and has no recollection of specific records, documents, notes or memorandums, all of which would be included in the definition of “records” to which Defendant ROBERT MILLER can refer.

Looking at the response, Miller cannot truthfully admit or deny any record was ever created by him as it relates to bargaining with Local 150 for a Collective Bargaining Agreement but he qualifies it by saying he is not in possession of any records of the Road District to determine whether or not a record was created.  Not sure what possession has to do with it considering he does confirm, he has no recollection of specific records, documents, notes, or memorandums, to which he can refer.

So if Miller knows of no such records, has no recollection of specific records, nor able to identify such records related to a collective bargaining agreement, even though he is the one that signed the agreement just prior to leaving office, what did the current Highway Commissioner Andrew Gasser know and when did he know it?

To date, we have been unable to obtain any public records that reflect any collective bargaining prior to the signing of the Collective Bargaining Agreement.

Stay tuned for answers to what Gasser knew and when, and how those factors played a role in steps taken from day one.

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