Bart Novack has been a neighbor of mine, for many, many years, and I was quite surprised to see that he was running for office (Wellington Village Council, Seat 3), challenging Vice Mayor John McGovern. Ordinarily, I would love to support a neighbor and have a nearby official to speak to. Our houses are two blocks apart.
But Bart has been a horrific neighbor, in constant fights with other neighbors and has the worst-looking property in our community for as long as I know him, although recently, he cleaned it up for the election. His family has neglected to pay our HOA for months at a time, and also fails to respond to violations on property in a timely manner, also bringing home unsightly trailers and trucks. At last count that I know of, Bart’s family has had 28 different violations over 15 years on his family property, and by any measure, that’s excessive. He has cost both our association and the village monies due to his reluctance to meet his financial obligations and neighborhood aesthetics.
Bart stated that “part of the village spending… is used to promote private businesses in Wellington.” This is patently untrue — a lie that he created because it is attention-grabbing. Bart and facts are often at odds.
If Bart were serious about running for office, he would have attended debates and forums to let the voters meet him and listen to his ideas. He has not because he knows questions will be asked about his violations and lawsuit against the village, and about his temperament and lack of vision. His behavior shows a disdain for our laws/codes, and now he wants to be in charge of them. We fight hard to maintain our property values, and Bart is an example of a failure to meet a minimum standard to keep up our property values.
On the other hand, John McGovern has shown himself to reach out to the community, bring up his children here, use Wellington sports programs and has embraced our village, giving back for what he feels was given him, a wonderful place to bring up a family. Unlike his opponent, John is a responsible citizen, and John has given his time and business experience to help Wellington.
I, too, am an activist, fighting for all Wellingtonians since 1991, and I have been on numerous committees from Planning & Zoning, Architectural Review, Public Safety and more. Never have I seen Bart there except for complaining about nonsense and rarely having the facts.
Many elections are difficult for voters, but this one is not. One candidate, John McGovern, has an exemplary record in our village. The other is a continuous malcontent. It is easy to complain, we all do it, but much harder to put forward ideas, and Bart never does, while that is McGovern’s forte.
George Unger, Wellington
Actually George Unger is not unlike Bart Novack. Always tossing out unsubstantiated accusations against village officials and persons who do not agree with him. As the saying goes, George cleaned himself up
real good in this letter.
I’m surprised George and Bart are not running as a team.