Mental Health Board, Liquor License Referendums On Highland Park, Moraine Township Ballots

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Backers of the referendum noted that 90 other communities in Illinois have established community mental health boards and pointed to statistics demonstrating the needs in the Highland Park and Highwood area.

Currently, 49 township residents currently sit on a wait list for state services for intellectual and development disabilities.

And every year, 30 to 50 students at Highland Park High School are hospitalized for mental health or drug abuse, with Highland Park Hospital admitting nearly 300 patients for mental health and drugs in the past two years, according to representatives of the Yes for Mental Health political action committee, who said the money raised from the new tax would go to fund services reserved for township residents.

“We are reaching out to a broad coalition of residents, community leaders, mental health professionals and organizations to get behind this important initiative to allocate resources efficiently to address critical unmet needs in a process-driven, non-bureaucratic way,” according to the committee’s website.

The municipal referendum is a citizen-initiated effort to amend a longstanding post-Prohibition era law that prohibits elected officials and police officers from having liquor licenses.

The law, part of the city’s municipal code, recently led Councilmember Jeff Hoobler, co-owner of Ravinia Brewing Company, to resign instead of giving up his liquor license.

Hoobler, who received more votes than any other candidate in last year’s municipal election, had his liquor license renewed in late 2023 before the ordinance was discovered.

Efforts to amend the law were blocked earlier this year when Mayor Nancy Rotering and two other council members, Kim Stone and Tony Blumberg, voted against a proposed change.

Without Hoobler recusing himself, the council was deadlocked 3-3, leaving the liquor license ban in place and prompting the referendum campaign, which asks voters, “Should the City of Highland Park, Illinois amend its laws to allow liquor license holders to serve as elected city officials?”

More than 2,500 Highland Park residents signed petitions to put it on the ballot, according to its backers.

“Highland Park voters must be able to decide for themselves whether a candidate’s liquor license matters. There is no good reason to take this decision out of their hands and impose arbitrary limits on their choices,” said Doug Purington, who directs publicity and membership for the Ravinia Neighbors Association.

“The status quo is an affront to the intelligence of our community, it signals a lack of trust in voter wisdom, and it is unsustainable,” Purington said in a statement.

Highland Park Forward, a grassroots political action committee, has led the charge in favor of the amendment, with members arguing that the law is outdated and unfairly limits voter choice.

“Everyone knows this antiquated law needs to be fixed,” said HP Forward Executive Board Member Jim Lederer, the owner of Bluegrass restaurant in west Highland Park. “The voters elected Hoobler knowing that he held a liquor license, and they likely picked him because of his business experience.”

Led by Irwin Bernstein, a member of the city’s Business and Economic Development Advisory Group, HP Forward’s only reported funding so far has come from the Citizens for Jeff Hoobler committee.

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“Residents from all corners of the community are telling us they want the Highland Park City Council to update its antiquated liquor licensing law so it no longer limits who can serve in elected office,” said Bernstein, who pledged that the new committee will support candidates and issues to promote a more vibrant business environment and a more open city government.

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