And the winner is...Trustee John Scaletta

Arlington Heights has a new Business Mis-Manager for 2012 in Trustee John Scaletta.  Mr. Scaletta has ripped that award away from the owner of Peggy Kinnane’s Mr. Derek Hanley for his misguided business decision to host the huge money losing St. Patrick’s Day party in March 2011.

Trustee Scaletta was anointed Arlington Heights Theater Director of Operations by Joseph Freed and Associates, LLC during the fast and furious development days of the 1990’s. Theatre Director of Operations was a seemingly no lose position at the time.

Even still Trustee Scaletta found a way to run the Arlington Heights Theatre into the ground while climbing the local political ladder to an elite group called the Village Board. Trustee Scaletta did not fully grasp that Director of Operations required more than hiring teenagers to take tickets, make popcorn and hand out free movie tickets during election time.

Movie technology upgrades should have been ongoing from the minute Mr. Scaletta was appointed Director of Operations in 1999. But he chose to ignore that challenge and the theatre quickly became uncompetitive.

Then, surprise, negotiations fell through in 2012 to make massive upgrades and the theatre closed. Twenty five workers were laid off. But not to worry Trustee Scaletta is still employed with F&F Management of Buffalo Grove.

The vacant building at 53 S. Evergreen inside Arlington Town Square (now in bankruptcy) maybe a fitting testimony to this year’s Mis-Manager.  That is because Trustee Scaletta has now contributed to the structural vacancy rate in Arlington Heights, which will be the legacy of the current Board’s failure in policy decisions since 1992.