Grafton Township Supervisor Candidate Marty Waitzman States Position on New Town Hall: “Acquisition or Construction of a New Township Building Today Would Be Fiscally Irresponsible and Unnecessary”

A press release from Grafton Township Supervisor candidate Marty Waitzman:

Marty Waitzman – Position Statement on Grafton Township Building

At the 2009 Annual Town Meeting of the Grafton Township electors, Trustee Betty Zirk extolled the value of building a new township hall.

ALGONQUIN, IL – I have had many conversations with residents and news reporters who wanted to know whether or not I believe there is a need in Grafton Township for the acquisition or construction of a new Township Building.

I will not criticize, nor applaud, the opinions of those individuals who were involved in the past controversy surrounding the proposed Township Building.

Finger- pointing, mudslinging, and polarization need to stop.

I am committed to running a positive campaign, so I will leave the past where it belongs—in the past.

To quote the press release which announced my candidacy, I stated in pertinent part,

“Marty’s objective is to build a Grafton Township government that will work hard, smart, and efficiently for the community.

“Marty is a fiscal conservative who knows how to do more with less, and how to work collaboratively and respectfully with both community members and government officials and employees.”

Marty Waitzman

I wish to clearly state my position on the acquisition or construction of a new Township Building.

Consistent with the objective quoted in the previous paragraph, I believe that with today’s disastrous economic conditions and the current suffering endured by Grafton Township’s citizens, the acquisition or construction of a new Township Building today would be fiscally irresponsible and unnecessary.

Accordingly, I do not support or advocate such an undertaking.

I believe that township activities can be accomplished with some minor improvements and updates to the present Township facility. These can be done over time and as funds are available.

By way of illustration, it has been publically disclosed that the Assessor’s office is currently operating with an electrical system that is dangerously inadequate.

The potential loss of real estate data due to an electrical calamity is very real.

The horrific impact on property owners in the Township and on all of McHenry County would be enormous.

The costs and time that would be necessary to rebuild the Assessor’s data base would undoubtedly be gigantic.

I understand the electrical inadequacies can be fixed for under $4,000.

That is the type of necessary, responsible, and reasonably priced improvement and update that I not only support, but highly recommend.

For more information, please contact Marty Waitzman at (847) 450-4950, marty@waitzman2013.com, or visit www.waitzman2013.com.

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Waitzman is running against incumbent Linda Moore and fellow challenger Pam Fender.

A response from Moore concerning the electrical needs portion of the press release above can be found here.


Comments

Grafton Township Supervisor Candidate Marty Waitzman States Position on New Town Hall: “Acquisition or Construction of a New Township Building Today Would Be Fiscally Irresponsible and Unnecessary” — 30 Comments

  1. Doesn’t the assessor back up his records off site?

    Can’t imagine an electrical problem, even a fire, destroying digital records that are properly maintained.

    Most private businesses do it everyday at little or no cost.

  2. This is wonderful – An opponent of Linda Moore is actually recognizing that Linda was right.

    We don’t need a new township hall!!!

    … but don’t tell that to Pam or the Trustees!

    The problem is not Linda – but the trustees, their RINO cohorts, and the political chicanery they have pulled off to this point.

    Its a story that needs to be told and I am sure it will.

  3. Lawyer Waitzman, “the acquisition or construction of a new Township Building today would be fiscally irresponsible and unnecessary.” no kidding!

    I am guessing you are aware that this is almost identical to what was said when the multi-million dollar building was being foisted on local residents.

    Supervisor Moore and other residents (who took the issue to court against the previous supervisor and trustees of that time) have been and continue to be unjustly demeaned for doing what was right.

    It takes courage to walk against the wind in the public arena.

    The ones who took it to the legal system had courage.

    Unfortunately, few came forward to address the personal or business issues and the huge, expensive, building’s “groupies” have found nothing wrong with slamming the good citizens who took it to court. (I want to be fair to you, did you come forward before? I may have missed it)

    Many in township positions think they run their own quiet world.

    Township laws are different.

    In Grafton, 4 trustees want things their way even though their responsibilities according to township law are actually very limited.

    Hence the hundreds of thousands of dollars wasted in the various legal battles.

    As to the electrical issue, I would expect that almost everyone would agree that such things would be taken care of…however, whose word are you going on that the process is being properly handled and that the claims of problems are true and need to be addressed in such and such way at whatever cost has been suggested?

    If I give you credit for being a successful businessman, lawyer, and good person, I would also like something in return.

    I would like something more solid than “would be fiscally irresponsible and unnecessary.”

    Elections are known to turn on such words and later the voters find out it wasn’t written in stone and that even if it was “fiscally irresponsible and unnecessary” a building would be acquired or built anyway.

    Ah, well, Grafton Township rides again.

  4. The data would not be the only problem Fred.

    If there are electrical issues – usually spikes or brown/black outs – it can damage the servers and all the network equipment in an office.

    If you can provide the upgrades for “clean” power to the network blocks and servers, you should.

    I would have to assume that the hardware is worth a lot more than the $4,000 repair.

    Not to mention the downtime and manpower it would take to re-establish the network links and data controls they probably have in place.

    That is not something that can be stored offsite unless they have another network set up somewhere.

  5. You can thank Tom Halat, Dan Ziller and a very few other residents for taking the time and putting up the money to stop the previous Grafton Township administration from building the Taj Mal for close to $5M.

    There is plenty of existing vacant office space available should more room be needed.

  6. Ask Linda.

    She knows all about bringing computer data home for “safe keeping.”

    That stunt will cost taxpayers upwards of $26K.

  7. Look at how the argument is now shifting – First it was Linda’s fault for not building “The Taj”.

    Now its her fault the electrical is bad and the computer data is corrupt.

    These posters are no better than Obama blaming Bush for everything.

    These trustees know no shame and have zero accountability or credibility.

    Keep slinging the accusations… as more people really dig into the Graft in Grafton they will see it wasn’t Linda – but a bunch of RINOs who stood to gain, a lot, from “The Taj” and their pet projects.

  8. ” fiscally irresponsible and unnecessary”

    I noticed you did not state that you would not acquire or build it.

  9. It’s funny that when ever Cal blogs a press release from Marty, Linda responds.

    I hope this is not how Linda plans on conducting her campaign as the experiment that Pavlov conducted with his dog comes to mind.

    High five Marty!

  10. All ANY of the lawsuits state is that the Board of Trustees were wrong and Linda was right.

    The trustees waste 10s of thousands of dollars on lawsuits, only to lose.

    And just for the record Graft – I am not Linda. I am just one irritated member of the community who has to put up with the Grafton Township Board. They act like spoiled children.

    Why can’t Pam work at the township anymore?

    Why was Linda wrongfully removed from the town hall?

    Why was the Board of Trustees excoriated in their lawsuit?

    We have a tea party fiscal conservative in Linda Moore who believes in Limited Government. Rossi, Fender, and the RINOs cannot have that.

  11. A building surge suppressor (wired into the breaker box) and individual backup UPS (uninterruptable power supplies) protecting the server and workstations would adequately protect the hardware. The sole variable cost after purchase is replacing the UPS’ batteries every few years.

    The data should be being backed-up nightly either off-site (preferable) or at least on a RAID array in the office.

    As Fred said, it’s common business practice.

    If it’s not, it’s inexcusable.

  12. How long has Linda know about the electrical issue in the assessor’s office?
    Why are these repairs taking so long?
    When will the problem be fixed insuring no loss of data?

    I have heard that there are three kinds of people –
    Those that make things happen,
    those that watch things happen, and
    those that wonder what happened.

    Linda drove the food pantry out of the township office.
    Linda deleted the senior bus schedule from the township server,
    along with all of the financial records.
    Linda is hampering this much needed electrical upgrade.

    Why hasn’t Linda lead the charge to get the electrical system in the building fixed?

    Linda functions as a “road block.” I think it’s funny that Linda’s your role model for “tea party conservative” as she has wasted more than half a million dollars since she was elected. Imagine how much more money will be wasted IF all of the township real estate data is lost due to Linda blocking the road to fixing the problem.

    Why won’t Linda charge ahead and get this problem solved with the same gusto she uses to charge ahead and file lawsuits across Northern Illinois?

  13. Page 9 Transcript of 37 page ruling by Judge Caldwell December 10, 2010

    “Shortly after the start of Fender as Township Administrator, all computer passwords were overridden by a computer professional and replaced. The computers were moved and the server was removed from the township offices. Moore later discovered that all of the data on the township computers had been removed, including general assistance records (which are confidential).”

  14. I see marty still will not answer if he would build a new building.He must be hiding something and will not make a statement.

    For this attitude we should trust him?

    I THINK NOT!

  15. Still no answer on your plans for a new hall.

    You say now is not the time. Do you mean now is not the time because you are not in office but if you were elected that would be the time?

    How about an answer.

    The people deserve to know what you really think.

  16. People deserve to know what Linda thinks.

    She refuses to answer questions from the trustees and the public during Grafton meetings.

    See the videos.

    No answers, no audits, just lawsuits using other peoples money.

  17. Zorro – Marty has posted on other blogs that he will NOT be building a new building. He will also not be running for Prom King!

    Mr. Zielinski – the current building is so old it does not have any box mounted surge protection according to Ottley, I just called their office and specifically asked about this issue. That is what he was requesting be done in the last township meeting. He said, “The building was built prior to offices using all of the electrical equipment they have today, and that many computers are all on the same circuits. They are using extension cords to spread out the machines,” which I am sure is not OSHA compliant. Cords running across the floor to power machines is not only a tripping hazard, but also a fire hazard.

    Mr. Ottley also confirmed that they do daily back ups – but the office does not have extra equipment if something goes down, and that is why it is so urgent to have things protected. He also stated the building has been struck by lightning in the past more than once, and that computer battery back up/surge protectors have had to be replaced multiple times on the server because they fail. He has had them replaced as warranty claims, as one of them was only a couple weeks old when something made it quit working. The server lost multiple drives for some reason another time, and he believes it may have been electrical as well. He was able to restore the data on that failure using his back up. He also said he just bought a heavy duty battery back up and hopes that will protect the server until the building electric problems are corrected.

    He seemed open and really concerned about the issue – and I feel he was being truthful about it. He even invited me in to the office to come see for myself. This was evidence enough for me that his description of the problem is legit.

    I have seen Marty at the Township Meetings, I am sure he was aware of the electrical issue facts before he stated he would approve them. Seems to me that a box mounted surge protector is a good idea?

    And after some quick online searching $4000 would probably cover a commercial electrical box, rewiring, and a box mounted surge protector – which is what Ottley was saying was needed when he explained it. He said his request was based on an electricians inspection that found a residential box is currently being used with no room for additional circuits to be added.

    COME TO THE MEETINGS WITH ME PEOPLE – you can learn about who you should, and shouldn’t support in the upcoming elections.

  18. Zorro is Linda’s husband.

    BRAVO to Zorro JR!!!

    Mr Zielinski is very naive as to what Linda is like to deal with, if he only knew!

  19. Thank you for your articulate, courteous and fact-based comment.

    Hopefully it will be the standard for all future posts by everyone.

  20. Please provide proof of your statement. In it’s absence, it’s just another unfounded claim.

    If everyone posted openly versus using aliases, this and other forums would become highly useful idea exchanges.

    If someone has something to say, (s)he should have the courage to express it openly by posting under their real name.

    The taxpayers deserve honesty and transparency.

  21. Zorro is Linda’s husband Dave.

    Al Zielinski is Linda’s candidate for Assessor, they have been linked in the past though he will deny it!

    Here it comes…….

  22. 22- the one thing the Forensicon people put out was there was an eraser program installed on the server 2 days before Fender took her job. So I would not be so quick as to blame her and the trustees. BTW the supervisor is the only one who had access to the computers. She is the only one who had the password to get into the computer. why do you think she is not finishing paying the bill. she does not want this to get out totally.

    Were you at the last 2 meetings? Did you catch the stunt of bringing a lap top and no one could get into it because the password did not work. The answer given from the supervisor is that “they told me it was the correct password;” Who is they? then at the next meeting last month she brings it again and says that there is no password needed. So she was carrying around a computer with all of the financial records on it with no security. This is the person you trust?

  23. One more thing-if you go to page 108 of testimony this is where you will find that the supervisor admits that she downloaded all info from the township computer/server to a removable disk and took them home with her.

    That is probably how the records got erased from the server.

    Read a little more.

  24. Al – Why would people claim to see you with Linda at meetings and such if it wasn’t true?

    Also – if you are running for office, you would be expected to talk to her in case you both win. So why deny it instead of just saying yes – I spoke to her, to make sure I could work with her in my capacity as assessor? Seems like sneaky stuff to me.

    It appears that you are trying TOO hard to say you never spoke to her? Have you attended any of the township monthly meetings? Most people would expect you too if you are genuinely concerned for our township. If you do, can you really expect us to believe Linda wouldn’t relish promoting you over someone she is currently in litigation with?

    I REALLY hope there are no plans to hire her into another role within our Township Offices if she loses the Supervisor election, and one of her “friends” win another position! That should be one of your campaign PROMISES!

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