County Board Supports Governor’s Turnaround Agenda

Union members crowded the County Board room in an attempt to stop the passage of Governor Bruce Rauner's "Turnaround" Agenda.

Union members crowded the County Board room in an attempt to stop the passage of Governor Bruce Rauner’s “Turnaround” Agenda.

You’ll be hearing more about the contents of the following resolution, which passed the McHenry County Board on a 16-5 vote Thursday morning.

Voting against the resolution were

  • Tina Hill
  • Mary McCann
  • Anna May Miller
  • Mike Skala
  • Bob Nowak

The terms for all but Nowak are up next year.

Absent from the meeting were Michael Rein and John Jung.  Sue Draffkorn, who is also up for election next year, did not participate in the roll call.

One County Board member commented on the contentiousness of the meeting.

All County Board members are Republican.

RESOLUTION FOR THE TURNAROUND AGENDA – LOCAL GOVERNMENT
EMPOWERMENT AND REFORM

WHEREAS, Illinois state law creates a “one size fits all” approach to collective bargaining for local units of governments. This approach creates added costs which are ultimately passed on to taxpayers; and

WHEREAS, voters and local officials should determine what is a subject of bargaining – not the State; and

WHEREAS, local control of bargaining would allow voters or local governments to determine if certain topics should be excluded from collective bargaining, including contracting, wages, provisions of health insurance, use of employee time, required levels of staffing, procedures and criteria for personal evaluations, academic performance, conduct, and discipline in school; and

WHEREAS, state law sets thresholds for workers on state and local construction projects increasing costs significantly; and

WHEREAS, state law has increased utilization of Project Labor Agreements for construction projects; and

WHEREAS, repealing the Illinois Prevailing Wage Law and the requirements for Project Labor Agreements would allow local governments more control over construction and project costs; and

WHEREAS, more than 280 unfunded mandates have been imposed in recent years in communities across Illinois, costing those communities billions. Rolling back mandates will create more flexibility in local government budgets; and

WHEREAS, Illinois’ workers compensation costs are the seventh highest in the nation – and more than double the costs in Indiana; and

WHEREAS, updating how injuries are apportioned to ensure employers pay for injuries that occur on the job, a clarification regarding the definition of “traveling employees” to ensure a reasonable standard that excludes risks that would impact the general public, and implementation of American Medical Association guidelines when determining impairment would result in major cost savings for local governments; and

WHEREAS, voters in our community should be allowed to decide via referendum whether or not employees should be forced to join a union or pay dues as a condition of employment; and

WHEREAS, local employment zones will help attract jobs and make our community more attractive for businesses; and

WHEREAS, local governments face unfunded liabilities that threaten core services and functions of government; state action on pension reform for future work should provide local governments the ability to address pension reform for future work as well.

NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, by this County Board of McHenry County, Illinois hereby endorses major reforms in state government that will encourage local control, reduce costs on local governments, empower local voters, and increase competitiveness in our community; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the County Clerk is hereby directed to distribute a certified copy of this Resolution to Governor Rauner; McHenry County State Representatives and Senators; members of the McHenry County Board; the County Administrator; and Department Heads/Elected Officials.


Comments

County Board Supports Governor’s Turnaround Agenda — 7 Comments

  1. Listening to the meeting on-line, there were a lot of threats thrown at the Board members!

    I noted that Wheeler brought up the issue of Board member security at the end of the meeting!

    Mary McCann made it obvious that she does not support the move to rein in the impact of Prevailing wage but she stated that we need to go after companies that do not pay income tax.

    Do you think she ever contemplated the idea that these companies do not pay tax because their profits are eaten up by high wages, workman’s compensation and unemployment taxes?

  2. How many NO votes were due to the threats from the Union members who spoke?

  3. Anna May Miller, R-Cary, who said she had “no comfort” in supporting it without first seeing whatever legislation is filed to advance it.

    “Anybody who has dealt with legislation knows the devil is in the details,” she said to applause from the audience.

    Bravo not a Nancy Pelosi moment, at least locally we have a politician that actually likes to see the details before voting on some kind of nonsense.

  4. Con if companies cannot afford workmans comp and wages etc and still pay their taxes they should go out of business.

    Taxpayers are also tired of bailing out failed businesses and all the write offs businesses take.

  5. This legislation seems fair to me.

    For years, many have moaned and groaned about State and Federal Government control and the problems associated with it.

    Here, the Governor suggests control by local government.

    Isn’t that what we want in the end?

    Government by the People and for the People?

  6. Let’s look at the vote broken down by County Board district.

    Each voter is represented by four county board members.

    There are four county board members per each of the six County Board Districts.

    Voting against the Rauner / State of Illinois Turnaround Agenda.

    Anna May Miller – District 1
    Bob Nowak – District 1

    Tina Hill – District 5
    Mike Skala – District 5

    Mary McCann – District 6

    District 1: Very SE portion of the county including portions of Algonquin, Barrington Hills, Cary, Fox River Grove, and Trout Valley. Half of Algonquin Twp and a bit of Grafton Twp. District 1 and 2 are the most population dense districts in the county.

    District 2: SE portion of the county surrounded by Districts 1, 3, and 5. Includes much of Crystal Lake. Includes more than 1/3 of Algonquin Township and a bit of Grafton Twp.

    District 3: The central portion of the eastern most part of the county including parts of McHenry & Crystal Lake, Spring Grove, Oakwood Hills, Port Barrington, Island Lake, and Holiday Hills. Includes all of Nunda Township and a bit of McHenry Twp.

    District 4: NE McHenry County including much of McHenry, Richmond, Spring Grove. Includes all of Richmond and Burton Townships, and most of McHenry Twp.

    District 5: South central McHenry County, all of Dorr Twp which includes much of incorporated Woodstock, extends south on Rte 47 thru Huntley, includes about 1/3 of Grafton Twp.

    District 6: The western half of the county, geographically consisting of more than half the county. Harvard, Marengo, Union, Alden, Hebron, unincorporated Woodstock, etc. All of Chemung, Dunham, Marengo, Riley, Alden, Hartland, Seneca, Coral, Hebron, & Greenwood Townships, and about 1/3 of Grafton Twp.

    To get a more precise understanding of how County Board Districts are subdivided, visit the McHenry County Clerk website and scroll to the bottom of the page.

    http://www.co.mchenry.il.us > County Government > Departments A-I > County Clerk > Elections > (scroll to the bottom of that page).

    http://www.co.mchenry.il.us/county-government/departments-a-i/county-clerk/elections/voter-services

    The districts are subdivided into precincts.

    To determine the precinct for a particular address, select “Precinct Finder & Sample Ballots” which brings one to:
    http://www.mchenry-il.connect.clarityelections.com

    Select “Precinct Finder” which brings one to:
    http://www.mchenry-il.connect.clarityelections.com/precinctfinder.aspx

    Townships are subdivided into Precincts.

    There are 17 townships in McHenry County.

    The townships are abbreviated by the first three letters in their name in Precinct Finder.

    Alden: ALD
    Algonquin: ALG
    Burton: BUR
    Chemung: CHE
    Coral: COR
    Dorr: DOR
    Dunham: DUN
    Grafton: GRA
    Greenwood: GRE
    Hartland: HAR
    Hebron: HEB
    Marengo: MAR
    McHenry: MCH
    Nunda: NUN
    Seneca: SEN
    Richmond: RIC
    Riley: RIL

    Governor Rauner is living up to his promise of taking on the public sector unions which both Republicans and Democrats have been in cahoots with for four and one half DECADES.

    That’s 44 years.

    1971 – 2015.

    No small task.

    Reforms should include having every company pay income tax, just another example of special interest groups working the political system to their advantage at taxpayer expense (yes we realize most companies are taxpayers too).

  7. There’s nothing to pass, it’s not a House Bill or Senate Bill, it’s not going to become a Public Act, it’s not actual legislation.

    It’s a blueprint resolution.

    Rauner is trying to bring to the public’s attention his points on why he believes the state is in it’s current predicament and what can be done to make progress.

    The details in what caused the mess are public record in the form of House Bills, Senate Bills, Public Acts, collective bargaining contracts, and administrator contracts, over the last 44 years.

    There is a mountain of evidence buried in past legislation and agreements.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *