The Race for Algonquin Township Supervisor

Ellen Brady Mueller

Chuck Lutzow

Lots of mail in the contest for Algonquin Township Supervisor now that Dianne Klemm is stepping down.

The contest is between Township Clerk Chuck Lutzow and Crystal Lake City Councilwoman Ellen Brady (Mueller).

Here is the mail that I was able to gather (can’t vouch for the order in which they were mailed, except for the last two from Brady):

First up is one from Ellen Brady.

A Lutzow mailing:
Another Brady mailing:
A second Lutzow mailing:
This hit piece from Brady supporters has no identification other than “Paid for by CATG.”  I can’t find any Political Action Committee by that name on the Illinois State Board of Elections web site.

This came in a little hand addressed envelop with a written message to “Dear Skinner Family.”

Although signed with Ellen Brady’s name, since she knows me, I figure it was written by someone else. Otherwise, the salutation would have been, “Dear Cal.”

A little palm card was included.

A larger envelop also came at the end of last week. It included a letter, which is below:
This card was enclosed with Brady’s letter:

I remember another Lutzow mailing, but I can’t find it.


Comments

The Race for Algonquin Township Supervisor — 9 Comments

  1. B ad
    R atlike
    A sinine
    D ull (to the taxpayers’ pain)
    Y es-woman to the Millers!

  2. I’m sure Ellen Brady wants to bring to the Township the same kind of record she has on the Crystal Lake City Council, including

    * ignoring the Library Board paying their architect $700,000 for a fantasy library,

    * ignoring the “Library YES” campaign’s acceptance of a major donation from that same architect, and

    * ignoring the Library Board spending $2 million to buy property for their fantasy library, one purchase which occurred AFTER they lost the referendum!

  3. Also, pointing at eighteen year of doing nothing but ripping off the taxpayers, she pledges to cut spending?

    LOL Do they read this stuff they write?

  4. Wait… Lutzow really tried to get reimbursed from the government for cigars and massages?

    And this is Gasser’s candidate to “drain the swamp?”

  5. I asked him about both charges.

    When he turned in a hotel receipt from a conference it had a cigar on it. He did not request reimbursement for the cigar, he told me.

    What is referenced as a “message” was actually a charge for use of a hotel’s health club. Lutzow told me he exercises every day and was told that reimbursement was appropriate for something he did regularly at home.

    When challenged, he paid the $20 for the exercise cost himself.

  6. Chuck and Andrew also should know by now state law says Supervisor, Assessors, and Highway Commissoners all have get a IMRF pension, they can’t refuse to not have the 10% taken out of their total compensation.

    If they term limit less than 10 years they get the employee portion back, but the twh portion of the pension doesn’t get returned to the twh.

  7. WOW! It is amazing to me that Ellen is using the, “I support small business” card in her letter to Cal.

    Her words do not match her actions on the CL City Council.

    The fact is, Ellen has used her tenure on the Crystal Lake City Council to HURT many small businesses in Algonquin Township by creating an uneven playing field for small businesses in Crystal Lake and creating a sad divide in the Crystal Lake business community…the favored downtown and the forgotten Algonquin Township businesses.

    Ellen, along with Mayor Shepley and other sentimental-townie-City Council members have poured a ton a money into little, downtown Crystal Lake (Nunda Township) over the last 10 years, after the TIF expired.

    Using the general fund as downtown’s private checking account, Ellen and her cohorts have continually agreed to pay for extensive streetscaping, bought and built parking lots, and actually CONTINUE to FOOT THE BILL for landscaping/parking lot maintenance with NO COST to the local merchants and building owners.

    Downtown building owners and merchants have had absolutely no skin in this game and have a huge competitive advantage over Algonquin Township businesses.

    Imagine setting up shop in Crystal Lake near Route 14.

    Here is what you can expect from Ellen.

    Your competitors in little downtown CL will get free CAM, drastically reduced property taxes (from a sentimental assessor?) and constant newspaper articles, mentions, accolades from City Officials.

    Your existence in Crystal Lake will go unnoticed and not appreciated, except for your retail sales contributions to Crystal Lake’s general fund, which City officials will promptly dump into downtown Crystal Lake improvements.

    Just last week, there was an article in the NW Herald about Willow Creek and Mayor Shepley promptly noted that this will be a great benefit for downtown.

    This is the type of rhetoric continuously coming from our City leaders and Ellen.

    Did it ever occur to them that Willow Creek parishioners might shop and dine on Route 14?

    Do they realize that the small business community outside of downtown has greater numbers?

    Do they know we exist?

    Instead of including all small businesses in Crystal Lake with good economic news, the City Council will only mention the benefits to downtown.

    Crystal Lake is not inclusive of all small businesses.

    Ellen and many of her fellow city council members only care about a small group of mainly non-retail generating service businesses in landlocked downtown that host parades for them to take credit for.

    Ellen doesn’t seem to understand or care that business owners in Algonquin Township pay for landscaping and parking lot maintenance on their own and this can translate into many thousands of dollars each year.

    By giving handouts and subsidies to downtown business owners and competitors, it gives these downtown small businesses a huge competitive advantage.

    The other advantage for downtown businesses is property taxes.

    Many fully improved downtown buildings have startlingly low property taxes compared to Algonquin township commercial properties.

    City officials like Ellen like to brag that downtown is fully leased.

    There’s a reason for this – it’s practically free!

    In her letter to Cal, Ellen claims that she is mindful of spending wisely in her role as an office manager.

    Really?

    So, maybe she can do a quick calculation and determine the ROI of her monetary support for downtown?

    In 2015, the City resurfaced the Brink Street parking lot (at no expense to the local businesses and giving Starbucks a larger outdoor seating area), continued with additional improvements, landscaping, decorations etc.

    Let’s round the cost to $300K (on the low side).

    Little downtown would have to generate over $15 million in retail sales to cover this cost.

    Since downtown is now filled with non-retail generating businesses is this likely?

    Since retail sales revenue has been flat in Crystal Lake the last 5 years, is this smart spending.

    Ellen?

    The sad part is that these expensive improvements have been going on for many years!

    Last year, the City Council briefly discussed asking downtown merchants and building owners to help pay for some of their own expenses.

    Ellen claimed that merchants were not complaining (duh!!!) and that she wants to leave the downtown subsidies in place because, “downtown are the only ones (small businesses) doing anything for Crystal Lake.”

    So now Ellen wants to represent residents and businesses in Algonquin Township…you know Ellen, the businesses who don’t do anything for Crystal Lake?

    This is such an insult to all small businesses on Route 14/Algonquin Township that endlessly contribute to local charities, fund-raisers, schools, etc.

    No, we can’t shut down Route 14 to do a parade, but we are at least paying our own way.

    I’m sorry Ellen.

    You don’t deserve to be Algonquin Township supervisor.

    I’m tired of hearing about your ancestral ties to Crystal Lake, as if this makes you qualified.

    In my opinion, you have made decisions based on townie sentimentality which has hurt Algonquin township businesses that you now seek to represent.

    You have held back Crystal Lake’s economic development by supporting a relatively small portion of Crystal Lake’s retail generating businesses and starving other areas of Crystal Lake that need improvement.

    My vote is a resounding NO.

  8. Chuck was respnsible for downloading the wrong forms from the county website that caused the challenge.

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