Jack Franks Robo-Calls LITH about Success of Suit to Allow Him to Take Control of the Sanitary District

A friend of McHenry County Blog writes,

“I live in Lake in the Hills.

Jack was nice enough to robo call us that he just won an injunction against the lith sewer dept wasting our money and claimed if we had questions to call him at home.”

No word on whether he called the Lake in the Hills Sanitary District customers in Crystal Lake and Huntley.

And no word on how the LITH Sanitary District charges less than any other sewage treatment system in McHenry County.

= = = = =
Did anyone get the exact words of the phone call?


Comments

Jack Franks Robo-Calls LITH about Success of Suit to Allow Him to Take Control of the Sanitary District — 7 Comments

  1. Wait a minute! I thought I was the only friend this sunshine blog had. Tic, tock, tic, tock…

  2. I thought our MC Republicans were all about consolidation of units of government?

    Why were they not/are they not all over this and helping it to succeed?

    Partisanship over policy/principal?

  3. Can the Lake in the Hills staff report of the proposed consolidation of the Lake in the Hills Sanitary District into the Village of Lake in the Hills be posted on the blog.

    The study was mentioned in the minutes of the June 8, 2017 village board meeting.

    The study was not included in the board packet for that meeting.

    In the name of transparency the report should be posted on the county website (since County Board Chair Jack Franks is pushing for the consolidation) and on the website of the Village of Lake in the Hills (since they prepared the report).

    Any Powerpoint or other presentations of the study should also be posted.

  4. Mark – You can find the study on the Village of Lake in the Hills’ website lith.org.

    Look under the February 21, 2017 Committee of the Whole Agenda packet.

    It’s the last item.

    5 page staff report dated February 17, 2017.

    As a comparison it would be worth obtaining the Lake in the Hills Sanitary District’s review of that report.

    I too believe in having facts before forming an opinion.

    Good luck.

  5. She’s making an “apples to oranges” comparison, which causes me to be suspicious.

    What is the average cost per gallon (or 100 or 1000 gallons) to treat sewage across area municipalities?

    From that you can better assess the risk or benefit of consolidation.

    Comparing costs to providing drinking water is a flawed approach.

    The comparison of sewer fees is a good start but insufficient.

    Fees may well include other expenses or debt beyond the actual expense of treatment, administration, and maintenance.

  6. The 5 page staff report justifying the dissolution of the Lake in the Hills Sanitary District is from a Lake in the Hills Village Administrator who was briefly employed then fired by the village.

    So if the savings do not materialize, the guy who was fired can be blamed.

    It was not stated who if anyone assisted in preparing the report.

    He was presumably not an expert in sanitary districts, although his previous employment per Linked included the Village of Lincolnwood which has a Public Works department that includes sewer.

    At the Village of Lincolnwood he was a Public Works Management Analyst, then Assistant to the Village Manager, then Assistant Village Manager.

    His LinkedIn report does not mention sewer or sanitary.

    +++++++

    The staff report has summary information to justify the “potential savings” of dissolving the Lake in the Hills Sanitary District.

    More detailed information should be provided to taxpayers of the district.

    Does the village have such supporting detail?

    Anyone can submit a FOIA request to the Village asking for such information.

    According to the 5 report, the one month window (May 16 – June 16) in which a referendum could have been requested to allow the taxpayers to decide whether or not to dissolve the district has passed.

    +++++++++++

    Here is the location of the five page report.

    It can be posted prominently on the following websites:

    – McHenry County Blog

    – Village of Lake in the Hills

    – Lake in the Hills Sanitary District

    – Village of Huntley

    – Village of Crystal Lake

    The Northwest Herald could write an article about the report, including a link to the report.

    +++++++++++

    The report can be found here:

    Village of Lake in the Hills, 600 Harvest Gate

    Committee of the Whole Meeting

    February 21, 2017 at 7:30PM

    Agenda packet

    pdf pages 79 – 94

    http://www.lith.org/sites/default/files/fileattachments/board_of_trustees/meeting/2611/2017-02-21_committee_of_the_whole_packet.pdf

    ++++++++++++++

    The Lake in the Hills Sanitary District has no union employees.

    The Village of Lake in the Hills Public Works Department is unionized.

    Jack Franks, the person spearheading the dissolution of the Lake in the Hills Sanitary District into the Village of Lake in the Hills Public Works, has received over $1 million in political contributions from labor unions.

  7. eminclake,

    Based on the above letter from the Sanitary District, I believe the comparison of the cost to provide water and sewer was to show that the District provides collection and treatment for a similar sized area of what the village provides water and treatment, and does it with 5 non union employees versus 13 unionized employees.

    That is the comparison being made, apples to apples.

    If you check with the Lake in the Hills Sanitary District you may find out their fees do include debt service on bonds, treatment, maintenance and administration.

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