In addition to his salary, Helman received $24,712.50 in so-called miscellaneous income from the beginning of 2013 until he retired at about the same time that Miller’s term as Road Commissioner expired.
$1,050 of that amount was given to Helman after Miller narrowly lost the February Republican Election to McHenry County Board member Andrew Gasser.
Like others who received miscellaneous income, large chunks came shortly before Christmas.
Helman received the highest payroll period amount in his October-November, 2016, check.
It was for $1,900.
Three $500 payments followed in the three periods after that.
Anyone know of any other Townships which issue payments for “Miscellaneous Income?
If the payments were issued 1099s, they were for services considered non employee independent contractors.
If so, were those services performed subject to requirements for posting to competitive bidders?
Do we have any PROOF that these payments were NOT legit or for some services rendered, or are we just guessing because we don’t KNOW for sure? No dog in this fight, BUT I do demand proof of wrong-doing so I don’t jump to wrong conclusions
Susan, of the original list of people only a few were ever paid with a 1099.
The others were regular employees or they originally got a 1099 then turned into regular part or full time employees, so misc pay at that point was on W2 I believe.
To the best of my knowledge, all who started recycling, did so last minute to fill in for sick or some other reason.
So I don’t think there was any bidding for work going on for that function
Isn’t there a pay leave that has to be reached to require bidding, like $20k?
As far as advertising for any employment, I’d say few if at all, there were plenty of applications for any openings.
Since the election, the new Supervisor and Highway Commissioner have also failed to advertise for various openings.
Most publicized was obvious patronage worker Ryan Provenzano, the other maybe 7 patronage employees hired haven’t gotten the same media.
“Ryan Green Highest in Algonquin Township Road District “Miscellaneous” Pay After Three Miller Family Members”
“Ryan Green received $24,035.”
“Friend of Bob Miller Rakes in $24,712.50 in Addition to Salary at Algonquin Township Highway Department”
“It paid well for Algonquin Township Road District employee Douglas Helman to be a friend of his boss, Highway Commissioner Bob Miller.”
So we have a problem Houston, Ryan wasn’t the highest to receive Misc pay of regular employees and Doug also got more Misc pay than one of the son-in-laws.
It’s all in the way you present the info, Cal is leading you to the conclusion that using Misc Pay is both illegal and unethical.
The Game goes on.
Lead story in NW Herald Online
“Prosecutors are homing in on more than $260,000 in unexplained bonuses amid a wider probe into official misconduct during Bob Miller’s time at the Algonquin Township Highway Department.”
Nob, just curious about the 1099.
If you worked extra hours but for the same employer, wouldn’t it have just been added to your pay for that pay period?
I only worked recycling when I got a 1099.
When I drove bus W2.
Here is the NWH link which adds more not found here.
http://www.nwherald.com/2018/02/12/algonquin-township-highway-department-paid-more-than-260k-in-unexplained-bonuses/a994wcv/
Looks a little shady, like Miller is arbitrarily making MISC payments to some employees to cover other unexplainable payments to family members.
A review of payroll records over the nine months between May 15, when Gasser took office, and Feb. 13 revealed that nine highway department employees received more than $21,000 in miscellaneous pay.
The payments came in increments of $100, $350, $450, $700 and $800.
Gasser said he instituted a policy to compensate employees for being on call for snowplowing work during the winter months.
Workers are paid a $350 stipend every two weeks from November to March under terms of the policy, he said. Further, one employee is on call every week to handle road emergencies.
That person gets a $100 stipend for each on-call week, Gasser said.
Gasser said he was unaware of the on-call and winter pay policies of his predecessor.
Gasser was uniformed of the Miller policy and modified it a tad.
The last sentence appears to be nonsese by Gasser.
Corruption and graft on an epic scale for a township highway department.
LOCK THEM UP
I find the appointment of Provenzano baffling and disappointing.
Systemic changes could prevent patronage to some degree, by requiring jobs be posted and assignments merit-based.
As to the issue of misc. payments under 1099 protocols:
If I understand correctly, these misc. payments were related to one or two areas of service provision.
If I interpret the $25,000 mandatory RFQ rules as, say, for recycling project, then the Aggregate amount paid to all Millers for recycling should count towards that $25,000 threshold, no?
Susan, partial list from NWH:
“Those special projects included concrete inspection, recycling detail, streetlight inspection and attendance at Algonquin Township events, such as “Touch A Truck.””
Miller’s attorney, Tom Gooch, was quoted as saying they were “bonus” payments!
It’s called embezzlement of funds. The taxpayers of the township have been ripped off by that dynasty getting gay with your tax dollars.
Let’s play Mark for a moment.
Punishment of Embezzlement in Illinois
In Illinois, embezzlement is punished in accordance with the value of the property stolen, as set out in 720 ILCS 5/16-1(b).
If the property taken was valued at less than $500, then the theft is a Class A misdemeanor punishable by up to one year imprisonment and a fine of $2,500.
If the property was valued at more than $500, but not more than $10,000, it will be considered a Class 3 felony, punishable by two to five years imprisonment.
If the property was worth more than $10,000, but less than $100,000, then the embezzlement is considered a Class 2 felony, punishable by three to seven years imprisonment. Fines of up to $25,000 may also be imposed.
If the property was valued at more than $100,000, but less than $500,000, than the theft will be considered a Class 1 felony, punishable by four to 15 years in prison and a $25,000 fine.
If the property was valued at more than $500,000, but less than $1,000,000, it will be considered a Class 1 non-probationable felony, punishable by four to 15 years in prison and a $25,000 fine.
If the property exceeded $1,000,000 in value, it is a Class X felony, punishable by six to 30 years imprisonment.
If the property subject to embezzlement was government property, or the theft occurred in a school or place of worship, the conviction increases to the next class (i.e., a Class 3 felony will become a Class 2).
Probably bonuses like a Christmas bonus.
“The Mrs” LOL, for those amounts????
And who said they could get bonuses on the taxpayers?
They get pay, overtime and that’s it!
When will the Millers finally be indicted?
The people making excuses for this seem to be under the impression that this is like a privately owned business that can do whatever it likes with its own money. Government, paid for BY THE PEOPLE has to answer to those PEOPLE! It is theft pure and simple. No one gave them permission to dole out ‘gifts’ using MY money! You absolvers should be furious that you were hoodwinked into paying exorbitant tax rates just so they could act irresponsibly like there’s no tomorrow.
What’s all the fuss about?
Everybody knew Miller was no good, but now they’ll find out just how bad he was!
I heard the Miller home is up for sale.
Can he be extradited from Costa Rica?
— a vision i had:
Miller Family runs into a little problem at Aéroport de Marseille Provence on escape trip ending in Egypt:
https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/french-police-displays-19-january-2004-at-the-court-house-news-photo/52023859#french-police-displays-19-january-2004-at-the-court-house-of-cahors-picture-id52023859
Althoff endorsed Miller. Now she says she didn’t.
So when Bobby ran that full page newspaper endorsement spread in the dying NWH, he did so without her permission?
Somebody’s lyin’!
Ok Nob….no other township does it.
Did you ever get a $250 bonus for driving the bus?
Seems like another Miller supporter got a nice one.
At least according to the Paper. You’ll never admit it…..but it’s wrong.
Should have been OT!
Township employees and officials mean no harm, they just suffer from kleptomania, and need professional help, at our expense of course.
We must try and always look out for their best interests while they fleece us, and we must never, ever, criticise or rebuke them.
McHenry Township ASSessor Mary Mahady (D-Martin’s Woods) deserves to tarred and feathered for what she’s done!
Yet she’s underassessed her own residence!
How does she get away with it!!!
Anyone still have a copy of the ad or remember what date (or day) it ran?
http://mchenrycountyblog.com/2017/02/27/one-two-punch-against-gasser-for-miller-in-mondays-mailboxes/
Maybe not an official endorsement, but close enough.
Miller’s old campaign page is still up.
http://www.re-electbobmiller.com/endorsements
Hahah look at all those.elected officials supporting this noob!
Wonder what THEY got?
Touch-a-truck, senior bingo,yoga, bus rides to musicals,and recycling is all bull$h!t that should be stopped immediately.
They were going to expand upon Touch-A-Truck.
But due to Miller’s untimely defenestration, the plans got scrapped.
The expanded program was tentatively called “Touch-Miller’s-Golden-Robes” and taxpayers were allowed to touch the hem of his heavily embroidered golden robes.
We found the plans in the Road District trash he left behind with his scratched Patsy Cline LPs, Disneyland souvenirs, and rat-traps.
A friend of bob, or FOB, is a friend of Bob Miller, of course. Everyone knows FOB’s are not real ‘friends,’ just people Miller bought.
When he got the boot, few of these ‘friends,’ stood with him; some even tried to suck up, immediately, to the Gasser (but they were turned away empty as untrustworthy with good reason).
Some apparently threatened to ‘tell all’ to the cops, if they weren’t suitably rewarded during the lameduck period of Miller’s brutal reign of Taxpayer Terror.
A few FOBs mysteriously, and rather quickly, appeared on the Township payrolls of McHenry and Nunda, as well as Wauconda and Cuba Townships in Lake Co.
One even made it to faraway Benton Tnsp in Lake Co., the bizarrely bifurcated township:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benton_Township,_Lake_County,_Illinois#/media/File:Map_highlighting_Benton_Township,_Lake_County,_Illinois.svg
According to Miller himself, the worst humiliation was when Township Officials of Illinois called him a week after the primary he lost, and demanded his resignation from its Presidency!
Miller actively campaigned for that high-profile job (another organization to plunder for ‘expenses’ and ‘perks’ now that all kinds of curious people were looking at his excesses in Algonquin under, as Miller put it ‘a God-d***ed microscope’
The TOI people were leery of Miller, after all, McHenry Co. was nothing but trouble for TOI, for many, many years.
BUt alas, Miller becalmed them with tales of his dirty tricks to keep ‘TOI in clover ’till the 22nd Century’ …and after all, the Miller clan had held sway for more than a half century, he did seem like a good bet.
As Miller put it, ‘You can’t have some yokel from a downstate rural township at a crucial time like this!”
And he carried the day, only to be unceremoniously dumped last winter after the ‘sure bet’ lost bc voters got tired of being ripped off.
Cindy: Sorry that you have it slightly wrong. Illinois law treats theft of government property differently than theft of us regular people’s property. Theft of government property hits the felony level with the first $300. Everything I read in this blog is felony land and most are class X felonies.
Embezzlement is the least of their worries. Rather the official misconduct should be the concern.
Even the employees that received the excess payments are at risk. Its called conspiracy. Each person receiving these “bonus” payments has a real serious issue. They should find a competent attorney.
Karen Lukasik’s bonus of more than her pay for driving a bus is outlandish. She said she did a really good job. Well did she sing songs? Hi ho, hi ho, its off to jail we go, …..!
Under her theory about doing a good job, I’m sure there are a few CTA workers that would love to be compensated like she was.
I personally would love to know what she did for her bonus?
Thank you for the correction, Frank. I know nothing about legal matters. I pulled that from a Chicago attorney’s site on law. You are so right on what land we are in.