McHenry County Blog

The seal of the 22nd Circuit Court.

A press release from the McHenry County Circuit Court

24 APPLY FOR McHENRY COUNTY ASSOCIATE JUDGE POSITIONS

Michael J. Sullivan, Chief Judge, announced today that 24 attorneys have filed applications to become the next Associate Judges of the 22nd Judiciai Circuit.

The two Associate Judge vacancies are the result of the appointment of Associate Judge Michael W. Feetterer to the position of Circuit Judge, effective December 3, 2012, and the retirement of Associate Judge Gerald M. Zopp, Jr., effective December 31, 2012.

Among the attorneys seeking the appointment are soie practitioners:

• Neil O. Anderson of Spring Grove;
• Raymond N. Flavin of Woodstock;
• Robert T. Hanlon of Woodstock;
• Richard H. Jackson of Crystal Lake;
• Denise M. Kuzniewski of McHenry;
• Gerald P. Lenzen of Woodstock;
• George A. Mueller of Crystal Lake; and
• Mary H. Nader of McHenry.

Other appiâcants include

• Anne K. Brophy of Woodstock, a Deputy Staff Judge Advocate with the U.S. Army;
• Christopher M. Harmon of Richmond, an associate with the firm of Gummerson Rausch Wand Lee Wombacher, LLC; Mark R. Facchini of Crystal Lake, an associate with the firm of Donahue & Walsh, PC;
• Robert W. Fetzner of Crystai Lake, an associate with the firm of Buxton Si Kasper;
• Kristen N. Foiey of Woodstock, a Senior Assistant City Attorney with the City of Naperville;
• Adrian M. Gosch of Crystal Lake, an associate with the firm of Gummerson Rausch Wand Lee Wombacher, LLC; Cynthia D. Lamb of Buit Valiey, a partner with the firm of Campion Curran Lamb Si Cunabaugh, PC;
• James K. McBride of Johnsburg, a partner with the firm of Short & McBride;
• Jeannie M. Ridings of Crystal Lake, a partner with the firm of Kililis Ridings & Vonau, PC;
• Cynthia A. Schaupp of Algonquin, an attorney with the firm of Holland & Knight;
• Marjorie L. Worth of McHenry, a senior associate with the firm of Botto Gilbert Schottland Lancaster; and Salty J. Zimmerman of Woodstock, a partner with the firm of Cassiday Schade LLP.

Two McHenry County Assistant State’s Attorneys have also apptied, namely:

• Demetrios P. Tsìlimigras of Cary, and
• Norman D. Vinton of Crystal Lake;

along with one Winnebago County Assistant State’s Attorney

• Tiffany E. Davis of Woodstock, and

one Cook County Assistant State’s Attorney,

•  Mary E. McClellan of McHenry.

The applicants will be interviewed by the Circuit Judges and they be jointly evaluated by the Illinois State Bar Association and the McHenry County Bar Association.

After the review process has been completed, the Chief Judge will request that the Director of the Administrative Office of the Illinois Courts initiate the balloting process.

Within 14 days of the Chief Judge’s request, the Director shall place the names of each candidate on a ballot in alphabetical order. The ballots will be mailed to each Circuit Judge.

Each Circuit Judge will complete the ballot by voting for one candidate for each vacancy.

The ballots must be returned to the Director within 14 days of the date on which the ballots were distributed.

The Director will count the ballots and tabulate the results and certify the results to the Chief Judge.

Public comment by letter is invited on or before November 20, 2012. Address correspondence to Chief Judge Michael J. Suilivan, McHenry County Government Center, 2200 North Seminary Avenue, Woodstock, IL 60098.

Joe Condon

Marten Zopp

The Illinois Supreme Court has authorized the appointment of two new Associate Judges in McHenry County’s 22nd Judicial Circuit.

It’s a well-paying job and the taxpayers pay for office expenses, so there will probably be a lot of attorneys interested.

The vacancies exist because Associate Judge Marty Zopp is retiring and Associate Judge Michael Feeterer has been appointed to replace retiring Circuit Court Judge Joe Condon.

You can see the details revealed by Chief Judge Michael Sullivan below:

Click to enlarge Judge Michael Sullivan’s notice.

Joe Condon

Michael Feetterer

Circuit Judge Joseph Condon plans to retire when his term is up in December.

His replacement is selected by our Illinois Supreme Court Justice Robert Thomas.

That person will be current Associate Court Judge Judge Michael W. Feetterer.

I asked Judge Feetterer what type of cases he handled when I met him at McHenry County State’s Attorney Lou Bianchi’s fund raiser last Thursday.

He rattled off so many different areas, I asked if he could be characterized as “a utility player.”

The good-humored Feetterer, with beaming lady beside him, allowed as how that might describe his role in the Court system.

With Associate Judge Marty Zopp’s resignation, that will mean two slots are open for Associate Judges.

Those slots are filled by a vote of all the elected Circuit Court Judges.  Lawyers apply for the appointments.

The current elected Judges are

• Michael T. Caldwell
• Michael J. Chmiel
• Joseph P. Condon
• Gordon E. Graham
• Maureen P. McIntyre
• Sharon Prather
• Michael J. Sullivan
• Charles P. Weech

Associate Judge Martin Zopp.  Photo by Robin F. Pendergast, Inc.

Among the other information picked up at the annual fund raiser of McHenry County State’s Attorney Lou Bianchi was the impending retirement of Associated Judge Martin Zopp.

Zopp, who lives in Crystal Lake, worked longer than his wife Marilyn, who is retired from McHenry County College.

The Judge’s retirement will undoubtedly set off a frenzy of resume updating for attorneys who would like a good, steady income without having to worry about paying support staff and other office expenses.

The pay in 2010 was about $165,000 a year.

A replacement will be selected by a vote of the elected Circuit Court Judges in the 22nd Juridical District:

• Michael T. Caldwell
• Michael J. Chmiel
• Joseph P. Condon
• Gordon E. Graham
• Maureen P. McIntyre
• Sharon Prather
• Michael J. Sullivan
• Charles P. Weech

A press release from the McHenry County Circuit Court:

Twenty Second Judicial Circuit of McHenry County Judgeship Appointment

Joe Condon

WOODSTOCK, IL – The Twenty Second Judicial Circuit of McHenry County is very pleased to announce that effective December 3, 2012, the Honorable Michael W. Feetterer, Associate Judge of the Twenty Second Judicial Circuit, is appointed Circuit Judge of the Twenty Second Judicial Circuit, Second Subcircuit, to the position currently held by the Honorable Joseph P. Condon, who is retiring from judicial office on December 2, 2012.

The recipient of a degree in business administration from Loyola University Chicago, Judge Michael W. Feetterer attended DePaul University College of Law on a scholarship for undergraduate academic excellence.

Shortly after completing his Juris Doctor in 1990, he joined Diamond, LeSueur, Roth & Feetterer, P.C., as a civil and criminal litigator. Serving as a partner at the firm, Michael Feetterer prosecuted cases for several municipalities in Northeastern Illinois, including

• Port Barrington and
• Island Lake

From 1997 to 2004, Judge Michael W. Feetterer practiced privately in McHenry, serving clients in matters of criminal, civil, family, and real estate law.

During this time, he also served as a Municipal Attorney for the villages of

• Spring Grove
• Richmond
• McCullom Lake

and as a Local Prosecutor for several other communities.

Since being appointed to the Twenty Second Circuit as an associate judge in September of 2004, Judge Feetterer has served in the Family Division and currently serves as the special assignment judge hearing all different case types.

Most recently, Judge Feetterer was selected as the presiding judge of the McHenry County Drug Court program established in December 2011.

In overseeing the McHenry County Drug Court, Judge Feetterer focuses on reducing recidivism rates among nonviolent substance abuse offenders and helping increase the success of rehabilitation for this population through judicially supervised treatments and other approaches.

Judge Feetterer is highly respected in the legal community and in 2007 had the highest retention rating, as scored by local attorneys, than any other associate judge in the State of Illinois.

Judge Feetterer possesses the outstanding qualities necessary for any judge-

• fairness,
• judicial temperament
• experience

In 2008, Judge Feetterer founded a local charity which raises funding and organized outreach initiatives for ovarian cancer treatment and education. During his non-working hours, Judge Michael Feetterer enjoys spending time with his children and fiancée, and playing golf and chess.

A press release from the Illinois Supreme Court:

Acting Administrative Director Declares Two Illinois Associate Judges Appointed

in the Twenty-Second Judicial Circuit

Michael J. Tardy, Acting Director of the Administrative Office of the Illinois Courts, announced that the Twenty-Second Judicial Circuit judges voted to select

• Joel D. Berg and
• Kevin G. Costello

as associate judges of the Twenty-Second Judicial Circuit.

Mr. Berg received his undergraduate degree in 1990 from Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, Illinois, and his Juris Doctor in 1994 from IIT/Chicago-Kent Law School, Chicago, Illinois. Mr. Berg is currently engaged in solo practice in Harvard, Illinois.

Mr. Costello received his undergraduate degree in 1984 from Loras College in Dubuque, Iowa, and his Juris Doctor in 1987 from Notre Dame University in South Bend, Indiana. Mr. Costello is currently engaged in practice with Zukowski, Rogers, Flood & McArdle, in Crystal Lake, Illinois.

I asked McHenry County Court Administrator Dan Wallis what was going on with regard to the selection of two new Associate Judges.

Here is his reply:

“As far as the 2 new associate judges, I am expecting that announcement to be made perhaps the last week in October.

“There is a new judge seminar scheduled in December that I know Chief Judge Sullivan would like the new judges to be able to attend.”

Although you can't tell from this approximately 11 AM photo, the courthouse parking lot has lots of empty spaces.

in my quest to discover what’s happening on the “let’s put a branch courthouse in the population center of McHenry County,” I have received some information from 22nd Circuit Court Administrator Dan Wallis:

“The requirements that we have put together are for an area of about 6,000 square feet to accommodate the courtroom, holding area, clerks, court administration, chambers, etc.

“The largest issue is the required parking which we are estimating around 120 parking spaces or more.

“There are plenty of large buildings in the 60,000 square foot range which have ample parking or there are buildings in the 6,000 foot range which have forty parking spaces.

“It is a difficult combination to find.”

At the suggestion of a reader, I also asked about the possibility of night courts for traffic or other purposes. Wallis’ reply follows:

“There are very few night court models around the country.

“I have discussed that issue with the National Center for State Courts and was told that they work only for a very small group of case types.

“One main issue is that it isn’t just the court that is affected by a night court.

“It involves the

• attorneys,
• litigants,
• security/sheriff’s office,
• court services,
• circuit clerk’s office and
• facilities management.

Because of population grown since the year 2000, McHenry County gets two new associate judges.

The selection process for these $171,000 jobs is in process. Twenty-nine lawyers have applied.

But now the County Board has to find a place to put two new judges.

Space is tight in the courthouse. You know government expands to fill all room available, a variation of Parkinson’s Law, I think.

So, what to do?

It appears that the County Board is about to do something logical, something that is should have done at least a decade ago.

What’s that?

Open branch courthouse in the population center of the county, southeastern McHenry County.

And, while most of Woodstock is in the southeastern McHenry County, the Courthouse is in the northern half of McHenry County. I refer to its inconvenient location as “the Hebron site.”

Crystal Lake City Hall is a potential site for a branch courthouse. One might think cities would be competing for a branch courthouse, hoping those with tickets would stay and do some shopping.

Court is already conducted in Crystal Lake’s City Council Chamber. It’s called Administrative Court and is a way the Home Rule City of Crystal Lake can extract money from people without sharing any with county government.

But that court certainly proves Crystal Lake has an adequate courtroom.

I see no reason that the Algonquin Village Board room wouldn’t work either.

Or the Huntley Village Board room. It was certainly big enough to hold close to 200 folks mainly interested in high tolls to fill their wallets.

So, move traffic court to the cities where the tickets have been written.

When I called the Crystal Lake City Manager’s Office I was told no inquiry has so far been made.

So, if you have an empty room that might work as a courtroom, raise your hand. You might get some rent for a room that otherwise might remain empty.

Oh, yes. Might be good to have plenty of parking.

There are so, so many attorneys walking the hallways in the McHenry County Courthouse whom I do not know.

It was a lot easier when McHenry County’s population was a third its current size–back in the early 1970′s.

Because of population growth, state statute says McHenry County’s 22nd Circuit Court will get two new associate judges.

The details are in the press release below from Chief Judge Michael J. Sullivan:

The deadline for submittal of applications is September 2nd.

The salary exceeds $170,000 per year, according to the State Comptroller’s Office.