McHenry County Blog

For the second time in four days, Grafton Township Trustees boycotted a meeting called by newly-elected Supervisor Linda Moore.

Moore was criticized by township attorney Keri-Lyn J. Krafterfer in a November 6th letter for not having included items on her agenda requested by Trustee Robert LaPorta.

They included

• Motion to approve Board rules that were originally submitted by Trustee LaPorta and approved by Trustees in a Grafton Special Meeting that Supervisor Moore did not attend (because of being physically indisposed, I was told).
• Discussion and motion to approve Senior Transportation Fees and Fee Change procedure.
• Inclusion of Huntley Chamber Bill and Attorney Kelly’s open bills on warrant and motion to approve full payment of.
• Motion to define, complete and approve FOIA stating Clerk Fergo as the person to assemble, report on, and delegate FOIA request completions.
• Motion to approve Grafton Township maintenance of Haligus Road property.
• Motion to approve ‘new location’ of Grafton Township Food Pantry inclusion on Grafton Township website and Posting in Grafton Township Offices.
• Motion for authorization to have assessor’s office research available office space within Grafton Township for consideration of a lease and/or purchase agreement.
• Distribution, review, discussion and motion to approve or reject township audit.

These items Moore included in her Monday meeting agenda, but complained at that boycotted meeting that Township Clerk Dina Frigo had removed them from the door of the township hall.

In a letter to Township Attorney Krafthefer, dated November 16th, said the removal “was witnessed by a reliable source.”

Frigo, who Thursday indicated she did not know where the missing trustees were, apparently knew they were not showing up Monday night and joined their boycott.

But Frigo did post a notice for a 7:30 PM Wednesday township meeting called by Trustees Betty Zirk and Rob LaPorta.

Many of the items listed above in LaPorta’s request to Moore were included, as well as others, including

• new locks for Frigo’s office
• paying bills that would have been approved at last Thursday’s meeting
• establishing a procedure for receiving and distributing the trustees and clerk’s mail
• establishing a township investment policy

The changes seems to have had the advice of an attorney.

Moore posted her own agenda for a meeting at the same location—the Huntley Park District at 12,015 Mill Street in Huntley—but starting a half an hour earlier at 7 PM.

At the 12-minute meeting tonight, Sun City resident Ralph Wehnes had some comments:

“Is this really a major problem with you and John Rossi?…It looks like something is going on that’s going to cost somebody a lot of money.”

“It already has,” Moore replied.

Commenting on Rossi, whom Moore defeated by 30 votes in the Republican primary election, she said, “I haven’t spoken with Mr. Rossi since I kidded with him about other people being able to do the job.”

Asked about the problems, Moore suggested,

“Three of the board were on the previous board. I think it’s a case of sour grapes.”

Moore also wasn’t happy at the new attorney’s having suggested in writing,

“Further, there is nothing to prevent the Township Trustees from boycotting the regular meeting with your proposed agenda and posting their own notice of a special meeting with an agenda including their items.”

The attorney wrote that it would be “happy” to prepare the agenda.

In a November 16th letter, Moore asked if “the clerk need(s) to follow the same rules you laid out in your recent opinion letter and include the supervisor’s agenda items on her agenda.”

Moore’s agenda items were not included in the Zirk-LaPorta agenda.

Moore also asked,

“If three or more trustees have a daisy chain telephone conversation and decide to boycott township meetings, twice in a row, does this constitute a violation of the open meetings act?”

Both sides of the dispute are sending the McHenry County State’s Attorney copies of their missives.

Four township officials, including all the full-timers, attended the Grafton Township meeting at Faith Community Church on Algonquin Road, but the four part-timers boycotted it.

Of the members of the township board, only Supervisor Linda Moore attended.

Barbara Murphy, Robert LaPort, Betty Zirk and Gerry McMahon were absent.

Township Clerk Dina Frigo, Road Commissioner Jack Freund and Assessor Bill Ottley attended the meeting.

Without a quorum of three out of five members of the township board, Moore adjourned the meeting.

To read what the township trustees did not want to discuss, click here.

At the last board meeting of Grafton Township, the one in which constantly interrupting, newly-elected board member Gerry McMahon was censured, there were comments from Trustee Barbara Murphy (the one seen on the far left of the table) that may portend for big happenings Thursday night.

I’ll quote her comments in their entirety, but, first, let me set the stage.

Township governments are two entities in one. There is the Town Fund. It pays for township assessing, public aid, officials’ salaries, etc.

Then, there is the Road District. It is run by the road commissioner. About the only control the township board has over the road commissioner’s operation is making sure he doesn’t spend more than is appropriated.

Township Road Commissioner Jack Freund had handed out a proposed rental contract which would have the separate Town Fund paying his fund $3,500 a month rent starting November 7th.

“Digest it and next month I will bring my attorney, if you’re ready.”

McMahon didn’t seem to have a clear grasp of the separateness of the two parts of township government.

“It’s like charging your son rent for the basement of the bedroom.“Why should one arm of the government pay another for something the township owns?

“I don’t get it.”

Senior Trustee Betty Zirk explained the situation:

“We had this offer for $1.2 million for our property.“Jack said, ‘I want to buy it.’

“So, Jack bought it. He paid the town (fund) $611,000. The agreement was we’d probably be out of the building by November 7th.

“The Road Commissioner owns all the property. If we want to stay we’re going to have to pay rent.”

“Are we signing for both the lessor and the lessee?” McMahon asked.

“The only thing we can do with Jack is is he has a budget. We have to make him stay within the budget,” Zirk replied.

“We really don’t have any control over it.”

Zirk had previously suggested that the township board look for rental property elsewhere.

“Well, then I agree with you,” McMahon replied, “…as quickly as possible. It’s time to look for other places to move.”

Road Commissioner Freund was getting a bit irritated as this point.

“The Road District paid twice for that property. Once when they bought it originally and once when we bought it from the township and paid the township a year and a half ago.”

Referring to the proposed $3,500 month rent, Freund said, “That isn’t even making the payments on this property I have to pay.”

Then Trustee Barbara Murphy entered the discussion:

“My own opinion—I say we do the unwind. Put it all back to where it was and start from scratch.“Frankly, in my own opinion, I’m tired of this garbage.

“I’m tired of it.

“I’m tired of it. (I want it done.)”

Newly-elected Township Supervisor Linda Moore put in her two cents:

This board never approved the ordinance to borrow $700,000.”

Moore also noted that,

“In the Town Fund, we have $600,000…We’ve got some unwinding to do just as we did with the three and a half million.”

She further pointed out that the loan was for 20 years, but that “the township can borrow for 10 years.

“Basically, we have not followed the statutes.”

McMahon interrupted, but Moore finished her thought:

“I am concerned that the public was not properly noticed. Unwind this and soon.”

At the beginning of the meeting, right after public comments and approving bills the board will go into Executive (secret) Session for the following purposes:

1.Sale of Real Estate to Road District
2.Pending Litigation

The next item on the agenda is

Action on Sale of Real Estate to Road District

There’s a whole lot more on the agenda for the 7:30 meeting, which will be held at Faith Community Church at 10,547 Faiths Way in Huntley. It is located west of Tom’s Vegetable Market on the north side of Algonquin Road.

Only reporter Pete Gonigam, who writes the First Electric Newspaper, attended last week’s Grafton Township meeting.

He writes of how the board, by a 3-2 vote censured newly-elected Township Trustee Gerry McMahon.  McMahon and Betty Zirk voted against the motion.  Township Supervisor Linda Moore and Township Tru

McMahon is the one who consistently interrupted his running mate, newly-elected Township Supervisor Moore.

The only other local public officials to have been censured are McHenry County Board members Donna Kurtz and Scott Summers.  They were not censured because of constant interruption of MCC board meetings.  They were censured for changing their minds on the advisability of putting their taxpayers in debt to pay for a minor league baseball team and announcing the change at a Crystal Lake City Council meeting considering the necessary re-zoning.

The photo you see above was taken from the video recording of the prior meeting.  From left to right you see the four Grafton Township Trustees, Barbara Murphy, Rob LaPorta, Betty Zirk and Gerry McMahon.

If you play this song while you are reading this article, it would be appropriate.

Johnny Paycheck’s “Take This Job and Shove It” pretty much sums up the message Crystal Lake attorney Joe Gottemoller gave to the Grafton Township Board last night.

Because Supervisor Linda Moore was absent due to having just had a myelogram, only her four political enemies on the township board were at the meeting.

Along with two lawyers, Joseph Gottemoller and Jim Kelly.

And a standing room only crowd.

Prominent Democrats were out in force. Both McHenry County Board member Jim Kennedy and Paula Yensen were in attendance.

Attorney Kelly was dismissed by Moore after she took office, but he’s still working for the four trustees. They voted to pay him “$5,724, the most recent portion of a total amount of $17,963.73 for services after May 18, 2009.”

The township trustees and Kelly went into secret session to discuss the lawsuit (Dan Ziller, Jr., et al. v. John Rossi, et al) that a number of the audience members had brought against the township to stop the building of a new township hall.

But Gottemoller’s resignation was the big story.

Right before the trustees went into Executive Session, he said,

“This will be my last meeting. I have spent a great deal of time and effort on this. Much more than I should have.”

He talked about all the local governments he had had contact with during his legal career.

“I have never been in front of of a board as dysfunctional as this one.”

He told of having had nine calls about the agenda for the meeting. He talked of the problems facing the township.

“I hope some day you will address them.”

He said most calls he had received were from people who were mainly interested in learning how to protect themselves from the other side.

“I don’t want my name to be associated with (Grafton Township).

“You’re spending thousands of dollars on legal fees, $25,000 in attorney fees since May 18th.

“Riley Township spent $500 its last full year.” (Riley is one of McHenry County’s smallest.)

“I hope sometime or other you’ll find a way to talk to each other.

“If we could just focus on the issues and not the personalities, it would be (a lot better).

Before the secret meeting began, Kelly revealed he had told the board in February that he wouldn’t continue as township attorney.

“It’s just outrageous we’re in this condition. I’m working on this issue (the lawsuit) only,” Kelly said.

As I was leaving, one person observed,

“They ought to sell popcorn.”

Tomorrow: What Joe Gottemoller wrote in his resignation letter.

= = = = =
In the top photo you see attorney Jim Kelly on the left and Joe Gottemoller on the right. The four trustees can be seen sitting at the table in the second picture. Trustee Barbara Murphy is in the foreground. At the left of the photo is Trustee Bob LaPorta. To his left are Trustee Betty Zirk and newly-elected Trustee Gerry MaMahon, elected with newly-elected Township Supervisor Linda Moore’s help, but now on the other side of the political spectrum. All the officials are Republicans. Flanking attorney Jim Kelly in the next photo are prominent Democrats Mike Bisset, his wife, McHenry County Board member Paula Yensen, and McHenry County Board member Jim Kennedy (standing). The larger head shot is of Gottmoller. The smaller one is of Kelly while Gottemoller was explaining his resignation.

There were so many signs in Crystal Lake and Algonquin at the 4th of July TEA Parties.

In view of the Grafton Township Board’s having stopped the $430 a day hemorrhage to the Harris Bank for the $3.5 million loan on a 5-0 vote last night, it seems appropriate to emphasize this placard found on Route 14 in Crystal Lake on Independence Day. (Click to enlarge.)

The upper corners carry the message

NO
New TAX

Below appears

It is held by a man with his wife who understands that “

as Democratic U.S. House Speaker Tip O’Neill once said.

One might fairly surmise that the two supported recently-elected Grafton Township Supervisor Linda Moore.

The names of the Grafton Township trustees are

• Betty Zirk
• Barbara Murphy
• Gerry McMahon (newly-elected with Moore’s help)
• Robert LaPorta

It also allows me to again observe that trying to make an impact on government is almost always easier the lower the level of government.

I’m still looking at photos that four people provided me of the TEA Parties, but, so far, I have found none protesting Mayor Aaron Shepley’s 75% Crystal Lake city sales tax hike.

I’ve seen nothing to indicate that demonstrators don’t want the Chicago Democrats’ 50% state income tax hike.

Too bad.

What a great opportunity to get through to state and local officials other than those of Grafton Township.

Here’s an all-purpose slogan that could be re-cycled.

We last left the Grafton Township melodrama the court hearing on Dan Ziller, Jr.’s request for an injunction to halt the building of a Grafton Township Hall.

The weekend before Judge Michael Caldwell ruled against the township, my computer’s hard drive crashed, putting me out of business for a week.

The township trustees seeking to build the town hall, which will cost over $5 million (including interest) over a twenty year period, apparently didn’t take the judge seriously.

Here’s what they put on the agenda:

• Approval of building/ construction of Township Hall at the Halagus Road property.
• Approval of an Ordinance authorizing and providing for an installment agreement for the purpose of paying for the cost of building and equipping a facility for use by the Township and authorizing and providing for the issue of $3,500,000 Debt Certificate.
• Approving and ratifying Ordinance No. 07-1708-0, an Ordinance authorizing and providing for an installment purchase agreement for the purpose of paing for the cost of building and equipping a facility for use by Grafton Township and providing for the issue of $3,500,000 in Debt Certificates.

Ziller’s attorney Jim Bishop went to court today.

Because newly sworn in Grafton Township Supervisor Linda Moore dismissed Township Attorney Jim Kelly when she took office Monday, re-elected Township Trustee Betty Zirk and newly-sworn in Trustee Jerry McMahon, who was elected with Moore’s support, hired Kelly with their own money to represent their position that the township hall should be built.

The two trustees, plus ex-Township Supervisor John Rossi were in the courtroom.

Moore, who because she is now township supervisor, was added as a defendant in the suit.

Previously, she was on Ziller’s side of the case.

After arguments from both attorneys, Caldwell enjoined the township board from taking up the three contested three items on the agenda.

They were “tap dancing around” his previous order was the way the judge put it.

He told the trustees that any violation could result in their being held in direct criminal contempt of court.

There is a wild card in this deck.

Now that Moore is a defendant, what is to stop her from agreeing with those asking the township hall not be built.

I image Moore might be asking some lawyer other than Bishop that question at some point.

There was a township board meeting tonight.

It will be interesting to find out what happened, don’t you think?

In the midst of this chaos, what would happen if an opponent of township government found some lawyer to draft a petition to abolish Grafton Township?

After all, it would only take a couple of hundred signatures to put the question on the ballot.

I would point out that in Southern Illinois township government does not exist, but road districts do. I assume the men who are road commissioners down there are elected like township road commissioners are up here.

If Grafton Township were voted out of existence, county government would take over the assessing and other township duties.

How do you think people watching this township board that wants to build a township hall that will cost them over $5 million without asking their permission would vote?

Just asking.

= = = = =
Dan Ziller, Jr., is in the head shot on the top right of the article.

Grafton Township Trustee Betty Zirk is seen explaining the new township hall at the annual meeting. Fellow Trustee Jerry McMahon is seen below in a photo taken at the annual town meeting.

Below the township map is Linda Moore posing with Milford Brown, a candidate for the Huntley Fire Protection District at Moore’s Huntley Expo booth. You can see her campaign theme:

I ventured into the courtroom of McHenry County Judge Michael Caldwell yesterday to hear arguments over whether the Grafton Township Board should be allowed to build a new $3.5 million (plus over $1.5 million in interest) township hall and garage on Haligus Road in Lake in the Hills.

Regular readers will remember newly-elected Township Supervisor Linda Moore narrowly beat one-term incumbent John Rossi on that issue.

Yesterday was the hearing to decide whether the preliminary injunction should be made permanent.

Prior to the Republican primary election in which Moore won, township electors filed a petition asking for a referendum on whether or not to build a new town hall.

Two days after the primary election, the township board scheduled, then, canceled a meeting.

After the April 7th general election, the annual town meeting was held at which the tie vote of 70-70 resulted on a motion to build a new township hall. Because of the tie vote, the motion was announced to have failed.

A second vote to authorize the board to enter into construction contracts passed 70-64, as six new township hall opponents had left the meeting between that vote.

With the original judge in the case, Maureen McIntyre, out of the courthouse, her work was assigned to Caldwell.

Township Attorney Jim Kelly tried to convince the judge that Township Moderator Scott Breeden’s ruling that the 70-70 tie vote did not fail by arguing that those abstaining should be counted with those voting in the affirmative. Township Clerk Dino Frigo testified that 159 electors and 18 visitors signed into the meeting.

He had Frigo testify that Township Road Commissioner Jack Freund, his wife and another person had not voted.

Objectors’ attorney Jim Bishop asked,

“Were electors told by anyone if they did not vote that they would be considered in favor of that resolution?”

Frigo:

“The voters were there to vote.”

Bishop:

“Were electors told by anyone if they did not vote that they would be considered in favor of that resolution?”

Frigo:

“The moderator did not tell them that.”

Later Bishop referred to the argument that abstentions should be counted in the affirmative as “nonsense.”

There were also intriguing arguments punctuated by Clerk Frigo’s not being able to find anything in the minutes saying that either the township board or the electors at an annual town meeting had voted to build a new town hall.

Bishop:

“Is there any other reference in these minutes to the construction of a township hall?”

Frigo:

“I can’t find anything.”

(I would have liked to be able to show you a picture of her flipping through the pages of the minutes in her unsuccessful attempt to find any reference to the township board or electors’ having approved the building of a new township building, but, as you know, cameras are not allowed in McHenry County courtrooms.)

The 2007 annual meeting minutes said the purchase of land and the building of a “site” had been approved.

Township Attorney Jim Kelly tried to rehabilitate (my term, not his) the minutes by eliciting from Frigo what Frigo should have written.

He argued Frigo had made a scrivener’s error.

Counsel for Dan Ziller, Jr., Jim Bishop successfully objected, pointing out the minutes were the official record of the 2007 meeting.

Judge Caldwell observed there had been adequate opportunity to correct the minutes.

Kelly made the same attempt to get the motion on the court record with Township Supervisor John Rossi, who made the (apparently mis-reported) 2007 motion everyone (mainly township officials, it seems) at that meeting supported.

He was apparently ready to use Township Trustee Betty Zirk, but decided to forego the opportunity after not gaining traction with Frigo and Rossi.

The judge ruled that the minutes represented what happened at the 2007 annual meeting.

Bishop argued that township citizens would have no idea that a vote on building a township building would be taken on the July 17, 2008, regular township board meeting at which debt certificates for $3.5 million were authorized.

“No individual could determine that construction of a township hall would be discussed,” he said.

Bishop:

“The agenda didn’t at all indicate the construction or purchase of a new (township hall, did it)? There is not such a reference, is that correct?”

Frigo:

“Yes.”

Bishop:

“The purpose of an agenda is to advise the public as to what will occur at a meeting?”

Frigo: “

I believe so.”

Bishop also put forth that the referendum 109 electors petitioned for in February of this year would have to be held prior to construction of the township hall.

Kelly’s argument was that the statute governing debt certificates (the Local Government Debt Reform Act and the Omnibus Bond Act which incorporated that law) gave the township board the authority to build a new town hall.

I don’t want to misstate what he said, but it seemed to me that it was the public notice of the regular township meeting, although not stating that approval of a new township hall would be on the agenda, was adequate and legally sufficient.

Judge Caldwell wanted to know whether Dillon’s Rule had been violated. Dillon’s Rule says that local governments can’t do anything they are not authorized by state legislation to do.

“The real question is (whether) they have acted lawfully?” he said.

Kelly said the acts he cited gives the township board the power to construct a new township hall.

“There’s no regulation that you give the narrative of what’s in each ordinance (on the agenda),”

he said in rebuttal to Bishop’s argument that the public had no notice of the approval of a new township hall.

Kelly did admit that “in 2007 the electors voted on it, albeit not in a clear manner.”

Commenting on Bishop’s argument that

“the electors’ authority trumps the authority of the township board,”

Kelly said,

“That’s just not the case.

“If they want to have a referendum, God bless them. The clerk will put it on the ballot for the next general election.”

Kelly then said,

“That bond before you requires no additional taxes.”

I would refer you to this “Message of the Day” for a rebuttal which Bishop was not able to pry into the record.

“Taxes will not be raised above the Tax Cap,” Kelly continued.

“What was the function of the vote at the town (meeting)?” Caldwell asked.

“It is was advisory,” Kelly replied.

“Mr. Bishop’s clients” requested it.

In his conclusion, Bishop rebutted Kelly’s argument that because the project had already started ($288-300,000 has been spent of which $99,000 was for the 3 acre site, according to Rossi’s testimony), that it should be allowed to continue.

The case cited was supported the argument that the doctrine of laches should apply, but Bishop argued it concerned a situation where everything had been out in the open, not the situation with the new Grafton Township Hall.

“They don’t have the underlying authority to build a township hall,” Bishop said.

“There are no notices applying,” Bishop stated.

“(This is) the biggest thing this township has ever done.”

Regardless, Kelly argued the court the township had such authority and the court had no authority to enjoin this “legislative action” of the township board, even though early on Caldwell had suggested the township lawyer had waived that argument by not bringing it up at the first hearing before Judge McIntyre.

A ruling will be announced next Monday.

= = = = =
The top photo shows the vote when Scott Breeden was being elected moderator of the Annual Town Meeting.

Breeden and Grafton Township Clerk are shown counting the vote that ended in a 70-70 vote tie.

Grafton Township Clerk Dina Frigo’s head is seen next to some of her testimony.

Below are Dan Ziller on the left and Dan Ziller, Jr.,on the right. Both attended the session.

Below Frigo is seen reading the entire 2008 Annual Town Meeting minutes. She testified that she has not yet finished a preliminary draft of the 2009 Town Meeting minutes.

A drawing of the town hall can be found near the bottom of the story.

Besides Frigo, Rossi and Zirk, Linda Moore’s successful running mate for township trustee, Jerry McMahon, was present in the courtroom in support of the new township hall.

No one ever said that Democracy was supposed to be neat and tidy and Tuesday night’s annual Grafton Town meeting certainly was messy.

The Huntley Police were in an adjacent parking lot just in case there was more trouble than the Town Moderator could handle.

The small parking lot was quickly filled, so people parked along neighboring roads and parking lots. Note the township’s senior van unloading electors.

They walked to the township garage under rolling clouds near sunset.

There were lines outside the township garage as people waited to verify their residency.

The meeting was standing room only.

There were only 103 chairs. Clerk Dina Frigo prepared 75 copies of the minutes and the agenda. Frigo is seen on the left counting votes for the meeting moderator.

McHenry County Board member Scott Breeden, who previously served as Lakewood Village President and President of the Crystal Lake Park Board, beat out Lake in the Hills Trustee Steven Harlfinger 78-46.

Clerk Frigo sworn Breeden in.

Then, the fun began.

The minutes were read in full. Frigo apparently had not posted draft minutes of last April’s town meeting on the township web site, but agreed to do so this year within two weeks after complaints on lack of transparency on the part of township officials.

Last year’s moderator Terry Hoeft asked that they be corrected to read that a Planning and Visioning Committee be appointed and convened “prior to construction.”

The committee was never appointed by the township board.

Dan Ziller, Sr., then moved that all electors “have a right to speak and vote on every item on the agenda. The motion passed.

Don Glogovsky, a running mate to newly-elected Township Supervisor Linda Moore who came in sixth out of six candidates, made a motion that “the public be informed of all costs involved before any decision is made by the board.”

The motion passed.

Jerry Berquist objected strenuously to not knowing the public had a right to vote at the town meeting.

“I’ve lived here ten years and didn’t know that,” he said, explaining he would have urged his neighbors to attend had he know.

He referred to “a certain group,” who had urged people to attend the meeting. He supported the new building, so I guess he was talking about the opponents.

At that point Huntley’s Randall Hart moved to adjourn the meeting. That motion failed.

Then, it was on to item G on the agenda on a motion:

Should Grafton Township construct an office building on real estate purchased by the township on Haligus road in Lake in the Hills, Illinois?

Don Bond started off the discussion by pointing out that in addition to the $3.5 million that township officials always said the new building would cost, there was interest to be paid. He calculated it to be $1.9 million, bringing the cost to $5.4 million.

Township Trustee Betty Zirk then took the floor in front of the proposed building’s floor plan and rendition.

She began by explaining that the meeting had to be held in the township garage because the Huntley Park District “make us quit at 9 o’clock.”

“The park district told me we could stay as long as we needed to,” Dan Ziller, Jr., interjected.

“The bids are out and it’s coming in $200,000 less than the $3.5 million,” she explained.

She pointed out that “half of that garage we’re going to put the food pantry in.

She revealed they had already spent $99,600 on purchasing the land from the Village of Lake in the Hills.

“Wasn’t it supposed to be donated?” someone asked.

Zirk told the audience that LITH trustees didn’t think it was “fair to their people” to give away the land, so the township bought it.

As a trade-off the village trustees agreed to limit fees to $12,500 for sewer.

Dan Ziller, Jr., then pointed out that the land contract had a clause allowing the township to return the land and get its money back.

Bond then expressed his frustration that Zirk had not mentioned the interest on the $3.35 million that had been borrowed.

“They don’t want to talk about what the interest is,” he said.

“What are you going to do if you don’t build this building?” a woman asked.

Dan Bristol Shaw observed that the board got permission in 2006.

“You should have been there two years ago!”

A lady read part of the statutes that said before townships could issue bonds the public had to approve them at a referendum (60ILCS1/140-5).

“We’re not talking about a bond,” Gerry McMahon, the running mate of Linda Moore who won the Republican nomination by beating out incumbent Lois Brothers, said in rebuttal.

“You can either have a referendum upfront or one in reverse,” incoming Township Supervisor Linda Moore said.

Then came the vote. First those in favor of approving building a new town hall.

Next, those opposed.

There seemed to be some confusion at the head table.

“It’s very close,” Moderator Breeden announced.

The “No” votes were counted again.

And, maybe again.

Finally, Breeden announced,

The vote was 70-70.

People wondered why the “No” votes were counted more than one time, but the “Yes” votes only once.

“When we counted the ‘Yes’ votes, we both agreed. When we counted the ‘No’ votes, we didn’t agree, so we counted until we did,” Breeden explained.

Since tie votes fail, Breeden declared the motion lost.

Let’s look at the language again:

Should Grafton Township construct an office building on real estate purchased by the township on Haligus road in Lake in the Hills, Illinois?

Don Glogovsky then moved that the issue be put on the ballot.

Agreeing with Trustee Betty Zirk, Breeden pointed out that such a question could be discussed but not voted upon, because it was not on the agenda.

Then, it was on to the second major question:

Should Grafton Township enter into construction contracts for the construction of a Town Hall on Haligus Road in Lake in the Hills?

This motion passed 70-64.

Some of the opponents had obviously left after the first vote.

“How are we going to spend money on a building we haven’t approved?”one woman asked.

“It sounds like we’re going to have to depend on this tremendous board,” Breeden said pointing to his right where the incumbent trustees were standing.

Crystal Lake’s Peter Hoffmann, sitting across the aisle from me, took an active part in the meeting.

When the discussion got to rescinding the contracts that had already been let, it was revealed that they amounted to $285,000.

“We can cut out losses,” Hoffmann said. “If we rescind these contracts, we can stop squandering money.

“If we defeat the contracts we’ll be cutting back at the cost of (maybe) $5 million.”

The motion to kill the contracts was defeated 72-61.

After that the meeting seemed to lose steam. It was about ten.

Motions about how much money should be spent and whether the township should rent space to the Grafton Township Food Pantry were tabled without strenuous objection.

The meeting was adjourned.

As I left the garage, the township’s senior bus was loading up the votes that allowed supporters of the new township hall to tie the first vote and carry the day on the others.

It’s hard to tell what a township board will do when its leader goes down to defeat.

In Grafton Township, apparent narrow winner Linda Moore carried only one of her two running mates to victor – Gerry McMahon.

He placed third of six candidates.

The preliminary Republican Party primary election results follow (with the four winners on top):

• Betty Zirk – 1,254
• Barbara Murphy – 1,157
• Gerry McMahan – 1,025
• Robert LaPorta – 1,005

• Lois Brothers – 931
• Don Glogovsky – 816

Glogovsky was the second of Moore’s running mates. He was inexplicably separated from the other one on the ballot. I guess they didn’t file joint petitions. Had they filed joint petitions, Glogovsky would have been second on the ballot and had a better chance of success.

Since the township board has five members, Moore may not be able to accomplish her goals—the main on being to stop the proposed $3.5 million new township hall—unless one of the incumbent trustees is willing to cooperate with her.

The next meeting of the Grafton Township Board is Thursday night at 7:30 at the Huntley Park District Recreation Center.