Grafton Township Board Appoints Lakewood’s Harriet Ford Clerk
The Huntley-centric Grafton Township Board reached out to the northeast corner of the township to select a Lakewood woman as township clerk.
Grafton Township Supervisor Linda Moore swears in newly-appointed Grafton Township Clerk Harriet Ford.
On a 5-0 vote, the board voted for Harriet Ford.
Grafton Township Clerk applicants Joan Citro, Harriet Ford and Kristy Borchart raise hands when asked by a board member to identify themselves.
Ford edged out Kristy Borchart and Joan Citro, both of Huntley. Citro was disqualified because she had not voted in a Republican primary election.
The appointee had to be a Republican because Dina Frigo had been elected running as a Republican.
Ford was sworn in immediately after the meeting adjourned by Township Supervisor Linda Moore.
After being appointed Township Clerk, Harriet Ford thanked the trustees and stopped briefly to confer with Rob LaPorta.
Ford has served six years on the Glendale Heights-Bloomingdale Grade School Board, was Bloomingdale Village Clerk for eight years, is President of the NISRA Foundation and is on the Grafton Township Food Pantry Foundation Board.
She used to handle public relations for Del Webb and previously did similar work for Grafton Township.
In other business the trustees voted 4-0 after a secret meeting with their attorney (with Linda Moore abstaining)
“to direct the attorney to act as directed in closed session relating to the Moore vs. Grafton Township litigation,”
which turned out to be Linda Moore’s separation of powers suit against the four trustees.
Township Assessor Bill Ottley gained approval to purchase a new computer software program from Elgin’s Cirone Computer Consulting, which also serves McHenry, Nunda, Dorr, Marengo, Richmond and Coral Townships.
The cost was $58,800 spread over two years with a 15% a year maintenance fee (just under $9,000, as Trustee Betty Zirk pointed out) starting in the second year.
In other things computer, Township Administrator Pam Fender recommended the hiring of Leading IT Solutions, which she said was a member of “our Chamber of Commerce,” as well as Woodstock’s.
The board agreed, with Trustee Rob LaPorta saying, “This should be the only authorized person to work on township computers.”
Gerry McMahon
“Except for my office at home,” Supervisor Moore interjected.
“If you incur a bill, don’t expect us to pay it without prior approval,” Trustee Gerry McMahon said.
To obtain read only access to township financial records, Fender reported would cost $2,446 for the hardware and $1,200 for installation. She said that if the township signed an annual contract with Leading IT Solutions for $3,656, the $1,200 would be included.
The firm charges $75 per hour.
Discussion of using the township bus to bring seniors and the disabled to the April 13th Annual Town Meeting was a bit contentious with Township Attorney Keri-Lyn Krafthefer suggesting applications that would indicate the time a request for a ride was made.
Reading the agenda item, which talked of serving “regular” riders, Moore asked, “How can we discriminate against irregular riders?”
Various suggestions were made.
“One thing we shouldn’t be doing is picking this to death,” McMahon said.
Grafton Township bus loads up after the 2009 Annual Town Meeting.
Attorney Krafthefer observed,
“We don’t want to end up with any political discrimination suit?”
“If it’s impossible to create an audit trail, maybe we shouldn’t do it,” Trustee Rob LaPorta said.
Trustee Barb Murphy pointed out that the bus was used two years ago.
“But not last year,” LaPorta said.
Moore suggested perhaps Senior Service Associates and Faith in Action might provide rides for people who wanted them.
After a bit more discussion, LaPort said,
“This appears to be creating more trouble than it’s worth,”
and the meeting moved on.
Township Attorney Keri-Lyn Krafthefer with Township Administrator to her left.
The reason I went to the meeting was that preparing the agenda for the Annual Town Meeting was on the agenda.
But, it was a non-started.
The township attorney said she wasn’t prepared because no one had asked her to do anything on the agenda.
That strikes me as a bit odd, considering the effort that was made to make certain the order entered concerning the taxpayer suit filed by Dan Ziller, Jr., et al, would not preclude moving ahead on things like buying the Haligus Road property and having the Township Road District buy the Grafton Township Hall.
Indeed, McMahon expressed the desire to word questions put to the Township Electors in a format in which they could ratify past actions found illegal by Judge Michael Caldwell and the 2nd Appellate Court.
Talking about the Haligus Road property, which Krafthefer said she had just received new information on from Lake in the Hills the afternoon of the meeting, McMahon said, “Ratify and sell it on the open market.”
“I didn’t have any information about Haligus Road until this afternoon,” she said.
Krafthefer did not reveal what new information she had learned, despite being repeatedly asked by Moore, but it was Lake in the Hills Attorney Richard Flood.
Krafthefer did, however, allowed as how she “could provide an educational statement.”
“We need to legally fix things,” she added.
“Couldn’t we ask to have acceptance, Yes or No?” McMahon asked.
“Those are the two choices,” the attorney replied.
“We don’t need to think that everything has to be undone,
” McMahon continued. “Get a second set of electors to approve it.
“That’s what I want.”
