McHenry County Blog

A fast track design and building consortium headed by Draper and Kramer made a presentation to the Lakewood Village Board Tuesday night.

The players in the discussion of a new village hall.

They didn’t cinch the deal, but made a favorable impression.

The Village Board decided it wanted more input from residents, which would be sought at the next meetings.

Only residents Tom Wilbeck and Cal Skinner made comments after extensive questioning by the Village Trustees.

Financing was a key topic.

Costs could range from $165 to $286 a square foot. The most expensive was for the Lisle Village Hall.

Having been burned for twenty years on the alternative revenue bonds sold by the 1992 Village Board, current members were adamant that no borrowing would be approved that would require a tax increase.

The 1992 Village bought the pitch that bonds backed up by property taxes would be cheaper than those backed solely by the golf course.

When the golf course revenues did not provide enough money to pay off the debt, property taxes had to be increased. Many have estimated the annual increase in property taxes to be about $500 a year for twnety years because of that 1992 decision.

Debt certificates were discussed. They could cost up to a half a percent more and would be backed by the full faith and credit of the Triple A rated village government, but could not force taxes higher.

Debt certificates could be sold without a referendum.

If adequate money were not available to repay the debt certificates and other village expenses, however, other expenses would have to be cut in order to pay off the borrowing.

Discussion ensued around using the lake front property where the current village hall is located.

With about 100 feet of waterfront, the property could be cut into two lots and sold for an estimated $750,000 a lot.

Alternatively, the property could become the only waterfront restaurant in Crystal Lake. That would supply the village with both property tax and sales tax revenue.

The cheapest village hall mentioned by the developers had a $4 million price tag, but making an estimate of the square footage and using the cheapest ($165) per square foot figure, one trustee estimated the cost might be $2-3 million.

A formal needs evaluation would be part of a no-cost Phase 1.

Village Administrator Catherine Peterson pointed out that the Village Board “used to have a nice room,” but space needs of the growing village forced a move of meetings to Red Tail Golf Course.

That was supposed to be a “3-5 year solution.”

“Now, we’re going on 5-10 years.”

Confidentiality in processing those arrested and, sometimes, having a place for their distraught families other than the waiting area in the Village Hall portion of the building, was mentioned after the meeting as a significant reason for the need for more space.

The first phase of the proposed project would be free to the village. It would include a needs assessment and an evaluation as to the reasonableness of staff requests.

Members of the build-to-suit team thanked Village Board members after the presentation and discussion was completed.

A second phase would cost $30,000 to 50,000 for consultants to do soil borings, preliminary environmental work, etc.

Construction could be completed within 18 months, if the village board decided to move forward.

The finance advisor from Stern Brothers & Co. said the time was favorable for long-term borrowing.  The general contractor on the team added that construction costs were low.

I filed a Freedom of Information request with Grafton Township for the checks paid so far for the new township hall. That doesn’t include interest to Harris Bank on the debt certificates.

That’s the $3.5 million ($5 million+, if interest is included) financial transaction on which the Grafton Township Board voted 5-0 to settle up with the Harris Bank last night.

I received the list of expenditures before I went on vacation and will share them with you in descending order.

• Lake in the Hills – $99,429
• MJ Munaretto and Co – $66,000
• Lamp Inc – $57,930.61
• Matuszewich, Kelly LLP – $19,240
• Chapman and Cutler – $15,000
• Heritage Title – $3,386
• O’Brien Law Office – $2,200
• Thomson Surveying Ltd. – $2,000
• Ancel, Glink, Diamond – $1,150

McHenry County Board member Marc Munaretto lists MJ Munaretto and Company’s number as his office number in the McHenry County Year Book. Several weeks ago I emailed him asking,

“I’ve just gotten the Grafton Township Hall expenditures and am curious what services were supplied for (I meant “by”) M.J. Munaretto & Co., Inc. to get $66,000.”

I have received no answer from that email or the telephone call messages I left several weeks ago.

I sent another email late last night and left a message at his office this morning. If I get a reply, I shall share it with you.

The Illinois Secretary of State’s Office reports the company president’s name and address as

Sometimes my almost 12-year old uses the term

That’s supposed to make it all better.

Sometimes it does; sometimes it doesn’t.

While Jim Kelly, the attorney for Grafton Township Trustees, used more lawyerly like language, that was his message to McHenry County Circuit Court Judge Michael Caldwell.

He told the judge that the trustees had been trying to comply with the judge’s instructions to start over with the issues in question. The way the trustees interpreted what Caldwell ordered was that

if they gave proper notice at a township board meeting, they could go ahead with the financing, letting contracts and building of the new town hall.

Kelly said his clients were trying to follow the judge’s instructions in placing three items on last Thursday’s meeting to get the new $5 million (cost including interest) township hall off the ground.

“You said to start over at base one. That’s what they did,” Kelly explained.

“That’s (a misunderstanding). If it isn’t authorized at the April township meeting (it isn’t proper),” Caldwell explained.

So, the judge was referring to the necessity of the electors to approve the construction of a new building at the annual town meeting, while the trustees were trying to cure what the judge concluded was the lack of adequate notice at the meeting of the township board when it approved borrowing money.

“That was not my intention,” Caldwell said. “The annual township meeting was ‘base one.’

“I’m not going to remove the injunction.

“The individual members of the township board are enjoined from

• approval of a building

• construction

• approval of debt

The trustees have appealed the original injunction. Kelly said he would include the one about the agenda in the same appeal.

Bishop questioned whether Kelly could represent the board, since he had not been appointed by newly-sworn in Grafton Township Supervisor Linda Moore. Kelly replied that it was not proper to consider that question at this hearing.

The township trustees rejected Moore’s nomination of Richard Flood to be township attorney to replace Kelly, whom Moore had dismissed when she took office last week.

There was also questions about whether the township as a corporate entity or the trustees should be the defendant. The injunction, the judge pointed out, was against the trustees as individuals.

Plaintiff attorney Jim Bishop wanted to put the question of whether the township is allowed by law to borrow money for more than ten years without a referendum. The debt certificates issued with inadequate public notice were repayable over a 20 year period.

State law in 60 ILCS 1/85-10(b) states,

“A township may construct a township hall under contracts providing for payment over a period of time of not more than 10 years.”

But the hearing Thursday morning didn’t go in that direction.

Attending the hearing were plaintiff taxpayers Dan Ziller, Sr., Rick and Tammy Lueth, Frank Kearns and Linda Moore. None of the trustees showed up.

More than 100 residents have filed a petition asking for a referendum in the fall 2010 general election, but Township Clerk Dina Frigo has not yet filed it with the county clerk.

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If you are interested in this article, you might be interested in

• The Skunk, the Meerkats and the Elephant – Part 1
• The Skunk, the Meerkats and the Elephant – Part 2
• The Skunk, the Meerkats and the Elephant – Part 3

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.

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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:

It’s time to pay the piper, in this case the owners of the Gilger property which the McHenry County College Board voted to purchase during a Crystal Lake City Council meeting on March 4th.

MCC contract attorney Sandy Kerrick announced that the closing would be Monday.

That’s when the 57-acre property will be purchased for $67,000 per acre or about $3.8 million.

But the interest rate is quite low—3.771%–as McHenry County College Board President George Lowe pointed out at Monday’s Committee of the Whole meeting.

Referring to the low interest rate, college President Walt Packard pointed out after the meeting that bad economic times can sometimes yield some good results.

The bonds will be paid off over a twenty year period.

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The fuzzy photo of a smiling George Lowe was taken without a flash, as the sign beside the door instructs.

Both photos may be enlarged by clicking on them.

Both

It’s time to pay the piper, in this case the owners of the Gilger property which the McHenry County College Board voted to purchase during a Crystal Lake City Council meeting on March 4th.

MCC contract attorney Sandy Kerrick announced that the closing would be Monday.

That’s when the 57-acre property will be purchased for $67,000 per acre or about $3.8 million.

But the interest rate is quite low—3.771%–as McHenry County College Board President George Lowe pointed out at Monday’s Committee of the Whole meeting.

Referring to the low interest rate, college President Walt Packard pointed out after the meeting that bad economic times can sometimes yield some good results.

The bonds will be paid off over a twenty year period.

= = = = =
The fuzzy photo of a smiling George Lowe was taken without a flash, as the sign beside the door instructs.

Both photos may be enlarged by clicking on them.

Both

Big doings at the McHenry County College Board meeting Thursday night at 7.

Although the college—unlike Huntley School District 158 and Carpentersville School District 300—does not allow the public to see what is in the board packets ahead of time, take a look at what is on the agenda:

• Land Acquisition, Board Report #07-80
• Additional Services from Patrick Engineering, Board Report #07-86
• Architect Selection for the Health, Wellness, and Athletic Complex, Board Report #07-87
• Construction Manager Selection for the Health, Wellness, and Athletic Complex, Board Report #07-88
• Agreement with Equity One Development Corporation for Developmental Services for the Health, Wellness, and Athletic Complex, Board Report #07-89
• Selection of Bond Advisor, Board Report #07-90
• Resolution of Intent to Reimburse from Proposed Debt Certificates, Board report #07-91

Pretty much everything one needs to build a baseball stadium.

It’s a shame that the public cannot see the information before the meeting.

The only thing I see missing is a contract with Pete Heitman’s baseball team consortium, but maybe I overlooked it.

Big doings at the McHenry County College Board meeting Thursday night at 7.

Although the college—unlike Huntley School District 158 and Carpentersville School District 300—does not allow the public to see what is in the board packets ahead of time, take a look at what is on the agenda:

• Land Acquisition, Board Report #07-80
• Additional Services from Patrick Engineering, Board Report #07-86
• Architect Selection for the Health, Wellness, and Athletic Complex, Board Report #07-87
• Construction Manager Selection for the Health, Wellness, and Athletic Complex, Board Report #07-88
• Agreement with Equity One Development Corporation for Developmental Services for the Health, Wellness, and Athletic Complex, Board Report #07-89
• Selection of Bond Advisor, Board Report #07-90
• Resolution of Intent to Reimburse from Proposed Debt Certificates, Board report #07-91

Pretty much everything one needs to build a baseball stadium.

It’s a shame that the public cannot see the information before the meeting.

The only thing I see missing is a contract with Pete Heitman’s baseball team consortium, but maybe I overlooked it.

The short answer is that McHenry County College taxpayers are the ones who have to foot the bill, if the minor league baseball team doesn’t produce enough money to pay for McHenry County College’s baseball stadium and other buildings.

What the board has decided to do is to “bet on the come,” so to speak.

If the money rolls in from willing ticket buyers, no problem.

If a shortfall occurs, however, a future MCC board would have to dip into other revenues to make up the difference.

Maybe a future MCC board would raise tuition.

Maybe it would forgo faculty and staff raises.

Maybe it would come to the voters with a “Woe-is-me” tale of how that “bad – old – board” in 2007 made a really big miscalculation and “Won’t – you – please – bail – us – out?” so we won’t have to raise tuition or forgo staff salary increases.

One scenario or another or a combination there of seems likely, if the baseball team lease doesn’t work out.

This can be clearly seen multiple places in the last Debt Certificates issued by the McHenry County College Board.

A Debt Certificate is money the college trustees borrow without asking permission of its voters.

Here is the wording that says you and I are on the hook for any payments if the minor league baseball team defaults on its lease payments:

“Security

“The Certificates are valid and legally binding upon the District and are payable from any funds lawfully available and annually budget for such purpose. There is no statutory authority for the levy of a separate tax in addition to other taxes or the levy of a special tax unlimited as to rate or amount to pay the principal of or interest on the Certificates. The Certificates are considered debt under Illinois law; are not subject to appropriation risk; are non – cancelable and are not subject to completion risk.”(Emphasis added.)

Perhaps this clause is why these men are smiling.

To the left of the clause that takes the minor league baseball owners off the hook if their team does not make enough money is baseball team promoter Pete Heitman.

Mark Houser, President of Equity One, is below Heitman, smiling like the cat that ate the canary. Equity One is getting the no-bid contract to build the stadium.

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Both pictures were taken at the meeting where they and Bill Lee, Commissioner of the Frontier League, made their pitch to the MCC Board after the public was turned out of the meeting.

The short answer is that McHenry County College taxpayers are the ones who have to foot the bill, if the minor league baseball team doesn’t produce enough money to pay for McHenry County College’s baseball stadium and other buildings.

What the board has decided to do is to “bet on the come,” so to speak.

If the money rolls in from willing ticket buyers, no problem.

If a shortfall occurs, however, a future MCC board would have to dip into other revenues to make up the difference.

Maybe a future MCC board would raise tuition.

Maybe it would forgo faculty and staff raises.

Maybe it would come to the voters with a “Woe-is-me” tale of how that “bad – old – board” in 2007 made a really big miscalculation and “Won’t – you – please – bail – us – out?” so we won’t have to raise tuition or forgo staff salary increases.

One scenario or another or a combination there of seems likely, if the baseball team lease doesn’t work out.

This can be clearly seen multiple places in the last Debt Certificates issued by the McHenry County College Board.

A Debt Certificate is money the college trustees borrow without asking permission of its voters.

Here is the wording that says you and I are on the hook for any payments if the minor league baseball team defaults on its lease payments:

“Security

“The Certificates are valid and legally binding upon the District and are payable from any funds lawfully available and annually budget for such purpose. There is no statutory authority for the levy of a separate tax in addition to other taxes or the levy of a special tax unlimited as to rate or amount to pay the principal of or interest on the Certificates. The Certificates are considered debt under Illinois law; are not subject to appropriation risk; are non – cancelable and are not subject to completion risk.”(Emphasis added.)

Perhaps this clause is why these men are smiling.

To the left of the clause that takes the minor league baseball owners off the hook if their team does not make enough money is baseball team promoter Pete Heitman.

Mark Houser, President of Equity One, is below Heitman, smiling like the cat that ate the canary. Equity One is getting the no-bid contract to build the stadium.

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Both pictures were taken at the meeting where they and Bill Lee, Commissioner of the Frontier League, made their pitch to the MCC Board after the public was turned out of the meeting.