McHenry County Blog

At the MoveOn.Org demonstration in front of Congressman Don Manzullo’s Route 14 office, McHenry County Blog’s intrepid reporter/camera woman was informed of a meeting being held at the Huntley Park District Thursday night at 7.

I called to discover the sponsor and was told that Obama for America had reserved the room.

So, if you intend to attend the Grafton Township Board meeting at the same location at 7:30, you can come a bit early and see the beginning of President Barack Obama’s campaign in Del Webb.

The following “Contract for the American Dream” was provided at the rally against Manzullo:

The Huntley-centric Grafton Township Board reached out to the northeast corner of the township to select a Lakewood woman as township clerk.

On a 5-0 vote, the board voted for Harriet Ford.

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.

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.”

“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.

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.

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.”

With apologies to Clark Gable and “Gone With the Wind.”

The Huntley School District 158 school board came up with an interesting idea at a recent Committee of the Whole meeting.

Why hold all the meetings at the administration building?

Why not go from school to school?

The school board discussed following the example of the Carpentersville District 300 and holding meetings at various school buildings.

Crystal Lake’s Grade School District 47 does that. I’ve attended meetings at West and Hussmann Elementary Schools.

When the idea adding Del Webb to the school rotation was brought up by board member Larry Snow, there was adamant opposition from the five-member board majority.

Here’s what Jameel Naqvi wrote in his Daily Herald article:

“(Superintendent John) Burkey proposed the idea in response to board member Larry Snow’s suggestion that the board hold one-third of its meetings at Del Webb’s Sun City — in rough proportion to the amount of property taxes the Huntley community contributes to the district, according to Snow.

“Snow’s board colleagues rejected his idea of holding board meetings in Sun City — seen as a base of Snow’s support — in favor of meeting at District 158 schools.”

So, thirty percent of the property tax revenue in Huntley School District 158 comes from Sun City.

But there are no schools there.

That’s because there are no kids allowed.

Del Webb residents pay a lot of the freight, but get none of the benefits.

But, heaven forbid, let’s not encourage Del Webb residents to attend a school board meeting.

Or, by the way, allow it to be broadcast to all Sun City homes via their private broadcast network.

With apologies to Clark Gable and “Gone With the Wind.”

The Huntley School District 158 school board came up with an interesting idea at a recent Committee of the Whole meeting.

Why hold all the meetings at the administration building?

Why not go from school to school?

The school board discussed following the example of the Carpentersville District 300 and holding meetings at various school buildings.

Crystal Lake’s Grade School District 47 does that. I’ve attended meetings at West and Hussmann Elementary Schools.

When the idea adding Del Webb to the school rotation was brought up by board member Larry Snow, there was adamant opposition from the five-member board majority.

Here’s what Jameel Naqvi wrote in his Daily Herald article:

“(Superintendent John) Burkey proposed the idea in response to board member Larry Snow’s suggestion that the board hold one-third of its meetings at Del Webb’s Sun City — in rough proportion to the amount of property taxes the Huntley community contributes to the district, according to Snow.

“Snow’s board colleagues rejected his idea of holding board meetings in Sun City — seen as a base of Snow’s support — in favor of meeting at District 158 schools.”

So, thirty percent of the property tax revenue in Huntley School District 158 comes from Sun City.

But there are no schools there.

That’s because there are no kids allowed.

Del Webb residents pay a lot of the freight, but get none of the benefits.

But, heaven forbid, let’s not encourage Del Webb residents to attend a school board meeting.

Or, by the way, allow it to be broadcast to all Sun City homes via their private broadcast network.

First it was the Kane County residents of Sun City who were not told that they were eligible to replace school board member Jim Carlin when he resigned.

Now, false information is being disseminated on the Huntley School District 158 web site about the vacancy for the top finance person.

Here’s what one finds on the web site:

We are currently accepting resumes/applications from individuals interested in the following Administration vacancies.

All interested applicants must provide the following in order to be considered for an identified position: Completed CSD158 employment application (see Applications link-complete in Word, save to hard drive and email, or print out pdf version to fill in and fax or mail), letter of interest, current resume, list of references (including supervisors), and copy of applicable certification. All certificates/endorsements must be valid in order to be considered for hire. Applications received after the deadline will not be submitted for consideration.

See below for submission instructions.

THERE ARE CURRENTLY NO ADMINISTRATOR VACANCIES.

Kind of makes you wonder if the school board’s ruling majority has someone already picked out and “no one else need apply.”

Sort of the way the word was put out that school board member Glenn Stewart was going to be picked, so no Cincinnati experts need apply.

School Superintended John Burkey told the Finance Committee Thursday night that he would do the search himself…no need to hire a professional search firm.

First it was the Kane County residents of Sun City who were not told that they were eligible to replace school board member Jim Carlin when he resigned.

Now, false information is being disseminated on the Huntley School District 158 web site about the vacancy for the top finance person.

Here’s what one finds on the web site:

We are currently accepting resumes/applications from individuals interested in the following Administration vacancies.

All interested applicants must provide the following in order to be considered for an identified position: Completed CSD158 employment application (see Applications link-complete in Word, save to hard drive and email, or print out pdf version to fill in and fax or mail), letter of interest, current resume, list of references (including supervisors), and copy of applicable certification. All certificates/endorsements must be valid in order to be considered for hire. Applications received after the deadline will not be submitted for consideration.

See below for submission instructions.

THERE ARE CURRENTLY NO ADMINISTRATOR VACANCIES.

Kind of makes you wonder if the school board’s ruling majority has someone already picked out and “no one else need apply.”

Sort of the way the word was put out that school board member Glenn Stewart was going to be picked, so no Cincinnati experts need apply.

School Superintended John Burkey told the Finance Committee Thursday night that he would do the search himself…no need to hire a professional search firm.