McHenry County Blog

A second message has come from Nunda Township Trustee Mike Shorten:

“Thanks for the response yesterday.

This is one of the bagging operations at the Nunda Township Road District Facility. They have a machine that helps fill the bags, which is operated by volunteers and road district employees. Once the bags are filled they are sealed and then stacked on to pallets which are transported to homeowners affected by flooding.

“Between efforts Wednesday and yesterday over 16,000 sand bags have been created, but the need is still great as the Fox River in not expected to crest until sometime on Saturday.

People needed not only the fill the sandbags, but also to tie them.

“If you have time

• this afternoon/evening or
• any time on Saturday,

they need willing and able volunteers to help with the process of making bags and loading them on to pallets for delivery to residents and any amount of time that you can donate will make a huge difference in the efforts.

Once the sandbags are filled and tied, they are put on pallets.

“We need people that can lift but also need those who can just help tie the bags closed one they are filled.

The pallets are loaded onto trucks. Note that the sandbagging machine has four shoots.

“IF YOU ARE UNABLE TO HELP, please forward this message to your friends/family/neighbors that live in the area and that will be help enough.

GOP Primary opponents Road Commissioner Don Kopsell and winner Mike Lesperance have a common enemy now–the rising Fox River.

“No need to call just go to the highway department offices at 3518 Bay Rd. in Crystal Lake, IL. Mike Lesperance, who will be sworn in as the new Highway Commissioner on May 20th is managing the efforts.”

The second photo is one that I took from the street in front of a house where I delivered a pump. The picture is of the front door of the house and where you see water reflecting the light is where the driveway would be. The owner had to bring out a canoe to transport the pump to his house because it is surrounded by water and the house is protected only by the sandbags at this point.

And the Fox River is continuing the rise, as you can see from the U.S. Corps of Engineers Algonquin Dam data below:

The gauge at the Algonquin Dam on the Fox River shows the river at over three and one-half foot above flood stage fifteen minutes before 4 PM on Friday, April 19, 2013.

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Photos were sent by Mike Shorten and Cindy Lesperance.

On Friday in the Northwest Herald, I found the following ad from Nunda Township Road Commissioner candidate Rob Parrish. Parrish is running against incumbent Don Kopsell, as is Mike Lesperance.

Rob Parrish’s ad in the Friday-before-the-election Northwest Herald.

A press release from the Nunda Township Republican Central Committee:

Nunda Republican Candidate Forum Video Now Online

About a third of the crowd at the Nunda Township Republican Central Committee’s Candidates’ Night.

On February 13, 2013 the Nunda Township Republican Central Committee held a Candidate Forum at American Community Bank in McHenry.

All of the candidates running for the Republican nomination in contested races were asked questions submitted online and by audience members. The Forum was moderated by the Executive Officers Mark Daniel, Mike Shorten, Mary McClellan and Scott Brown.

The Nunda Township Republicans are committed to providing their voters all of the information that they need to nominate the most qualified candidates. To that end the forum was recorded and is now being made available online for all voters to view.

To access the videos, voters in Nunda Township can go to nundagop.org and click on the link on the main page or by scrolling over the ’2013 Candidate Forum’ menu option.

The Nunda Township Republican Central Committee is the grassroots of the Republican Party in Nunda Township. Made up of 29 elected and appointed Precinct Committeemen the Nunda Republicans are dedicated to connecting with voters in their precincts throughout Nunda Township to ensure the successful elections of Republican candidates. If you would like more information about Nunda Township Republican Central Committee please visit our website nundagop.org.

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The link to the comments by Supervisor candidates Bridgett Provenzano and Lee Jennings are here.

The link to the comments by Highway Commissioner candidates Don Kopsell, Ron Parrish and “Iron Mike” Lesperance here.

The link to the comments by Township Clerk candidates Angela Koscavage and Susan Jennings are here.

If you live in or near Nunda Township, you probably have noticed political signs for Road Commissioner popping up.

The first I saw was for Iron Mike Lesperance.

Iron Mike Lesperance’s sign.

A weekend or so later, a whole lot of signs for Rob Parrish showed up in the Crystal Lake area. Clearly in his home town Parrish was winning the sign war.

This past weekend, incumbent Road Commissioner Don Kopsell’s signs started showing up. The one you see below was on McHenry Avenue in Algonquin Township near Husmann Elementary School. A Parrish sign was down the street.

Don Kopsell’s sign.

A press release from rob Parrish, who is a candidate for Nunda Township Road Commissioner. He is runnhing against incumbent Don Kopsell and fellow challenger “Iron Mike” Lesperance.

Rob Parrish announces the activation of his Campaign Website

Crystal Lake –Rob Parrish, Republican Candidate for the office of Nunda Township Highway Commissioner, announces the activation of his official campaign website.

www.robparrish2013.com

With the goal of being an advocate for transparency, communication, and integrity, Rob hopes his campaign messages, proposals, and relevant experiences, will be easily made available to the Nunda voters.

His website will be an ever changing medium for the issues that are pertinent to the campaign for Highway Commissioner.

For more information about Rob Parrish’s campaign for Nunda Township Highway Commissioner visit www.robparrish2013.com or email him at robparrish@sbcglobal.net. Contact Rob Parrish by phone at 815-378-4459.

“Iron Mike” Lesperance

A press release from “Iron Mike” Lesperance, one of three candidates for Nunda Township Road Commissioner. He and Rob Parrish are challenging incumbent Don Kopsell in the February Republican primary.

“Iron Mike” Lesperance Running for Nunda Township Highway Commissioner

After more than 30 years of running Iron Mike’s Excavating and a lifetime of community involvement, “Iron Mike” Lesperance announces his Republican candidacy for Nunda Township Highway Commissioner.

He believes he can bring fiscal responsibility to the Highway Department, eliminate unethical spending, and work closely with all township staff while leading by example. His resume attests to all of this and more.

Iron Mike’s Platform

Mike Lesperance believes our taxes are already too high, and the Highway Department will need to tighten its belt.

As Highway Commissioner, he will:

1. Lower the township highway expenses by employing the best staff possible, maintain equipment to stretch the years of available service, use competitive bids every time and do as much work in house as possible.
2. Eliminate unethical and unnecessary spending.
3. Work directly with his crews (when possible), leading by example and developing a code of conduct that all Highway Department employees will be expected to adhere to.

Iron Mike’s Resume

“Iron Mike” Lesperance looks at plans.

Mike started Iron Mike’s Excavating over thirty years ago.

His company has employed up to twenty persons and still enjoys great success.

His hands-on leadership and training style allow him to easily motivate his employees and maximize cost efficiency.

His experiences include, but are certainly not limited to:

1. Managing, supervising and overseeing sub-contractors and employees.
2. Office responsibilities including plan reading, bidding, invoicing, maintaining accurate paperwork & documentation, record keeping, payroll and permitting.
3. Residential, commercial and industrial excavating.
4. Road maintenance, sewer & water work, supervising landscaping & lawn maintenance.
5. Husband and father of three, fourth generation Eagle Scout & donor, Katrina relief work & donor, NRA lifetime member, youth athletics coach and donor, former Chairmen of Wauconda Evangelical Free Church Missions Board.

For more information on Iron Mike Lesperance’s campaign, or info on how to vote for Highway Commissioner, please visit VoteIronMike.com, call Mike at (815) 385-2523 or email him at ironmikes@comcast.net. Thank you for taking an interest in our community!

A last name I’ve known since high school days is running for Nunda Township Road Commissioner against incumbent Don Kopsell and Mike Lesperance. Below is Rob Parrish’s announcement press release:

Rob Parrish announces candidacy for Nunda Township Highway Commissioner

Crystal Lake – After working more than 30 years in McHenry County as a successful paving and snow removal contractor, Rob Parrish announces his Republican candidacy for the office of Nunda Township Highway Commissioner.

With the goal of bringing

• fiscal responsibility,
• effective leadership, and
• professional collaboration

to the township office, Rob Parrish is committed to

• eliminating wasteful spending, and
• creating strategic plans

for the

• road maintenance,
• snow removal, and
• capital expenditures

that will benefit all of Nunda Township.

Rob Parrish runs asphalt paying machine. He supervised the crew that repaved Lakewood’s South Shore Drive from Gate 3 to Gate 11.

As Commissioner, Rob will advocate for

• transparency,
• communication, and
• integrity

in the office, with a special emphasis on restoring unity among the leadership of Nunda.

Rob Parrish has this catchy symbol for his campaign. All that is missing is his name.

Through existing intergovernmental agreements, Rob will extend help to fellow Nunda township cities and villages faced with the same challenges of declining revenues.

With the proposed freeze on the tax levy, all municipalities will need to work together to maximize the utility of the fixed budgeted monies.

For more information about Rob Parrish’s campaign for Nunda Township Highway Commissioner visit www.RobParrish2013.com or email him at robparrish@sbcglobal.net Contact Rob Parrish by phone at 815-378-4459.

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If you are a candidate for office in McHenry County and wonder why Parrish got this information where it can be found on the internet, the answer is simple.  He sent it to me.

If you would like to share your background and what you want to do, if you win the office you seek, or, if an incumbent, you would like to share your accomplishments with readers, send me a press release.  Photos are appreciated.  They draw eyes to the story.

Over 5,000 people came searching for information on McHenry County Blog in November the day before people went to the polls.

John Heisler

Lee Jennings

Bridgett Provenzano

I have given up trying to understand Nunda Township Republican politics.

Township Supervisor John Heisler, a former McHenry County Board member, is being challenged by three people.

Heisler, whose family’s name has been associated with Crystal Lake since his grandfather started a shoe repair shop across from the railroad station in 1908, won his first election in 2001 with a write-in campaign running against Mike Walkup.

So, beating him will be a real challenge.

Usually, the more opponents, the better for the incumbent in a primary election.

Even so, three have lined for the opportunity:

• Bridgett Provenzano (current Township Clerk and wife of County Board member Nick Provenzano)
• Kelvin Lee Jennings (current Trustee)
• Kerry Leigh (Oakwood Hills Trustee)

Don Kopsell

Running for Highway Commissioner are

• Incumbent Don Kopsell
• Robert Parrish (Crystal Lake, Supervisor, Geske & Sons Asphalt Paving)
• Mike Lesperance (Lakemoor, owner of Iron Mike’s Excavating)

For Assessor, no one is challenging incumbent Dennis Jagla.

Two are running for the Clerk’s position, which Provenzano is vacating to run for Supervisor:

• Angela Koscavage (Community Care Assistant to the Director of Community Care and Equipping with Crystal Lake Willow Creek Community Church)
• Susan Jennings

For Trustee there are only four candidates for the four positions:

• Tom Palmer (Crystal Lake, incumbent)
• Ed Dvorak (Crystal Lake, former Road Commissioner and County Board member)
• Eddie Gil (Holiday Hills, husband of County Board member-elect Mary McClellan, retired trucking company owner, property investor)
• Mike Shorten (Crystal Lake,Vice Chairman of the Nunda Township Republican Party)

Bowing out as Trustees are Joni Smith and Jim Schlader.

In the absence of Nunda Township Road Commissioner Donald Kopsell, Nunda Township Supervisor John Heisler and the Township Board expressed its displeasure with the expenditure of $6,500, plus labor, to install a tall flag pole and what appear to be planters.

Take a look at what I saw when I went back in daylight:

The new flag pole and concrete retaining walls that seem destined to have flowers planted behind them over which the Town Board objected when Road Commissioner Don Kopsell submitted bills for about $6,500.

All of the above is behind a chain link fence with barbed wire on top.

Heisler explained that were bills from Eagle Flag and Foxcroft Meadows for construction materials, bricks, limestone and a flag pole with “gold ornament” charged to the General Maintenance line item.

Road District employee Josh Singer was in the audience, but not representing his employer.

Nevertheless, he told the Board that he had worked on the project “a couple of days.”

Two or three of Kopsell’s employees did the work.

A motion to approve the expenditures garnered failed 3-1. Only Trustee Lee Jennings voted in favor.

Those attending the October Nunda Township Board meeting (from left to right) were Joni Smith, Lee Jennings, John Heisler and James Schlader.

“The fact remains though,” Heisler observed after the vote, “that Eagle Flag and Foxcroft have provided these goods and services in good faith.

James Militello, Sr.

When asked, Township Attorney James Militello, Sr., pointed out the denial “puts you are risk.”

“I don’t think we can not pay the bill,” Jennings commented.

“This Board doesn’t have the ability to tell the Road Commissioner [how he] should or should not be spending his money,” Militello said.

“If [there are] questions, you have to go by what the Road Commissioner is requesting.”

Then, Heisler brought the possibility of a motion to reconsider.

In the re-vote, approval of the bills passed 4-0.

“I think the process we just went through is a message-sending process.

There was also discussion about paying legal bills.  One from Road Commissioner attorney Jim Kelly was paid and one wasn’t.  The one that wasn’t had no itemization.

Militello pointed out that when there is litigation, it is not unusual for legal bills to exclude detail, but that there should be some idea what type of services were provided.

Kopsell has filed suit against the Town Fund part of township government headed by Heisler.

A $13,500 bill for the years 2006, 2007 and 2008 from Kopsell was discussed at length, with Heisler stating there was never a written or verbal contract.

This year, after Kopsell said that he wanted to be paid for mowing the township’s lawn outside his complex, Heisler asked for bids.  The cheapest was $250 a cut.

Heisler said he hired his son at $100 a cut.

Trustee Tom Palmer did not attend the meeting.

Lack of inter-connectivity has always been the problem in delivering bus service to the suburbs.  To get from one town to the next, you had to be able to get from your home to the bus stop.

During the 1974 RTA referendum, proponents promised,

“Public transportation, when and where you need it, throughout the region.”

“Right,” I thought then. “Not in my lifetime.”

Now local officials have forged an agreement to allow those living in Crystal Lake (the city, not the zip codes 60012 and 60014) to get to and from home and McHenry and/or Woodstock or anywhere in Dorr Township, plus all combinations thereof.

Here is the county’s press release on the ribbon cutting:

PACE Ribbon Cutting

WOODSTOCK, IL – A ribbon cutting ceremony was held this morning to commemorate the launch of a program to expand Pace Dial-a-Ride services in McHenry County.

The Program, which officially went into service last Saturday, enables registered users to arrange transit trips between the cities of Crystal Lake, McHenry, and Woodstock, and for seniors and people with disabilities the area also includes all of McHenry Township and unincorporated Dorr Township.

McHenry County Board Chairman speaks at a ceremony announcing the expansion of PACE bus service between Crystal Lake, McHenry and Woodstock.

Near the Vietnam War Memorial at the County Administration building, County Board Chairman Ken Koehler provided a few words for the occasion:

“It would be an understatement to say it’s been a very long journey from planning stage to implementation of these services… This project, funded by the Senior Services Grant Commission and the County Transit Grant Program will have immediate impacts to many with limited mobility in the County and will, in the long-term, create positive social and economic impacts.”

The seeds for this service were first planted in 2005, when the County Board approved a Transit Plan calling for the coordination of transit services.

Pace Board Chairman Richard Kwasneski heralded the new service as an example of the kind of coordination that will be necessary for successful transit systems in the future.

Sandra Salgado, McHenry County Board member and Chair of the County’s Senior Services Grant Commission, expressed how happy the Commission members are to see this service provide new transportation options for McHenry County’s seniors.  In late 2007, the Senior Services Grant Commission awarded funds to the McHenry County Division of Transportation to begin a program of coordinated transit services.

Anna May Miller, also a Board member and Chair of the County’s Transportation Committee, shared her enthusiasm for this first step in coordinated, expanded transit services.  The Transportation Committee authorized a Transit Grant Program that provided funding for the service in 2009 using the County’s RTA Sales Tax.

County Chairman Koehler, Pace Chairman Kwasneski, County Board Member Salgado, County Board Member Miller, and McHenry Township Supervisor Donna Schaefer cut the red ribbon over the door of the Pace bus, officially declaring the service up and running.

Sandra Salgado, Anna May Miller, Donna Schaefer, Ken Koehler, Rick Kwasneski cutting the ribbon.

Other attendees at this event included: County Board members Lyn Orphal, Mary Donner, and Mary McCann; Bob Pierce, Dorr Township Supervisor; Don Kopsell, Nunda Township Road District Commissioner; Mayor Susan Low, City of McHenry; Mayor Brian Sager, City of Woodstock; Pace Executive Director T. J. Ross; McHenry County Engineer/Director of Transportation Joseph Korpalski, Jr.; and Pioneer Center President and CEO Lorraine Kopczynski.