Poster from one of the many supporters of the Raue Center grant.

I’m sitting in Crystal Lake City Council Chambers waiting for the passage of the resolution asking McHenry County government to recognize the importance of the city watershed protection ordinance and what should occupy the minds of most in the audience, but distribution of proceeds from the Hotel/Motel Tax.

Mayor Aaron Shepley had a staffer put up a spreadsheet on the overhead projector. It contained last year’s allocations and a row for this year.

$302,000 in the till, it appeared.

Final Crystal Lake Hotel/Motel Tax Distribution (click to enlarge)

Then he started filling in numbers.

• $15,000 for the Independence Day fireworks which the Crystal Lake Gala used to finance after the Crystal Lake Jaycees stopped sponsoring them when a youth found an unexploded one and severely injured his hand. (The Jaycees collected donations at Veterans Acres in bags.)
• $2,000 to the Crystal Lake Babe Ruth League
• $10,000 to the Crystal Lake Chamber of Commerce for the 4th of July Parade.
• $6,000 for the Chamber’s Shopping and Dining Guide.
• $35,000 for Historic Downtown Crystal Lake
• $3,600 for the Music Center
• $50,000 for Youth Sports (the baseball tournament)
• $150,000 for the Raue Center for the Performing Arts
• Volleyball – zero
• McHenry County Convention Bureau – zero at Shepley’s guidance, suggesting the money could be found elsewhere in the city budget
• $25,000 for Lakeside Center with Councilwoman Ellen Brady Mueller pointing out whatever was allocated was in addition to $8,000 in donated police services
• $2,500 for the Crystal Lake Rowing Club

The total awarded was $299,100.

Audience files out of the council chambers after the cutting up of the Hotel/Motel Tax pie. Most were supporters of the Raue Center's application.

Having received $150,000 the Raue Center supports left satisfied, even though they didn’t get the $44,000 they sought for repairs to the old movie theater.

The money collected from the Hotel/Motel Tax could be spent for any purpose.

The most startling information that I discovered listening to the discussion on the matter was Councilwoman Ellen Brady Mueller’s revelation that county staffers did not realize that the watershed of Crystal Lake extends beyond the city boundaries.

Mayor Aaron Shepley verbalized that opponents of the watershed ordinance’s requirements “may disagree with the parameters of the boundaries of the watershed” being based on the drilling of “four wells.”

City Director of Public Works commented Eric Lecuyer said, ”I think the boundaries are clear with regard to the watershed.”

Carolyn Schofield

At election night’s Crystal Lake City Council meeting, City Councilwoman Carolyn Schofield, elected last year, took the lead in getting a resolution on the agenda at tomorrow night’s meeting asking for recognition of the city’s Watershed Ordinance by county government.

You may remember that both Ellen Brady Mueller and Donna Kurtz made something of that issue during their campaigns for a District 2 slot on the fall county board ballot.

From a resident of the watershed’s perspective, it is so, so difficult to understand that the McHenry County Board has thus far not figured out how important protection of our lake’s watershed is to local residents.

You would think they might have figured that out when a citizen uprising killed the minor league baseball stadium at McHenry County College.

After all, half (that’s right, half) of the entire county board represents parts of Crystal Lake. With all residents of the Crystal Lake Park District having access to the lake, how can one explain why the board has not taken action already.

Ellen Brady Mueller

Donna Kurtz

My prediction is the resolution will pass without dissent Tuesday.

If that doesn’t convince the county board to follow the not-as-strict-as-it-could-be watershed protection ordinance, the next step, it would seem to me would be to invite those twelve county board members to a meeting of the city council.

Who are they?

District 2

• McHenry County Board Chairman Ken Koehler (R)
• McHenry County Board Vice Chairman Jim Heisler (R)
• Lyn Orphal (Lost the primary to Donna Kurtz) Both R’s.
• Former Lakewood Village President and Crystal Lake Park Board President Scott Breeden (R)

Crystal Lake Avenue is the dividing line between District 2 and District 3.

District 3

• Barbara Wheeler (R)
• Kathy Bergan Schmidt (D)
• Ed Dvorak (retiring) (R)
• Mary Donner (R)

District 5

• Tina Hill (R)
• Virginia Peschke (R)
• Jim Kennedy (D)
• Paula Yensen (D)

District 5 comes into the Crystal Lake area from the Northwest (Ridgefield) and the Southeast.

So, what’s the resolution ask for?

“That the Mayor and City Council request the Regional Planning Commission include the Crystal Lake watershed and its regulations in the list of watersheds that exist within McHenry County in the 2030 Comprehensive Plan document.”

The resolution points out that the lake’s watershed is 6.39 square miles of which 3.69 square miles are within the City of Crystal Lake.

McHenry County Board Chairman Ken Koehler

McHenry County College Board Trustee Donna Kurtz

McHenry County Board Chairman is running a solid second place with only four precincts not reporting.

Leading him by about 150 votes is McHenry County College Board member Donna Kurtz.

Running last is incumbent Lyn Orphal.

Neither of the other woman challengers, Crystal Lake City Councilwoman Ellen Brady Mueller and Sandra DePaul are close enough to overtake Koehler, who has a 500-vote lead over Mueller

Here the results reported at 9:20:

Any thoughts that disgusted voters would storm the ballot boxes turned out to be nonsense, at least looking only at the paper ballots. Of course, I could be pleasantly surprised when the electronic, absentee and early votes are folded in late tonight.

Only 102 people cast paper ballots in my Algonquin 7 precinct, which has over 400 registered voters. 137 cast paper ballots in Algonquin 19, a larger precinct on the north side and east of Crystal Lake.

Here are the results for McHenry County Board (two to be nominated, candidates are listed in ballot order):

Donna Kurtz

Algonquin 7

• Orphal 14
• Koehler 14
• Kurtz 57
• Mueller 18
• DePaul 24

Algonquin 19

• Orphal 12
• Koehler 36
• Kurtz 50
• Mueller 25
• DePaul 23

Donna Kurtz, who worked the precinct herself, had a weekend “I’ll protect the watershed” mailbox hanger and had my endorsement wiped out the opposition, getting 57 votes. The most any candidate got was 61 (Congressman Don Manzullo and yours truly, both running unopposed).

Despite having someone go door-to-door in Algonquin 7, McHenry County Board Chairman Ken Koehler only got 14 votes.

The woman with nothing but a yard sign campaign—Sandra DePaul—actually came in second with 24 votes.

In Algonquin 19, the results were similar, except that Koehler did much better.

Kurtz scored 50 votes, while Koehler came in second with 36. Two candidates were 11 and 14 votes behind, Crystal Lake City Councilwoman Ellen Brady Mueller and Sandra DePaul.

Adding the two precincts together finds Koehler running second, but Mueller and DePaul within striking distance.

Remember, these are not the final results…just a sample of two of 35 precincts.

= = = = =

With five precinct reporting at 8:30, Koehler seems to be running a solid second.

That may have happened late last week with the Alliance for Land, Agriculture and Water’s conflict of interest ordinance.

Originally presented to the McHenry County Board in December, the draft ordinance was shipped off to the State’s Attorney’s Office for review.

The review came back with some good points, along with some trivial ones.

And the number of county board candidates voluntarily filing the form kept increasing. Here’s who have filed so far:

• District 1 – None
• District 2 – All but Ken Koehler, that is, Sandra DePaul, Donna Kurtz, Ellen Brady Mueller and Lyn Orphal
• District 3 – Everyone of them! Veronica Armstrong, Nick Provenzano, Craig Steagall, Barbara Wheeler and Karen Tynis
• District 4 – Sandra Salgado and Jeff Thirtyacre (Democrat)
• District 5 – Tina Hill, John Jung and Frank Wedig (Green).  Incumbent Jim Kennedy and challenger Dave Frederick have not yet filed the form.
• District 6 – All but incumbent Dan Ryan, that is, Richard Draper, Diane Evertsen, Mary McCann and Vic Narusis.

Since there is no deadline, candidates or public officials can still download the conflict of interest form, fill it out and send it in.

Indeed ALAW did not even ask candidates to fill out the ethics form; it did have a questionnaire on issued of interest, however, the results of which can be found here for the twelve county board candidates who completed it.

As you can see more candidates filled out the ethics statement than filled out the issue questionnaire.

Along the way, every candidate for sheriff has answered the conflict of interest questionnaire.

And, two incumbent county board members not up for election have completed it. One, Republican Virginia Peschke, the other, Democrat Paula Yensen.

Crystal Lake Councilwoman Carolyn Schofield

Late last week, however, the first municipal official sent in answers.

She is Crystal Lake City Councilwoman Carolyn Schofield.

What’s that all about?

She just got elected.

Does this portend an issue in the Crystal Lake city elections next spring?

Will Schofield introduce an ordinance to make completing the conflict of interest form a requirement for elected and appointed city officials, as well as city consultants?

Unlike the County of McHenry, the City of Crystal Lake is a Home Rule unit of government.

What’s that mean?

It means the Crystal Lake City Council and other Home Rule cities have more power than county government.

The standard explanation of what a Home Rule government can do is anything the General Assembly doesn’t say it can’t do.

If Schofield, the newest member of the city council, follows decides to make a variation of the ALAW ordinance mandatory in Crystal Lake, the debate could turn quite interesting.

Since city Councilwoman Ellen Brady Mueller is running for county board in District 2, she might get elected. She certainly is in the top three in the sign war.

If elected, I imagine she would resign from the council. If so, a replacement would have to be selected.

Might the council require applicants for the possible vacancy to answer the conflict of interest questions first?

Whether or not the city council passed such a requirement, any council member could let it be known that he or she would not support a candidate who did not fill out the form.

Yes, ALAW has started something that could get very, very interesting.

McHenry County Board Chairman Ken Koehler

McHenry County Board member Lyn Orphal

There’s a five-way race for two seats in the Crystal Lake-Lake in the Hills District 2.

The incumbents are County Board Chairman Ken Koehler and Lyn Orphal.

Challenging them are three women:

• Sandra DePual, a member of the Regional Board of School Trustees
• McHenry County College Board member Donna Kurtz
• Crystal Lake City Councilwoman Ellen Brady Mueller

McHenry County Regional Board of School Trustee Sandra DePaul

If one were to handicap this race, Sandra DePaul would be coming in last place…just because she is the only candidate who is virtually unknown as a result of the low profile position she holds.

So, what’s up with the Northwest Herald’s endorsement of DePaul, along with the perfectly predictable endorsement of Koehler.

Let’s begin by making the perfectly reasonable assumption that the primary goal of the paper is to get Koehler re-elected.

To do that one must split the opposition.

If two women were running against Koehler, he might have some trouble.

But with five women…split the vote evenly and just over 20% of the vote is enough to win.

McHenry County College Board Trustee Donna Kurtz

Let’s agree that it won’t be split even.

Orphal, although able to manage to put out a letter to Republican voters the same day Koehler early this week, is the more vulnerable of the two candidates. Even though in her second term, she does not have a lot of name identification.

So, with Kurtz charging hard and Brady Mueller having quite noticeable signs, how to pull votes to perhaps the least known of the female candidates?

Endorse her along with Koehler.

That will pull some votes to DePaul that otherwise would go to one of the better known women.

Crystal Lake City Councilwoman Ellen Brady Mueller

Koehler will probably get more than enough of the combined vote to win. Surely being chairman of the board, he ought to be able to do that.

He will remember how a strong-charging Leslie Root managed to beat out then-County Board Chairwoman Dianne Klemm, however. In that contest, Mike Tryon was on the ballot. He and Root beat Klemm.

In this race, I can’t point to the second candidate who could beat Koehler.

One final thought.

The Northwest Herald also managed to pick two people who hd not filled out the ALAW conflict of interest questionnaire. The only candidate in District 1 to have done so when the endorsement appeared was Donna Kurtz.  Now, all but Koehler have answered ALAW ethics form, not because they were forced, but voluntarily.

From left to right are Sandra DePaul, Lyn Orphal, Ken Koehler's empty seat, Ellen Brady Mueller and Donna Kurtz. They were participating in Patriots United county board candidates' forum.

In the Patriots Unity county board candidates’ forum Friday night, the only candidate in District 2 who did not come was County Board Chairman Koehler.

As of now, over half the candidates have filled out questionnaires aimed at identifying potential conflicts of interest–14 in all.

Might this be an indicator that those wanting to serve on the board have discovered voters don’t trust their public officials.

The latest two to submit the Alliance for Land, Agriculture and Water are

• Crystal Lake City Councilwoman Ellen Brady Mueller, running as a Republican in District 2
• Former McHenry County Board member and Vice Chairman John Jung, running in District 5

Ellen Brady Mueller

Brady Mueller becomes the second candidate to submit the form to the Alliance for Land, Agriculture and Water. The first was fellow challenger Donna Kurtz.

County Board Chairman Ken Koehler and fellow incumbent Lyn Orphal have thus far ignored the ethics questionnaire, which ALAW asked the county board to enact before the February 2nd primary election.  Challenger Sandra DePaul has, as well.

John Jung

In District 5, former county board member John Jung has now filled out and sent in the form. The only incumbent in the district, Tina Hill, did so earlier. Challenger Dave Frederick has not.

The Management Services Committee referred the ALAW-suggested language to the McHenry County State’s Attorney’s Office. Here is the story about the State’s Attorney’s reply.

There will be a candidates’ night Friday at 7 at McHenry County College sponsored by Patriots United.  Candidates will start arriving about 6:30, if you want to talk to them ahead of the forum.

Donna Kurtz

Jeff Thirtyacre

Tina Hill

Didn’t know that the pro-abortion Personal PAC went as low as members of the McHenry County Board until District 2 candidate Ellen Brady Mueller told me she had gotten a questionnaire, but had not filled it out.

I asked her for a copy and she provided it at that day’s meeting of the Crystal Lake City Council on which she serves as one of the senior members.

The three people endorsed are

• Donna Kurtz (R), challenger running in District 2
• Jeff Thirtyacre (D), challenger running in District 4
• Tina Hill (R), incumbent running in District 5

So what kind of questions does one have to answer to get an endorsement?

Here are some of them:

• Will you SUPPORT legislation to repeal Illinois’ 1995 Parental Notice of Abortion law?
• Do you SUPPORT Personal PAC’s position that the Illinois Parental Notification of Abortion Act of 1995 violates Illinois Constitutional rights to equal protection and privacy?
• Will you OPPOSE legislation that places bans on abortion procedures but does not include an exception to protect the woman’s health?
• Will you SUPPORT legislation restoring abortion coverage under the state Medicaid plan?
• Will you SUPPORT legislation to restore state employee’s health insurance coverage for abortion?
• Will you OPPOSE legislation banning embryonic stem-cell research?
• Will you OPPOSE legislation that would require a woman to view an ultrasound before she could have an abortion?
• Will you SUPPORT legislation requiring medical supervisions when an ultrasound is performed on a pregnant woman?
• Will you SUPPORT legislation guaranteeing access to FDA-approved drugs, including ED and other birth control medications?
• Will you OPPOSE legislation mandating that a physician who performs an abortion be required to first show a patient materials about fetal development, at various stages during pregnancy, and other state mandated information designed to dissuade a woman from having an abortion?
• Will you SUPPORT the availability and accessibility of family planning services for everyone in Illinois regardless of age?
• Will you OPPOSE legislation which mandates parental consent or notification before a minor can receive contraceptive care?
• If elected do you plan to act in a manner CONSISTENT with your answers to the above questions?

Lots of the questions have long, one-sided preambles, which you can read here.

While most of the questions may not seem to have any relationship to what a McHenry County Board member might do, there are a couple that have “McHenry County” written all over them. The two in bold face type are they.

Remember the William Saturday scandal of the late 1990’s?

The McHenry County Health Department was dispensing three- month contraceptives to minors without their patent’s knowledge, let alone consent.

At issue was a Federal rule written by the bureaucrats that forced those accepting Title X money to provide birth control devices, information and drugs to everyone, regardless of age.

Saturday was apparently too cheap to buy condoms, so he took his junior high school age “girl friend,” whom he met at North Junior High School in Crystal Lake, to Woodstock on Saturday, when bus transportation was unavailable for shots of Depo- Provera. There’s a story about it here. It looks like the cover story from World Magazine.

In any event, when the affair came to light, there was a big, many month fuss in which county board members decided it was best for them to prohibit minors from obtaining birth control drugs and devices without parental permission.

Deciding that resulting in McHenry County’s not being able to accept Federal Title X money.

There may have been other instances in the country where Title X money has been rejected because its use requires no discrimination based on age, but I don’t know of them.

The furor in McHenry County even worked its way into Congress with 16th District Don Manzullo carrying the torch.

Pro-life endorsements in McHenry County can be found here.

Metra Executive Director Phil Pagano and Joseph Gottemoller, attorney for Metra, appear before the Crystal Lake City Council seeking permission to proceed with annexation of the land for a Ridgefield commuter station.

Metra Executive Director Phil Pagano returned to his home town city council for a second time seeking permission to proceed with plans seeking approval for a new commuter train station in Ridgefield next to the old 84 and new Alexandra Lumber location.

The proposal debated by city council members basically said that if Metra met all the requirements set by the city council that it could gain annexation to the city.

Mayor Aaron Shepley framed the debate like this:

“The question is solely whether council wishes to assume control of development of this project.”

At the end of the debate, the council voted 5-2 to assume control. Jeff Thorsen and Ralph Dawson voted “No.”

Jeff Thorsen registered his complaint about what he saw as the one-sided nature of the agreement.

Thorsen thought the agreement too one-sided.

“The agreement does not even require they ever annex,” he said. “At the end of the day, we can’t say ‘No.’ You can say ‘No.’”

He worried that if money is needed to enforce Crystal Lake’s Watershed Ordinance that Metra would not have to pay its fair share.

Shepley wondered if Thorsen wanted county government to be the approving governmental entity, as it was for 84 Lumber, which property covers more of the watershed than would be allowed had it been annexed to Crystal Lake.

“If the county wants to be irresponsible about developing it, then it’s not on my shoulders,” Thorsen replied.

Later Councilwoman Ellen Brady Mueller pointed out that the proposed 2030 Plan for county land development does not recognize Crystal Lake’s Watershed Ordinance.

Ralph Dawson views a Ridgefield Metra Station in Crystal Lake as a way to stretch city police forces too thin.

Ralph Dawson worried about extending city police protection still farther, pointing out that the Pingree Road Station had had vandalism problems, which Crystal Lake Police had to handle.

“It’s a far stretch from the city limits,” Dawson said. “I cannot support the City of Crystal Lake annexing the station. I don’t think the city should be obligated to go that far out to give it service.”

Trying to pour water on the fire, Pagano affirmed, “Metra intends to work with the city on the watershed…and traffic.”

Still Dawson concluded,

“I don’t see my taxpayers to benefit on this project.”

Brady Mueller asked,

“Are we out there already?”

Police Chief David Lindner pointed out that his force already served nearby McHenry County College and

“If there is a request from the Sheriff and we’re closer, we go out there.”

Ellen Brady Mueller argued for city control of the Crystal Lake watershed on which the proposed Metra station would be located.

Brady Mueller wanted to know,

“Why in the world would we want to give up a piece of property in the watershed?”

“We want to have the control.”

Cathy Ferguson agreed:

“I want control. I have enormous traffic concerns.”

Both relative newcomers Brett Hopkins and Carolyn Schofield concurred.

“I’d absolutely like to see it under control of the city, rather than the county,” Schofield said.

Summing up, Shepley said,

"If we say, 'No', we're counting on somebody else to do our job," Mayor Aaron Shepley said.

“We have fought like wolverines to control what goes on in the watershed. It’s not just our right; it’s our obligation.

“There is no done deal. Mr. Hopkins said it. The only question is who should we be dealing with.

“The downside for them is if they don’t meet our standards, they still have to go to the county.

“As far as police enforcement goes, Mr. Dawson, I think that is a fair concern. If it should go to the county we’ll still be the first responders.

“The difference is that the benefits will not fall to the Crystal Lake side of the ledger.

“If we say ,’No,’ we’re counting on somebody else to do our job.”

Dawson suggested the county was “in a new era. They’re talking about water, at least they’re making waves in an election year.”

“If the county is good, we’re better,” Shepley stated. “We owe it to the people to protect their interest.”