McHenry County Blog

There are two items on the agenda of the McHenry County College Board’s 6:30 meeting tonight, but we citizens aren’t good enough to see the board packet items under consideration.

Clearly pieces of paper with writing on them have been prepared for the two resolutions relating to the acquistion of land seen above.

Any hope that this board will be more transparent than the last is fading rapidly.

You remember those boards.

The one that would reveal nothing about its plan to put taxpayers on the hook for over $20 million in baseball stadium debt without revealing the details of who the investors would be or what companies would make money on the deal.

And, who can forget the board’s plan to sell land for the tallest broadcast tower in Illinois on The Breaker’s side of the campus.

There is no reason to believe that the board is not buying land at the right time, but there is equally no reason for the board to be hiding details that will be voted upon tonight.

A community college would trust the public with the information.

A junior college would not.

Usually, McHenry County College posts its Thursday Board meeting packet on Monday.

Not so this week.

It went up Tuesday.

But if the Board were a student, it would only merit an “incomplete.”

The most interesting parts of the agenda, the ones after the top secret, hush, hush meeting, are missing.

I tagged them yesterday, so all I have to do is re-post the same items I showed you yesterday:

The information provided to the members of the MCC Board for the following agenda items was not shared with the public on the college's web site.

No resolution to reject an offer and no resolution for condemnation.

The 20 acres in question.

The college has previously denied a Freedom of Information request for appraisals for the 20-acre parcel on Route 14 north of Tartan Drive.

When  the college Board purchased the 57-acre Gilger property in 2008, it paid $67,000 per acre.

On the agenda for this Thursday night’s meeting of the McHenry County College Board of Trustees is a resolution concerning condemnation.

Can’t, that is, don’t want to, let the public in on the details, so first the Board is scheduled to go into secret session.

We know the College Board wants to buy 20 acres.

20 acres that McHenry County College proposes to buy.

We know there have been appraisals, even though they have been discussed in an open meeting, MCC refuses to share with the public.

Signaling that no closed session is needed are the two following items on the agenda:

• Resolution to reject offer
• Resolution to condem

College officials must believe that their appraisals will stand up in court.

And there must be money in the bank to buy the land.

Time will tell what the offer to the unwilling seller will be.

We know that prices of land are down.

20 acres that McHenry County College proposes to buy.

It’s took me four days to find out what twenty acres that McHenry County College proposes to buy.

It’s on Route 14 just north of the northern entrance to the college campus.

Originally I thought it was on Ridgefield Road. Maybe the farm with the horse racing track.

But I have belated discovered that wasn’t the location.

It was at the opposite side of the campus.

There’s a row of maple trees leading up to a house on it. The road between is called “Maple Lane.”

At least it was in the 1960′s when my fathers DeSoto broke down in front of the house and I had to walk up the driveway to call for help.

Below is the map the college sent me today after I filed a Freedom of Information request:

The map the college provided Tuesday.

McHenry County College also sent the following resolution. After you read it, tell me if you agree that the Board has authorized its law firm to file a condemnation suit, if the land owner does not accept the price offered.

The resolution authorizes the MCC law firm to "take any and all steps to accomplish aforesaid goals."

The college paid $67,000 per acre for the 57-acre Gilger property in 2009, so values in the area have gone down considerably.

The following press release found in a McHenry County email explains a celebration being held Saturday afternoon by those who don’t want county government to turn Fleming Road into an eastern truck bypass for Woodstock.

Amongst the blooming daffodils on Fleming Road is a sign reading, "Daffodils NOT Asphalt."

The McHenry County Historic Preservation Commission will be dedicating Fleming Road in Bull Valley, IL as McHenry County’s 8th Scenic Road.

When:    Saturday, April 30, 2011 at 1:00 p.m.

Where:   Near the intersection of Fleming and Bull Valley Roads.

Please park park along the shoulders of the road to avoid the grass and plants.

Oaks that would presumably be removed if the County Trasnporation Department's plan to widen Flrming Road is implemented.

Click here to view the dedication ceremony program!

Click here to learn more about McHenry County Scenic Roads and the McHenry County Historic Preservation Commission!

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I am told that the owners of the Right-of-Way, that is the property owners along Fleming Road, have dedicated a conservation easement to a conservation organization.

"Cut Speed NOT Trees" says this partically obscrued yard sign.

But they have done something else, as well.

They have also dedicated the easement to the Village of Bull Valley.

I am told that one governmental unit cannot condemn land within the boundaries of another one.

If so, that would seem to checkmate any county government ambitions to seize property through eminent domain proceedings so as to turn Fleming Road into a thoroughfare wider than residents desire.