McHenry County Blog

It will probably come as no surprise to most that McHenry County taxpayers have more money extracted from their checking accounts than is returned.

But here comes news from county government that we got some back.  When one adds up all the local governments that got money, it totals $1,579,862.50.

McHenry County Receives FEMA Funds for February 2, 2011 Blizzard

WOODSTOCK, IL – As a result of the one of the worst winter storms in recent memory, McHenry County received a Presidential Disaster Declaration for the February 2, 2011 Blizzard.

The Presidential Disaster Declaration provided the County with public assistance funds to reimburse the extraordinary labor/personnel costs, equipment costs, and consumable materials and supplies available through the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

While many businesses were closed and residents were snowed in, McHenry County employees worked around the clock to coordinate County snow removal efforts and assist those stranded due to the storm.

Three McHenry County Departments were reimbursed for their expenses for this winter event.

Monies were afforded to the

• McHenry County Sheriff’s Office ($25,604.96),
• McHenry County Division of Transportation ($170,553.05), and to
• McHenry County Facilities Management ($10,819.20).

McHenry County received a total of $206,977.21. County-wide, local entities received $1,579,862 through the Presidential Disaster Declaration.

[But, there is much more, as you can see at the bottom of this press release.]

While the dedicated effort of employees allowed the County to get back up and running after the blizzard subsided, it was also an opportunity for McHenry County to test and rethink its Hazards Mitigation Plan.

The McHenry County Hazards Mitigation Plan was the result of a partnership between County, Municipal, Townships, and public safety entities within the County (serving as the McHenry County Hazard Mitigation Committee) to identify the best storm and hazard management practices to mitigate disasters.

McHenry County Emergency Management Agency will host its first annual review of the McHenry County Natural Hazards Mitigation Plan on Thursday, November 10 at 9:00 a.m. in the McHenry County Administration Building – Conference Room B in Woodstock, IL.

The Committee will determine if other mitigation issues or efforts, based on any natural hazard occurrences (such as the winter storm) or input from communities or the public, should be added to the Plan. Information from this meeting will form the basis of the annual report to be submitted to the County Board by the Chairman of this Committee.

Further, McHenry County Emergency Management Coordinating Council will utilize the Hazards Mitigation Plan as a framework for coordinating efforts and County resources, pooling the collective knowledge of all entities within the County to support the ongoing preparation and mitigation for disasters/hazards.

McHenry County Emergency Management Agency Director David Christensen expanded upon the role the Coordinating Council and Hazards Mitigation Plan will have addressing future disasters. “By utilizing the Hazard Mitigation Plan, the Coordinating Council will work to assist those jurisdictions who are lacking resources to do a preliminary damage assessment. As a follow-up to the disasters, we will also review lessons learned here in McHenry County as to what worked well, what didn’t and how to mitigate future damages.”

The McHenry County Emergency Management Coordinating Council meets the fourth Thursday of each month in the McHenry County Administration Building in Woodstock, IL.

For more information on the McHenry County Emergency Management Coordinating Council or Hazards Mitigation Plan, please contact David Christensen at 815-338-6400.

Below is what other McHenry County governments have received:

Cary CCSD 26 $13,257.38
Johnsburg School District 12  $6,283.78
Algonquin, Village of $77,003.08
McHenry Township Road District $37,618.4
McHenry Township Road District $3,269.68
Marian Central Catholic High School $2,842.50
Bull Valley, Village of $10,192.52
McHenry County Sheriff’s Office $25,604.96
Woodstock Fire/Rescue District $1,945.61
Special Education District of McHenry County $5,883.56
Cary, Village of $37,392.52
Crystal Lake, City of $1,377.33
Crystal Lake, City of $141,794.00
Fox River Grove, Village of $11,288.31
Greenwood Township $21,545.03
Harvard, City of $24,498.76
Hebron, Village of $11,188.47
Holiday Hills, Village of $3,013.88
Huntley, Village of $46,185.59
Johnsburg, Village of $17,269.04
Lake in the Hills, Village of $53,656.96
Lakemoor, Village of 1122-0 $13,836.37
Lakewood, Village of 593-0 $8,588.66
McCullom Lake, Village of 625-0 $5,297.94
McHenry, City of $76,343.85
Marengo, City of $12,704.45
Oakwood Hills, Village of $3,098.01
Prairie Grove, Village of $5,742.61
Richmond, Village of $13,621.85
Ringwood, Village of $2,888.87
Spring Grove, Village of $37,622.89
Union, Village of $2,158.38
Wonder Lake, Village of $21,548.52
Woodstock, City of $143,709.83
Algonquin Township Road District $56,639.78
Cary Park District $9,336.47
McHenry Community High School District 156 $9,657.43
Harvard Community Unit School District 50 $7,486.37
McHenry County College $21,700.76
Alden-Hebron School District 19 $1,732.60
Consolidated School District 158 $21,163.47
Community Consolidated Crystal Lake School District $59,387.87
Wonder Lake Fire Protection District $8,039.96
Woodstock Community Unit School District 200 $21,795.35
Nunda Township Road District $53,735.27
Dunham Township Highway Department $11,503.04
Algonquin-Lake in the Hills Fire Protection District $3,420.776
McHenry County Division of Transportation $170,553.05
Seneca Township Road and Bridge $10,755.65
McHenry Township Parks Department $2,587.08
McHenry County Facilities Management $10,819.20
Riley Township Road District $8,453.00
Marengo Township Highway Department $13,828.09
Coral Township Road District $10,433.32
Fox River Grove CSD 3 $5,653.84
Grafton Township Road District $13,208.56
Chemung Township Road District $11,173.28
Nippersink School District 2 $6,112.73
McHenry CCSD 15 $12,190.55
Huntley Fire Protection District $3,602.08
Mercy Harvard Hospital $1,731.55
Hartland Township Road District $11,252.44
Port Barrington, Village of $6,662.86
Richmond Township Road and Bridge District $14,005.52
Pioneer Center for Human Services $2,666.25
Richmond-Burton Comm. High School District 15 $5,841.30
Hebron Township Road District $13,339.27
Southeast Emergency Communications $2,192.74
Community High School District 155 $19,031.58
McHenry County Conservation District $9,342.50
Alden Township Road District  $10,608.77
Dorr Township Highway Department $17,944.50

McHenry County Board Chairman Ken Koehler and John Hadley, Director of Facilities, are featured on a YouTube presentation about the use of Federal dollars to improve energy efficiency.

Hadley talks about the retrofitting of windows, which don’t have a big payback, have gotten rid of drafts that employees used to complain about.

Also made more energy efficient was the Highway Garage. Utility costs went down 14%, Hadley reports.

Koehler says he wants this Federal program continued.

It’s costly for McHenry County to have liberal Democrats, Melissa Bean in the U.S. House and Jack Franks in Springfield, especially when rules get written that penalize the schools in our districts from receiving grants.

Liberal Dems discriminated against McHenry County and Franks and Bean apparently did not object.

Or, if they did, any such objections had no effect.

There’s an example in a press release with the following headline from the State Board of Education on a federal pass-through grant:

For Immediate Release
June 9, 2010

State Board Awards Nearly $1 Million to Improve School Cafeterias

Of the 57 schools and 43 districts that got the money, not a single one was in McHenry County, as best I could tell. In other words, a million dollars widely distributed and not a dime ended up to McHenry County, one of the state’s largest counties.

The Lake County Juvenile Detention Center got a bit more than $5,000. It qualifies as an academic center because its detainees go to school on site.

“We bought a new milk cooler and an auxiliary refrigerator and we got some new shelving for our walk-in freezer,”

the knowledgeable woman in administration who answered the phone told me.

In how the state board of education does accounting, the $903,000 of grants were described as “nearly $1 million.”

How liberals decided to discriminate against McHenry County was by specifying this requirement:

“Participating sites had to have at least 50 percent of students eligible for free and reduced-priced meals.”

Not 25% or 20% or 30%, but 50%.

I would think some schools in District 300 qualify. Most of those aren’t located in McHenry County, but the district does cover much of Lake in the Hills and Algonquin.  Some of its schools in Carpentersville have high concentrations of poor families.

Not all of the public funds went to public schools.

Beacon Hill Preparatory Academy is a private, not public school, with about 200 students in Harvey. It received $26, 610.

The New Village Leadership Academy is a private school for 60 students in Chicago. It’s not a public school. It received $18,477. How much cafeteria equipment do you need to improve its existing cafeteria to feed 60 students?

Do you think liberal Dems like Bean don’t look at spending to see how much is necessary to meet critical needs?

If someone took the time to investigate what each of these grants was actually going to be used for, it’s likely one would find a lot of spending that went to additional extras and not critical, if-we-don’t-have-the money-we-won’t-have-a-pot-to-cook-the-food-in expenses.

Bean voted to increase wasteful government spending and our national debt to where she can’t explain how we can pay for the interest on the debt in a few years.

Joe Walsh, who is challenging Bean in November, has a different approach. He is committed to common sense spending restraints and moving the country away from a steep cliff of debt and high unemployment.

Whenever I hear President Obama describe his driving the country as if it were a car, it’s obvious he and Bean are driving in Thelma-and-Louise fashion over a huge cliff of debt.

In the Bean-Obama script, they probably exit the car as millionaires or positioned to make big money before it goes hurtling over the cliff.