McHenry County Blog

I have cited Huntley School District 158 as a model of transparency. I did so most recently for all to see at a Crystal Lake City Council meeting when I was perturbed that I could not find the council packet on the internet on the city’s brand-new web site.

I thought I got a favorable response, but last weekend I went looking for the information that the council folks had already received and there was nothing to be found.

Crysal Lake City Council

Asking City Manager Gary Mayerhofer about when it might happen, I was told that staff was ready, but waiting for direction from the council. Based on that representation, I didn’t ask again during the public comment section. If by the next meeting I attend it is not up, I shall, as you would expect, make mention of it again.

In any event, the Huntley School District was the web site I pointed to as what I hoped Crystal Lake would emulate.

But outside of the board packet’s posting, the Huntley School District is no model of transparency, even though outgoing School Board President Shawn Green represented as such.

Why would I say that?

While McHenry County government has been known to reply to a Freedom of Information request in less than 24 hours, the Huntley School District tends to take the pretty much the maximum amount of time allowed by law.

And, in the instance of my search for anyone employed by District 158 with a Special Education Director qualification, as defined by the Illinois State Board of Education, the term “dragging of the heels” is too mild to use.

On Monday, February 8th, I asked for the following:

“One document for each person having a special education director endorsement on their administrator’s certificate, as verified on the State Board of Education web site.”

The same day, FOI Officer Lori Woods replied,

“Are you requesting a copy of their certificate?

“If I can be of further assistance, please feel free to contact me.”

My reply:

“I really don’t care if it the certificate or something referring to the certificate. “

Woods:

“Okay, thanks.  I’ll get working on that ASAP for you.”

My reply:

“The basic question is whether anyone in the district has a certification to be a special ed director.

“I can’t find one.”

On Friday, February 12th, I received this reply from Woods:

“The response to your FOIA regarding documentation of Special Education Director endorsement is attached.

“If I can be of further assistance, please feel free to contact me.”

That certainly is within the five-workday returned turnaround time, but consider the answer from Human Resources Director Lauren Smith that was attached:

The parsed word response of Huntley Human Services Director Lauren Smith. Note that it took her only nine minutes to formulate her answer. Click to enlarge.

Huntley School District Human Relations Director Lauren Smith

“I am not clear how to move forward on this request. Based solely on the question, I cannot provide a document for all persons with an endorsement as a special education director.”

Smith’s parsing of my words reminds me of President Bill Clinton’s:

“I did not have sexual relations with that woman.”

Being the persistent type, I filed a new Freedom of Information request on Friday, February 12th, saying,

“It seems to me that my Special Ed certification request was pretty clear, clear enough to ask the IL AG’s office in an appeal and get a letter sent to District 158 the way one was recently sent to Grafton Township officials.  Instead, for a very brief time (I do not promise to wait 5 days, just to delay until the thought of an appeal enters my head again), let me give you another chance with the re-wording of the question you see below:

“I request all documentation provided by the Regional Superintendents Office or State Board of Education that evidences each district employee who holds or has held a Special Education Director endorsement during the 2009 – 2010 fiscal year, including any employee who was employed by the district in FY 2009 – 2010, and any certificate or copy thereof of in possession of the district that evidences the referenced employees’ holding or having held the referenced endorsement.

“A simple ‘We have no record of any such evidence that a Special Ed Director Endorsement has been held by any of our employees during Fiscal Year 2009-2010′ will suffice, if that is the situation.” (Emphasis added.)

Seven days later, I received this reply:

“The response to your FOIA for Special Education Director endorsement is attached.

“If I can be of further assistance, please feel free to contact me.”

Now, Human Resources Director Smith has discovered,

It took twelve days to get this answer. Click to enlarge.

Very interrresssting.

“Upon review of certified staff members, including administrators, there is not an employee as of this date with a Director of Special Education endorsement.”

Ver-r-r-r-y in-ter-r-r-r-r-es-s-s-t-ing, as the Laugh-In Nazi would say.

Not that I think Green had any knowledge of the games his staff was playing, but I would point out this answer was received the day after Green praised the district’s transparency.

It was not received before I got fed up at not having receiving a timely answer to my question of February 8th, though.

I would suggest the kiddie games evident above are unworthy of a local government aspiring to be known as a “model of transparency.”

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The 800 number of the Illinois Attorney General’s Public Access folks is 877-299-3642, by the way.  Complaints may be filed by email.  The email address is PublicAccess@AtG.State.IL.US.

Images first posted on McHenry County Blog via YouTube appeared on ABC Channel 7 tonight.

As Chuck Goudie put it while using the video from the Crystal Lake City Council,

“Cellini is rarely seen doing this, taking a front line role in any deal.”

Crystal Lake is not mentioned in the story.

Here’s where the video was found:

If you would like to read what was said, a transcript can be found here.

To its credit, the Northwest Herald has covered the one week between the announcement by Crystal Lake Mayor Aaron Shepley and his city council majority of a major tax hike and the announced final vote with more than one story.

And, there are so many more stories to be written on this pending permanent plundering of Crystal Lake shoppers.

Remember the Vulcan Lakes Tax Increment Financing district.

That has a special meaning to me, because it is what pushed me over the edge to launch McHenry County Blog.

It’s not bad enough that the Crystal Lake City Council guaranteed that our (and “our” refers to every property owner in McHenry County) real estate taxes will be higher than they otherwise would have been with the passage of each TIF district, now they plan to add insult to injury by raising the city’s one percent sales tax to one and three-quarters percent.

That’s a 75% tax hike to those of that passed junior high math.

The Northwest Herald’s Thursday article by Jim Butts informs us that a big part of the money will go to jump start the Vulcan Lakes TIF district.

It doesn’t tell us that the reason for the 75% sales tax hike is to subsidize what the hand-picked developers of the Vulcan Lakes TIF district were supposed to do. The city’s consultant predicted that $115 million would be available over 23 years for Vulcan Lakes..

But, that’s apparently not enough.

Butts reports City Manager Gary Mayerhofer said (in an indirect quote):

”If the tax increase is approved, the city would borrow $10 million and use the estimated $4.6 million generated annually by the tax increase to pay down the debt.”

Of course, the subsidizing of developers is what a TIF district is all about.

And, there’s this business downturn, don’t you know.

But we can’t let a recession stand in the way of the political calendar, can we?

City council elections come every odd-numbered year.

That’s about a year from nows.

Funneling $10 million into Vulcan Lakes between now and then probably won’t convince people that it is a good investment, but by three years from now, when Mayor Shepley is up for re-election, there might be something to show for the money.

And, he will surely hope that people will have forgotten his staring role in the 75% city sales tax hike.

By then, the city will have put in motion two sources of tax subsidy money for its favored developers. This may be a first in Illinois municipal history.

A first I would rather not have to have happening in my home town. (No, I wasn’t born here. My family moved here in 1958. I was sixteen. We built the junior class Homecoming float where we lived at 100 W. Crystal Lake Avenue, before moving to 800 Broadway in Lakewood.)

“We now have a lot more flexibility to do precisely what we want,”

Shepley told Butts.

Using other people’s money.

That’s the way to go.

To its credit, the Northwest Herald has covered the one week between the announcement by Crystal Lake Mayor Aaron Shepley and his city council majority of a major tax hike and the announced final vote with more than one story.

And, there are so many more stories to be written on this pending permanent plundering of Crystal Lake shoppers.

Remember the Vulcan Lakes Tax Increment Financing district.

That has a special meaning to me, because it is what pushed me over the edge to launch McHenry County Blog.

It’s not bad enough that the Crystal Lake City Council guaranteed that our (and “our” refers to every property owner in McHenry County) real estate taxes will be higher than they otherwise would have been with the passage of each TIF district, now they plan to add insult to injury by raising the city’s one percent sales tax to one and three-quarters percent.

That’s a 75% tax hike to those of that passed junior high math.

The Northwest Herald’s Thursday article by Jim Butts informs us that a big part of the money will go to jump start the Vulcan Lakes TIF district.

It doesn’t tell us that the reason for the 75% sales tax hike is to subsidize what the hand-picked developers of the Vulcan Lakes TIF district were supposed to do. The city’s consultant predicted that $115 million would be available over 23 years for Vulcan Lakes..

But, that’s apparently not enough.

Butts reports City Manager Gary Mayerhofer said (in an indirect quote):

”If the tax increase is approved, the city would borrow $10 million and use the estimated $4.6 million generated annually by the tax increase to pay down the debt.”

Of course, the subsidizing of developers is what a TIF district is all about.

And, there’s this business downturn, don’t you know.

But we can’t let a recession stand in the way of the political calendar, can we?

City council elections come every odd-numbered year.

That’s about a year from nows.

Funneling $10 million into Vulcan Lakes between now and then probably won’t convince people that it is a good investment, but by three years from now, when Mayor Shepley is up for re-election, there might be something to show for the money.

And, he will surely hope that people will have forgotten his staring role in the 75% city sales tax hike.

By then, the city will have put in motion two sources of tax subsidy money for its favored developers. This may be a first in Illinois municipal history.

A first I would rather not have to have happening in my home town. (No, I wasn’t born here. My family moved here in 1958. I was sixteen. We built the junior class Homecoming float where we lived at 100 W. Crystal Lake Avenue, before moving to 800 Broadway in Lakewood.)

“We now have a lot more flexibility to do precisely what we want,”

Shepley told Butts.

Using other people’s money.

That’s the way to go.

Tonight at 7 at the McHenry County College campus board room, people will be able to offer advice to trustees as to what instructions should be given its “due diligence” analyzer of Equity One’s Mark Houser’s and his buddy baseball promoter Pete Heitman’s numbers.

Yesterday, I jotted down some quick things I think the Economic Research Associates folks should answer.

Today, McHenry’s Steve Stanek adds a list of questions. He’s busy tomorrow night at his day job, so to speak, with the Heartland Institute, so feel free to ask these yourself, if you attend.

1) Can a MCC board member or President Packard cite any independent economist who believe public funding of sports facilities is economically beneficial on a regional basis? Who are these economists and how do they respond to the overwhelming opposite view of other economists?

2) Are any MCC board members or staff members willing to sign a contract to fund, out of their personal resources, any shortfall between projected stadium revenues and actual revenues, at any time during the term of the debt?

3) Are Frontier League officials or team investors willing to sign a contract to fund, out of their personal resources, any shortfall between projected stadium revenues and actual revenues, at any time during the term of the debt?

4) The Chicago Tribune several months ago reported Crystal Lake City Manager Gary Mayerhofer started all this by approaching Mark Houser and his associates with the idea of building a minor league stadium at the college. Why did a stadium become essential to the expansion plans when plans were being laid without a stadium?

5) Did anyone on the college board worry about the perception of using millions of dollars of borrowing to help people who have a personal relationship with the Crystal Lake City Manager? How many residents of the McHenry County College district have that kind of pull?

6) How did college and city officials arrange their discussions of the baseball stadium proposal to avoid breaking the Open Meetings Act? How were these discussions actually conducted? Who conducted them?

= = = = =
The head shot is of Crystal Lake City Manager Gary Mayerhofer.

Tonight at 7 at the McHenry County College campus board room, people will be able to offer advice to trustees as to what instructions should be given its “due diligence” analyzer of Equity One’s Mark Houser’s and his buddy baseball promoter Pete Heitman’s numbers.

Yesterday, I jotted down some quick things I think the Economic Research Associates folks should answer.

Today, McHenry’s Steve Stanek adds a list of questions. He’s busy tomorrow night at his day job, so to speak, with the Heartland Institute, so feel free to ask these yourself, if you attend.

1) Can a MCC board member or President Packard cite any independent economist who believe public funding of sports facilities is economically beneficial on a regional basis? Who are these economists and how do they respond to the overwhelming opposite view of other economists?

2) Are any MCC board members or staff members willing to sign a contract to fund, out of their personal resources, any shortfall between projected stadium revenues and actual revenues, at any time during the term of the debt?

3) Are Frontier League officials or team investors willing to sign a contract to fund, out of their personal resources, any shortfall between projected stadium revenues and actual revenues, at any time during the term of the debt?

4) The Chicago Tribune several months ago reported Crystal Lake City Manager Gary Mayerhofer started all this by approaching Mark Houser and his associates with the idea of building a minor league stadium at the college. Why did a stadium become essential to the expansion plans when plans were being laid without a stadium?

5) Did anyone on the college board worry about the perception of using millions of dollars of borrowing to help people who have a personal relationship with the Crystal Lake City Manager? How many residents of the McHenry County College district have that kind of pull?

6) How did college and city officials arrange their discussions of the baseball stadium proposal to avoid breaking the Open Meetings Act? How were these discussions actually conducted? Who conducted them?

= = = = =
The head shot is of Crystal Lake City Manager Gary Mayerhofer.

I had your basic,

“When did this baseball stadium idea originate?”

on September 25th.

So, I sent a Freedom of Information request to McHenry County College asking for

“the last document in which the Fitness and Wellness Center complex was not the first priority to be built.”

I also asked for

“Copies of the first five documents that show or mention the possibility of the Fitness and Wellness Center/baseball stadium complex moving to the front of the line for construction in the college’s master plan.”

Can’t do it.

“FOIA is not intended to disrupt the duly-undertaken work of the public body in responding to a FOIA request,”

special MCC attorney Howard Metz, replied in a letter dated October 4th, but not received until October 9th.

Five days to deliver a letter from Chicago. Not so hot even with Columbus Day as one of the days.

Does that mean college officials don’t want unfavorable facts to surface before the zoning vote?

Metz usually emails denials, so I figure it was mailed just to slow things down until after the zoning vote of the Crystal Lake City Council on October 16th.

The denial certainly can’t be because no one at MCC remembers when Crystal Lake City Manager Gary Mayerhofer came up with the idea from his Libertyville buddies Mark Houser and Pete Heitman.

And it can’t be a trade secret.

Nobody can get me to believe that college officials don’t know when the master plan was amended to include a baseball stadium.

I wonder if there will be a spectacular recovery of memory after the city council approves the zoning of the baseball stadium.

Or, am I being just too conspiratorial?

I had your basic,

“When did this baseball stadium idea originate?”

on September 25th.

So, I sent a Freedom of Information request to McHenry County College asking for

“the last document in which the Fitness and Wellness Center complex was not the first priority to be built.”

I also asked for

“Copies of the first five documents that show or mention the possibility of the Fitness and Wellness Center/baseball stadium complex moving to the front of the line for construction in the college’s master plan.”

Can’t do it.

“FOIA is not intended to disrupt the duly-undertaken work of the public body in responding to a FOIA request,”

special MCC attorney Howard Metz, replied in a letter dated October 4th, but not received until October 9th.

Five days to deliver a letter from Chicago. Not so hot even with Columbus Day as one of the days.

Does that mean college officials don’t want unfavorable facts to surface before the zoning vote?

Metz usually emails denials, so I figure it was mailed just to slow things down until after the zoning vote of the Crystal Lake City Council on October 16th.

The denial certainly can’t be because no one at MCC remembers when Crystal Lake City Manager Gary Mayerhofer came up with the idea from his Libertyville buddies Mark Houser and Pete Heitman.

And it can’t be a trade secret.

Nobody can get me to believe that college officials don’t know when the master plan was amended to include a baseball stadium.

I wonder if there will be a spectacular recovery of memory after the city council approves the zoning of the baseball stadium.

Or, am I being just too conspiratorial?

Rolling eyes, to be more specific.

Rolling eyes of Crystal Lake Mayor Aaron Shepley while Councilman Jeff Thorsen was asking an extensive list of questions of watershed adviser Gary Schaefer.

And, yes, I did my best with the red eye removal tool.

To show you what was happening before and after, I have posted those photos below.

First is Thorsen, with hands raised, asking a question.

Next, comes the mayor, eyes a rollin’.

Finally, a photo of the mayor and City Manager Gary Mayerhofer conversing. Mayerhofer is reported to have come up with the idea for the baseball stadium.

You can draw your own conclusions of what message the mayor was trying to send the audience about Thorsen’s scrutiny of the watershed ordinance.

Thorsen was proposing, among other ideas, third party oversight of the monitoring and enforcement provisions of the proposal, rather than having it done by the city staff.

By the time the meeting was over, Shepley had endorsed most of Thorsen’s ideas, as he did late in the meeting a month previous.

Rolling eyes, to be more specific.

Rolling eyes of Crystal Lake Mayor Aaron Shepley while Councilman Jeff Thorsen was asking an extensive list of questions of watershed adviser Gary Schaefer.

And, yes, I did my best with the red eye removal tool.

To show you what was happening before and after, I have posted those photos below.

First is Thorsen, with hands raised, asking a question.

Next, comes the mayor, eyes a rollin’.

Finally, a photo of the mayor and City Manager Gary Mayerhofer conversing. Mayerhofer is reported to have come up with the idea for the baseball stadium.

You can draw your own conclusions of what message the mayor was trying to send the audience about Thorsen’s scrutiny of the watershed ordinance.

Thorsen was proposing, among other ideas, third party oversight of the monitoring and enforcement provisions of the proposal, rather than having it done by the city staff.

By the time the meeting was over, Shepley had endorsed most of Thorsen’s ideas, as he did late in the meeting a month previous.