McHenry County Blog

Open Space repeal logo.

There could be some local action on open space at the Nunda Township Annual Meeting.

Township tax fighters Gerry Walsh, Republican Committeeman Bob Borchert, Doug Mann, and former Republican County Board candidate Craig Steagall have filed the following petition seeking to have the township electors ask the Nunda Township Board put a question on the ballot about whether voters want to repeal the 2007 passed Open Space Plan or not:

We, the undersigned, qualified electors and registered voters of Nunda Township in the County of McHenry, State of Illinois, do hereby petition the Nunda Township Clerk to include an advisory question of public policy to be placed on the agenda item at the 2010 Township Meeting per Section 30-205 of the Illinois Compiled Statutes 60 ILCS 1/ Township Code.  The advisory question pertains to repeal of the Nunda Township Open Space Plan that was adopted by the township voters in April of 2007.  This question shall request that the Nunda Township Board shall certify the question of repeal of this Plan to the proper election authorities, who shall submit the question in accordance with the general election law.

Whether the township board will put the advisory referendum on the ballot remains to be seen.

In other news, Walsh has individually filed complaints against the political action committees of Nunda Neighbors for Open Space, whose treasurer is Democratic Party District 3 County Board candidate Lori McConville, and Nunda Township Republicans, whose treasurer is Nunda Township Trustee Jim Schlader.

In foreground, you see Nunda Township Picnic attendees Joe Wheeler and now-GOP gubernatorial candidate State Senator Bill Brady.

He alleges the Open Space PAC filed late for the second time in six months and the Republicans have listed the township office address, 3510 Bay Road, Crystal Lake, 60012, as the source of a $735.68 donation for the Nunda Township GOP picnic and did not name the donor of the contribution, as required by state campaign finance laws.  The name of the donor was listed as “Picnic Contributions”.  Oddly, other Republican party donors were properly listed by name and address.

In reaction to that complaint, the Nunda Township GOP PAC filed an amendment with the State Board to move that donation from “Itemized” to “Non-Itemized.”

Hearings on both complaints before the Illinois State Board of Elections are scheduled for March 10th in Chicago.

Nunda Township resident Gerry Walsh filed a complaint with the Illinois State Board of Elections complaining that a political group had been allowed to meet at the Nunda Township building without paying a fee.

A final order has been entered in the case with the State Board finding
“That the complaint was not filed on justifiable grounds.”

The State Board dismissed the case, which Walsh could have appealed to McHenry County Circuit Court, but, apparently, did not.

Heisler told me any Nunda Township was welcome to meet in the township hall.

As expected, incumbent Jim Kennedy, he who broke the Republican stranglehold on the McHenry County Board four years ago by defeating incumbent Republican Perry Moy in District 5, has filed for re-election.

A new entrant, Burton’s Bridge )with a Crystal Lake address) resident Lori McConville, has filed in District 3. District 3 comprises all of Nunda Township, which is north of Crystal Lake Avenue, into southern McHenry Township with one Algonquin Township precinct in Oakwood Hills.

District 3 is where McHenry County Democratic Party Chair Kathy Bergan Schmidt scored one of two Democratic Party county board victories last year. She knocked out Nick Provenzano at the same time that District 5 Democrat Paula Yensen beat John Jung. (Both Provenzano and Jung are seeking to regain seats on the county board this year.)

McConville led the successful fight against a commercial business servicing contractors on Route 176 near her neighborhood.

In a 2007 web site statement she described the group she head, Nunda Neighbors, as a “small (but powerful) civic committee.”

This past spring McConville’s name surfaced as a leader of the Nunda Township Open Space Committee referendum. She is listed by the State Board of Elections as the political action committee’s current chairman and treasurer.

Tax fighter Gerry Walsh and his allies fought successfully against the referendum. Later he noticed that the political action committee did not file its campaign disclosure report on time and filed a complaint. No one from Nunda Neighbors showed up for the hearing.

In the case “Gerry Walsh vs. Nunda Neighbors for Open Space,” the State Board of Elections ordered:

“No further action is required other than referral to SBE staff for the assessment of the requisite civil penalty for delinquent filing…”

Filing on the first day was Jeff Thirtyacre. He is seeking election to the county board for the second time for the board in District 4, which consists of most of McHenry Township and all of Richmond and Burton Townships.

= = = = =

Above is one page of the proponents’ Open Space mailing last spring.

In August and September, McHenry County Blog reported on Jerry Walsh’s and William Douglas Mann’s petition attempt to call a special Nunda Township meeting called to obtain a referendum to repeal the Nunda Township Open Space Plan.

A press release has been received from Walsh that tells of their attempt being rebuffed. It appears below:

Nunda Supervisor John Heisler denies citizens’ request for special town meeting

According to township attorney, James Militello, the nine pages of petitions filed by “approximately 67 alleged voters” is “not in compliance with township code….”

The reasons given for denial were stated as

1) “The Petition does not state ‘a special meeting is necessary for the interests of the Township’ and

2) The object of the meeting is not relevant to powers granted to electors under the Township Code.”

It is obvious that Supervisor Heisler is doing all that he can to stop this citizen action aimed at repealing Nunda’s mechanism to increase residents’ future taxes.

Watch their web site for updated postings, and email NoOpenSpaceTax@gmail.com if you would like to join with us in fighting future Nunda Township tax increases through the defeat of the Nunda Open Space Plan.

As readers know, the folks who want McHenry County State’s Attorney Lou Bianchi out of office have prevailed upon Associate McHenry County Judge to appoint a special prosecutor to probe whether taxpayer resources were used to promote his campaign.

That special prosecutor is following up on leads, McHenry County Blog has learned.

But another front has opened on the issue.

Nunda Township tax fighter Gerry Walsh is taking on Nunda Township Supervisor John Heisler.

Walsh filed a complaint with the Illinois State Board of Elections (ISBE) against the Nunda Township Supervisor Friday.

Walsh says Heisler allowed his Nunda Township office to be used for the Nunda Neighbors for Open Space meetings (a pro-tax increase group) in February and March. Apparently that information was on McHenry County Blog. (I’m not sure if the Nunda Neighbors for Open Space is the same group, Nunda Neighbors, that successfully found commercial zoning on Route 176 west of Burton’s Bridge in 2007.)

“I had planned to ask the Nunda Neighbors rep about how much they paid for the room at the preliminary hearing at the ISBE on September 16 (Walsh vs. Nunda Neighbors),” Walsh emailed me, “but no one showed up. My suspicion is that they are going to plead nolo contendere (no contest) about this election violation.

“The Hearing Officer said that the use of the Supervisor’s office for a campaign meeting was unusual, but a separate issue.

“I handed John Heisler a letter on September 18th asking about how much Nunda Neighbors paid for the use of his office for their campaign meetings.

“As of this morning, he hasn’t responded. That is why I filed the complaint with the Illinois State Board of Elections.”

“The reason I haven’t responded was that the letter was not addressed to me,” Nunda Township Supervisor John Heisler told McHenry County Blog.

“It was addressed to Bridgett Provenzano. I got a copy of a memo he had addressed to my clerk.

“I handed it to my attorney Jim Militello and he advised me that it was addressed to Bridgett, not me, and I need not respond.”

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The photo is from the Nunda Township Republican Picnic.

The following was received from Gerry Walsh, one of the people who is trying to get a referendum on the ballot to repeal the Nunda Township Open Space Plan:

On Friday September 18, petitions containing 67 signatures were filed with the Nunda Township Supervisor. The petitions were requesting that a special township meeting be held for the purpose of having repealment of the Nunda Open Space Plan placed on the next election ballot.

Valid signatures from 15 electors are required to hold a special township meeting.

Per state law, the meeting must be held not less than 14 nor more than 45 days from the date of filing.

For further information, contact Doug Mann at 815-519-8933 or Gerry Walsh at 224-678-6579.

Reasons for repeal of the Nunda Open Space Plan can be viewed at www.NoOpenSpaceTax.com.

The update below from Nunda Township’s Gerry Walsh arrived yesterday. Walsh is trying to get a referendum to repeal the Nunda Township Open Space authorization. Here is his web site:

The email follows:

Cal,

The preliminary hearing was today. No one from Nunda Neighbors showed up. It was just the Hearing Officer and me. (Tony is retiring at the end of the month).

They filed their campaign finance report Monday, almost two months after the state mandated deadline of July 20. They have $6.99 left. However, they updated their website last month.

The Hearing Officer will recommend that Nunda Neighbors be cited and fined for non-compliance with state law. The hearing before the State Board of Elections will be at the October meeting in Chicago. I will be there.

Gerry

Tax fighters Gerry Walsh and Doug Mann have launched a campaign to gather enough signatures to call a township meeting to consider calling a referendum to repeal the Nunda Township Open Space Plan.

Walsh’s opposition to tax hikes goes back to at least 1991, when he and I and a roomful of others attended a Crystal Lake Park Board meeting in the Nature Center to oppose the park district’s maxing out on non-referendum bonds in the window of opportunity between when the Property Tax Cap was passed and January 1, 1992, when it took effect. He headed National Taxpayers United of McHenry County, then.

(Boy do we need something like that now. Tax districts like Huntley School District 158 is shifting expenditures from Tax Capped line items to non-Tax Capped line items, just to point out one example of where taxpayers will see surprise tax hikes without a referendum’s having been passed. No one has yet raised a fuss, as far as I can determine.

(A recent letter from a Cary woman was searching for the group CANT, which stands for Citizens Against Needless Taxation, whom she thought was associated with me. Back in the early 1990’s, there was a group called TARGET, which stood for Taxpayers Against Ridiculous Growth and Excessive Taxation. That group printed and passed out leaflets about the park board meeting I mentioned above. Dave Bryan headed it up.)

Reasons for Nunda Open Space Plan repeal are contained in a letter to Nunda Township voters which is published on the web site

I’ll post it here, too, so more than the 11 people who had accessed the web site when I copied it will see it.

Dear Nunda Township Voter:

In April of 2007, the voters of Nunda Township approved the Open Space plan.

Those of us who are against higher taxes think the voters should have the option to repeal the Open Space Plan, and are asking your support in doing so.

1. Why should we repeal the Nunda Open Space plan?

The plan allows for an estimated $61,000,000 tax increase to acquire land. Funding for the plan was on the ballot in 2004 and 2007 for $20,000,000 and in 2009 for $15,000,000. Each of the three times, Nunda Township voters rejected the spending proposal.

Open Space is good. Tax increases are bad. People who want open space can buy a house on a larger lot. That way, they can invest in their own personal open space.

2. What does a $61,000,000 tax increase mean for me?

If the $15,000,000 bond proposal had passed, the tax rate for Nunda would have increased by 78%. If the full $61,000,000 bonding is approved by the voters, the tax rate increase for Nunda Township would be 316%. This does not include roads and bridges, which is a separate tax.

3. Why do they want a tax increase for Open Space?

In the October 2006 Nunda Open Space Report, the committee’s concern was about hydric soil (“wetland” is the generic term) which must be conserved for ground water quality. However, the report does not say that ground water quality is currently a problem, nor is it expected to be a problem. We reviewed the water quality reports from Crystal Lake , Island Lake , McHenry (county and city), and Woodstock . No EPA violations were reported.

Since the ground water aquifer in this area flows from west to east, the way to protect water quality in Nunda is to acquire the cheaper land in the west for open space. This is exactly what the McHenry County Conservation District is presently undertaking with our tax dollars. Even if the ground water aquifer was a problem, acquiring open space in Nunda helps the citizens to the east in Lake County, not those of us residing in Nunda Township.

4. Will Open Space reduce traffic congestion?

Traffic congestion was not addressed in the Nunda Township Open Space report. Many of us living in the unincorporated area have lot sizes of one-half an acre or more. We bought our own open space.

If fully implemented for $61,000,000, the Open Space plan would only reduce the projected population in Nunda Township in 2040 by 2%.

The tax increase, however, will be immediate.

5. Do we have Open Space in Nunda Township ?

The report also doesn’t acknowledge the current open space owned by various government entities. Illinois Department of Natural Resources owns Moraine Hills (1800 acres), and Black Crow Marsh (250 acres). The McHenry County Conservation District owns 900 acres in Nunda Acres adjacent to Nunda Parcels 29 and 8. The Crystal Lake Parks District owns Sterne’s Woods (200 acres) and Veteran’s Acres (150 acres). Nunda Township’s only open space land is Sherwood Park , which is usually vacant during the summer, always vacant in the winter.

If you have questions or want to get involved in helping keep your taxes from increasing, contact either:

Gerry Walsh
224.678.6579
gerrywalsh@msn.com

or

Doug Mann
815.519.8933
doug@douglasmann.com

I asked Walsh how many signatures were required and he told me the number was 15.

Looks as if there will be a referendum on the ballot in Nunda Township next year, if those attending the township meeting vote for it. The meeting should be a good show with both proponents of the tax hike and opponents trying to marshal attendance.

It’ll probably be the best township meeting since Grafton Township’s annual meeting.