708 Mental Health Board Chairman Lee Ellis Does Not Get County Board Committee’s Recommendation for Re-Appointment
Lee Ellis
Lee Ellis, the Chairman of the McHenry County Mental Health Board, was not recommended for re-appointment by the newly-reconstituted Public Health and Human Services Committee.
Hearings have been held yesterday and today with applicants presenting their credentials and answering questions from the six committee members present.
After the interviews by the five women and one man were completed, members wrote down the names of their favorites for three four-year and one one-year term.
The following names were written on a white board:
- Carrie Smith
- Mary Donner
- Lee Ellis
- Bernadette May
- Heather Murgatoyd
- Rob Rontzahn
- Scott Summers
- Connie Meschini
Because Smith, the pastor at Crystal Lake’s Bethany Lutheran Church got four of the six votes, she was selected for one of the three four-year terms.
Six Public Health Committee members cast ballots in round two of the 708 Board selection process.
In a second round of voting, the committee singled out as finalists for the one-year term
- Donner, who was defeated for re-election to the County Board in last spring’s Republican primary election works for Pace and has been the liaison to the County Board from the 708 Board
- Meschini, also on the current Board
Finalists for the two remaining four-year terms were determined after another round of balloting.
Ellis and May got no votes that time around, leaving
- Murgatoyd
- Rontzahn
- Summers
In the fourth round, Mufgatoyd and Rontzahn emerged victorious.
That left the question of who was going to be recommended for the one-year term, Donner or Meschini.
The committee members split evenly with Mary McCann, Anna May Miller and Paula Yensen backing Donner and Committee leader Donna Kurtz, Sandy Salgado and Mike Walkup backing Meschini.
Rob Rontzahn
To break the tie, Committee members decided to await the return of the seventh member, John Hammerand.
Asked after the meeting if she expected any problem getting her the Public Health Committee’s recommendations approved by the full County Board, Kurtz replied, “No. I think people will respect the balanced view of this Committee. These are all qualified people and they have been thoroughly vetted.”
Rontzahn works for IBM out of his home office and serves on both the Crystal Lake District 47 Grade School Board and the County Housing Authority.
Murgatoyd is a clinical specialist (social worker) for DeVilbiss Health Care.
