McHenry County Blog

The Crystal Lake Planning and Zoning Commission gave preliminary approval to Metra’s proposed Ridgefield Train Station, but conditioned it on making multi-million dollar road improvements recommended by city engineering firm Patrick Engineering.

The improvements, most overdue, according to Patrick engineers Ryan Westrom and Chris DeRosia, would include signals at Country Club and Hillside Road, plus Market and Ridgefield Road next to the Union Pacific railroad tracks. In addition, suggested improvements at McConnell Road and Country Club were requested. Finally, the motion asked that Metra make whatever improvements would be necessary for commuters to be able to get out of the parking lot on the 9,360 vehicle per day Country Club Road.

“If improvements are made, they will accommodate the traffic we projected,” Westrom told the commissioners.

The engineering firm, starting from scratch, projected that about 36% of the station’s commuters would come down Country Club Road from the north, 41% down Hillside Road and 22% from north of the site across the tracks through Downtown Ridgefield. Do the math and you see that 77% is predicted to come from the same side of the tracks where the 17.5 acre station will be located.

Members expressed frustration that none of the roads were under city jurisdiction. The engineering report said current traffic volumes merited signals on both ends of Market Street in Downtown Ridgefield.  And, one at Tartan Drive and Ridgefield Road by 2015.

Consensus was expressed that commissioners wanted to protect Ridgefield residents and business owners, although none are located within Crystal Lake city limits.

Motions to change the zoning from Estate Residential to Semi-Public and Public Use passed 5-0, as did a motion to approve how Metra proposed to meet the city’s Watershed Ordinance.

A motion from former City Councilman Dave Goss to approve a Preliminary Planned Unit Development, contingent on staff recommendations and road improvements suggested by Patrick Engineering passed 3-2.

Metra’s presentation suggested that property values around train stations generally increased with the prediction being that farmland north of the station site on Country Club Road would “have development pressure…(with) higher density development, higher land values.”

Goss voted against his own motion, based on his belief that the commuter station would lower property values in Ridgefield. He was joined by Commission Chairman Jeff Greenman.

Commissioners Don Batastini, Vince Esposito, Alan Skluzacek voted in the affirmative, although Esposito had said earlier, “I don’t think a train station that size needs to be out there.”

When the issue reaches city council on April 6th, a three-fifths approval vote will be needed, according to Metra’s local attorney Joe Gottemoller.

Earlier, Gottemoller had argued that the new traffic generated by Metra “is very small.” He noted that none of the improvements recommended by the traffic consulting firm, for example improving Market Street, were on McHenry County’s Five-Year Plan.

During the public comment period Chris Conway from Hillside road worried about increased garbage on the road and its taking more than the ten minutes it now takes her to get out of her driveway.

“We kind of feel there’s some insider trading going on on this property,” speaking for herself and neighbors.

The property is half owned by McHenry County Board Chairman Ken Koehler.

Also speaking was Craig Steagall, land owner across the tracks from Koehler’s land.

He questioned the traffic experts traffic projections. Earlier he had hired his own traffic consultant and presented results to the city council.

“How did 84 Lumber get in there without making those improvements?” he asked.

Steagall also asked how the decades-old agriculture zoning for the former Flowerwood nursery property got changed to industrial through “a zoning map correction.” (Later Planning and Economic Development Director Michelle Rentzsch confirmed that what Stegall said was correct.)

“There’s been an allegation I’m on my high horse because of a sour land deal,” he continued, telling of how Metra approached him to buy 12 acres and how Alexandra Lumber was considering purchasing 20 acres prior to purchasing 84 Lumber’s abandoned yard. Steagall then pointed out that under the discussions he had had with Metra to buy land south of the tracks, he and his partner would have had to put in $500,000 to a million for infrastructure improvements, a cost burden he considered unreasonable.

Steagall compared Metra’s planned station to

• “Health Care—Start over,”
• “the Bridge to Nowhere” and
• “the Cornhusker Kickback.”

Speaking also of the Lily Pond Road station, which will be built on donated land, Stegall concluded,

“It’s Metra stations for all our friends.”

Another man asked if people, especially McHenry County College students and employees would have walking and biking access.

“Would it be good service to the college.”

No one from McHenry College offered public comment.

“What prevented Metra from putting the station on the south side of the tracks,” another person asked.

In rebuttal, a factoid came out that was interesting.

Over 60% of the people using the Pingree Road Station are from Lake in the Hills.

Replying to Steagall, Gottemoller said, “Sour grapes. That’s a political item that we don’t have anything to do with.”

Rick Mack, representing Metra, explained that 15 trains would come down the track each morning and that the Lily Pond Road Station (called East Woodstock) was put on the south side of the tracks so most cars using it wouldn’t have to cross the tracks.

He explained that capacity throughout McHenry County was being expanded, pointing to all the empty land between Woodstock and Harvard.

“This is an entire upgrade, not just to address today,” Mack continued. Earlier, it had been pointed out that train storage would be moved from Crystal Lake to north of Woodstock, that there was no room to store additional trains in Crystal Lake.

“All of these improvements are interconnected.”

Traffic concerns were widespread among the commissioners.

Greenman said,

Jeff Greenman

“We’re going to trust the county to do what it needs to do and trust the state to do what it needs to do.

“There are so many interdependencies, so many ‘what if’s’

“It’s a huge risk.”

At the end of the meeting, Goss thanked the city council “for standing up for the traffic study.”

Metra had asked to use its own traffic consultant, but that was rejected by the council in favor of one on the city’s approved list.

It appears that the four-member Grafton Township Board majority got its act together Wednesday night with the help of newly hired attorney Ancel Glick partner Keri-Lyn Krafthefer.

Left on the losing end of all contested votes was Grafton Township Supervisor Linda Moore.  So, while she had company, she was still lonely.

No boycotts like Monday and the Thursday before.

A still interrupting, but markedly calmer than before Trustee Gerry McMahon put it best,

“I believe the essence of the problem is majority rules and some people don’t understand majority rule.”

The obvious leader of the four trustees was Robert LaPorta.  Most of the agenda items proposed by LaPorta and Betty Zirk can be seen in this story.  You can see that Laporta was enjoying himself.

When I left, the board was going into secret session to discuss what apparently they dare not discuss in public:

“Discussion and potential action on prior sale of real estate for road district.”

Prior to going into what elected officials prefer to call “Executive Session,” Moore pointed out there was no mention of the sale she could find in the township minutes.

She had elaborated on the perceived legal problem at more length a previous meeting.

The township attorney at the time, Jim Kelly, and Krafthefer were both included in the closed session.

When Moore questioned Kelly’s inclusion, Trustee Robert LaPorta said,

“We need him as a subject matter expert.”

Earlier in the meeting the four trustees voted to pay Kelley $6,351 owed him.

Before the vote Moore pointed out that $48,941 had been spent on legal fees since the change of administration:

• $37,334 – Jim Kelly
• $10,457 – Joe Gottemoller
• $1,115 – Ancel Glick

There was also a bill pending to the latter for “over $5,000,” she said.

Moore observed that only $45,000 had been budgeted for legal fees for the entire year and that state law said that only10% of that total– $4,500–could be moved from other line items to legal fees.

“The only was we can pay any attorney fees if at another meeting we (revise) the budget,” she continued.

The majority four approved payment. In her negative vote, Moore reiterated,

“We do not have the funds available.”

All of the above took place in the meeting called by two of the trustees. The meeting called by Supervisor Moore was ruled illegal by the township attorney because its notice had not been posted by Township Clerk Dina Frigo.

Moore read the opinion and, then, reported that the McHenry County State’s Attorney was investigating where an illegal meeting had been held prior to the Thursday boycott of the township meeting.

Frustrated members of the audience gave their views before a third trustee entered the room. Then, Krafthefer silenced them, saying that no business could be conducted.

One woman echoed Trustee Barbara Murphy’s comments from a month ago about the need to “unwind” the loan which the township’s Road Fund took out to pay the Town Fund for the township hall.

That was some irony in such a discussion being held at the old Huntley High School, which the Huntley Park District bought from School District 158.

Both the town hall and the old high school will be paid for twice by local taxpayers, unless the over $600,000 township loan is “unwound.”

One woman in the audience said that would save taxpayers $50,000 a month.

Of course, that does nothing to keep Huntley Park District taxpayers from paying for the high school twice.

The all-Republican township board, by the way, show no sign of recognizing the opportunity their open disagreements are providing local Democrats in 2013.  Indeed, McMahon announced his intention to increase the Clerk’s salary because of the additional duties she was being assigned by the board majority.

The following has been received from the office of Jim Bishop, attorney for Dan Ziller, Jr., et al, in their successful case against the Grafton Township Board’s attempt to build a new township hall without voter approval:

The Illinois Appellate Court officially ended the legal battle of the stalled Grafton Township Town Hall project. No negotiations with respect to settlement are either appropriate or necessary.

The Appellate Court ended all speculation with its Decision of September 18, 2009, ruling in favor of the Grafton Township residents that filed suit against Grafton Township Officials, the Appellate Court ruled that there must be a the then Township Supervisor, John Rossi and the other Trustees.

The Appellate Court has ruled that the issue must be placed on the ballot for the vote of the residents of Grafton Township at the November 2010 General Election. The referendum will determine whether the project to construct a new township hall, estimated to cost in excess of $5 million, will proceed.

For more than seven months, the residents of Grafton Township have pleaded with, and finally sued, the Grafton Township Board of Trustees to delay the construction until a referendum could be placed on the ballot concerning this important matter.

Over a period of many months, the Grafton Board of Trustees refused to halt the project necessitating the litigation.

The Appellate Court sided with the residents on all issues in the Court’s 12 page published Opinion.

Grafton Township Supervisor Linda Moore, who has been steadfastly opposed to the Town Hall construction project, has been continuously thwarted by the actions of the majority of the Trustees, which led to the recent resignation of Township Attorney, Joseph Gottemoller.

The continued refusal of the majority of the Grafton Township Trustees may well lead to additional litigation against the Township in order that the residents may see certain financial and other documents relating to various expenditures over the past 4 years.

James Bishop, attorney for the Plaintiffs in the “town hall” litigation has recently filed a Freedom of Information request with the Township Clerk, Dina Frigo, and has indicated that should the Trustees continue to refuse to provide such financial documentation, another lawsuit will be forthcoming.

Among financial documentation sought by Bishop are annual

• Township audits for the years 2006-2009, 
• monthly bank statements, check registers, 
• contracts relating to the sale of the existing township property, 
• contracts and other documentation. 

By law, the township is required to respond to Bishop’s FOI request early next week.

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Seen at the Grafton Township meeting when attorney Joe Gottemoller rendered his resignation are, from left to right, Township Clerk Dina Frigo, Township Trustees Rob LaPorta, Betty Zirk and Gerry McMahon. Trustee Barbara Murphy has her back to the camera. Township Supervisor Linda Moore was medically indisposed. If you wish, you can read Gottemoller’s parting advice to the board.

Last night Crystal Lake lawyer Joe Gottemoller resigned as Grafton Township attorney.

He had been selected to replace Jim Kelly, who had been chosen for the post by John Rossi, the man whom newly-elected Township Supervisor Linda Moore and her political enemies, the township trustees, agreed upon.

Gottemoller is a laid-back sort of guy whose competence has not be challenged in my experience.

As background, here are my previous articles:

Take This Job and Shove It

Resigning Grafton Township Attorney Accuses Board of Being More Interested in “Being Right” than “Doing What’s Right”

Attached to Gottemoller’s letter of resignation was the following memo. I’m re-producing it in full below:

First, since the referendum is filed and will be held 14 months from now, settle the law suit (emphasis in the original).

Second, the sale of the building to the Highway District needs your attention.

A. The deed needs to be reformed in order to comply with the Township Code 1/105-10 (which Gottemoller attached).

B. You need to either unwind the transaction or amend your budget and sign a new lease. If you unwind the transaction you can save the taxpayers thousands of dollars worth of interest. If you do not unwind the transaction you need to amend the budget to pay rent for a building the taxpayers have already paid for once. You have to amend the budget because you have not made a provision for paying rent to the road district for the Supervisor’s and Assessor’s use of the space.

Third, the board needs to clarify its intent to convert the public food pantry to a private food pantry. For over twelve years the township ran a food pantry. For all but the last three of those years the pantry was fun as part of the general assistance fund with the township supervisor in charge. In 2005 the Township began paying an employee to work in the pantry. In 2006 the prior supervisor decided to create a 501(c)3 corporation in order to purchase food at a discount. Just to make it clear, there is nothing wrong with creating a not-for-profit corporation.

After the creation of the corporation, the pantry operated much as it had before. The supervisor reported at each meeting how many people were served and the board even planned on including it in future building plans. The township kept paying the employee to work there. At no time did this board ever move to donate the property it held before 2006 to a private company. After the 2009 election the supervisor announced that the township did not own the pantry. Not a single member of this board raised a concern. Last weekend the Township Pantry moved to a new location.

Without any action by the Grafton Township board, the Township is out of the food pantry business. This board donated public money and employees to a private company that is now run by the prior township supervisor. Despite my requests, no one has produced any record of a motion or board action to permit conversion of a public money to private use. To make it clear, the board has authority to donate surplus property to a non profit corporation, but they have to follow the statute and they have to take action to do it. There are ways to address this problem, but so far no one has taken those steps.

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The current Grafton Township Hall and Highway Garage is seen on the night of the annual township meeting.

The photo of the new location of the Grafton Township Food Pantry is reprinted with permission from The First Electric Newspaper.

When Linda Moore was elected Township Supervisor over incumbent John Rossi, she dismissed the previous attorney Jim Kelly. The board hired Joe Gottemoller to replace him.

Now, just a couple of months into the job, Gottemoller has tendered his resignation.

Here’s the letter he sent:

“With this correspondence I am submitting my resignation as the Grafton Township attorney effective immediately.

“Since 1982 I have practiced law either in private practice or as an assistant states attorney. I have served in McHenry County on two separate task forces and on the McHenry County Conservation District Board of Trustees. In addition, my private practice has taken me in front of almost every governmental entity in McHenry County and some in Kane and Lake Counties. With all this work, even when the things did not go my way I was proud to be associated with the officials who were doing their best to serve the citizens who elected them.

“I cannot say that about Grafton Township. The township officials appear to have forgotten that their purpose is to serve the residents who entrusted them with these offices.

“During the past few months I have had the responsibility to the Township to give good sound legal advice on how to address many of the complicated issues that are before you. For example, the Township is now saving $426 per day because the $3.5 million in bond debentures was unwound. Bu make no mistake; there are some extremely important issues that remain. I list them here and expand on them in an attachment:

• The lawsuit over the construction of the building
• The sale of the existing building to the Highway Department
• The ownership of the Food Pantry

Although I would have been proud to assist with these issues, it appears that no one on this board actually wants them resolved unless it is done with maximum embarrassment to their political enemies.

“I will not waste another moment of my time of officials who are more interest(ed) in ‘being right’ than ‘doing what’s right.’

And, no, the mild mannered Gottemoller did not say,

as I entitled my article last night about his resignation.

More on this story Saturday.

If you play this song while you are reading this article, it would be appropriate.

Johnny Paycheck’s “Take This Job and Shove It” pretty much sums up the message Crystal Lake attorney Joe Gottemoller gave to the Grafton Township Board last night.

Because Supervisor Linda Moore was absent due to having just had a myelogram, only her four political enemies on the township board were at the meeting.

Prominent Democrats were out in force. Both McHenry County Board member Jim Kennedy and Paula Yensen were in attendance.

Attorney Kelly was dismissed by Moore after she took office, but he’s still working for the four trustees. They voted to pay him “$5,724, the most recent portion of a total amount of $17,963.73 for services after May 18, 2009.”

The township trustees and Kelly went into secret session to discuss the lawsuit (Dan Ziller, Jr., et al. v. John Rossi, et al) that a number of the audience members had brought against the township to stop the building of a new township hall.

But Gottemoller’s resignation was the big story.

Right before the trustees went into Executive Session, he said,

“This will be my last meeting. I have spent a great deal of time and effort on this. Much more than I should have.”

He talked about all the local governments he had had contact with during his legal career.

“I have never been in front of of a board as dysfunctional as this one.”

He told of having had nine calls about the agenda for the meeting. He talked of the problems facing the township.

“I hope some day you will address them.”

He said most calls he had received were from people who were mainly interested in learning how to protect themselves from the other side.

“I don’t want my name to be associated with (Grafton Township).

“You’re spending thousands of dollars on legal fees, $25,000 in attorney fees since May 18th.

“Riley Township spent $500 its last full year.” (Riley is one of McHenry County’s smallest.)

“I hope sometime or other you’ll find a way to talk to each other.

“If we could just focus on the issues and not the personalities, it would be (a lot better).

Before the secret meeting began, Kelly revealed he had told the board in February that he wouldn’t continue as township attorney.

“It’s just outrageous we’re in this condition. I’m working on this issue (the lawsuit) only,” Kelly said.

As I was leaving, one person observed,

“They ought to sell popcorn.”

Tomorrow: What Joe Gottemoller wrote in his resignation letter.

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In the top photo you see attorney Jim Kelly on the left and Joe Gottemoller on the right. The four trustees can be seen sitting at the table in the second picture. Trustee Barbara Murphy is in the foreground. At the left of the photo is Trustee Bob LaPorta. To his left are Trustee Betty Zirk and newly-elected Trustee Gerry MaMahon, elected with newly-elected Township Supervisor Linda Moore’s help, but now on the other side of the political spectrum. All the officials are Republicans. Flanking attorney Jim Kelly in the next photo are prominent Democrats Mike Bisset, his wife, McHenry County Board member Paula Yensen, and McHenry County Board member Jim Kennedy (standing). The larger head shot is of Gottmoller. The smaller one is of Kelly while Gottemoller was explaining his resignation.