McHenry County Blog

McHenry County Board Chairman Ken Koehler offers the following on an award given to McHenry County Transportation Department Maintenance Superintendent Mark DeVries:

“I am pleased to announce that the McHenry County Division of Transportation (MCDOT) Maintenance Superintendent Mark DeVries was recently awarded the American Public Works Association (APWA) Presidential Leadership Award for 2012!

“The Presidential Leadership Award is an extraordinary commemoration.

“It is awarded at the discretion of the APWA President to someone who has distinguished himself or herself in the public works profession.

“Past recipients of this prestigious award include former U.S. Secretary of Transportation Mary Peters.

“Mark received the award at the APWA Congress and Expo this August in Anaheim, CA which is an annual gathering of APWA members from across the world.

“APWA is the largest international organization of its kind with over 28,000 members and serves its members by promoting professional excellence and public awareness through education, advocacy, and exchange of knowledge.

“The Presidential Leadership Award is the highest award APWA bestows upon an individual.

“Mark is being recognized as he has been an exemplary professional in snow and ice, and winter maintenance and safety.

“His efforts in the public works profession are felt not only here locally in McHenry County but throughout Illinois, the entire United States, and internationally.

“His passion, enthusiasm and willingness to share his expertise with others in the profession are unparalleled in his field.

“Mark has worked for the McHenry County Division of Transportation since 1984 and has been Maintenance Superintendent since 2001.

“He chairs APWA’s Winter Maintenance Subcommittee and the Excellence in Snow and Ice Control Award Committee.

“He has shared his experiences with local agencies as well at local seminars and expos.

“Mark also assists the Illinois Local Technology Transfer Program and teaches flagging safety and snow and ice removal for new operators for many local agencies in northern Illinois.

“In 2010, Mark was also recognized as one of APWA’s Top Ten Public Leader of the Year.”

At the Monday budget hearing Grafton Township residents asked why a Township Planning Commission had not been appointed. Apparently, applicants were solicited and received. This was also the topic of a motion at the last Annual Meeting of the township’s electors.

Now, McHenry County Blog has discovered that Dorr Township—just to the north of Grafton—has such a Citizens Planning Committee and it made a report last September 1st. The report looks at each of the offices and make recommendations which do not include consolidation of operations in one location.

It appears township officials have been accumulating funds for the purpose of building a new township complex.

The citizen committee recommends asking residents what to do with it. One option would apparently be building a new township hall (while that description is no where used in the report) or rebating the money through the lowering of levies.

Note that the Dorr Township Supervisor Robert Pierce has concerns about privacy similar to the ones expressed by Grafton Township Supervisor Linda Moore.

I thought others might find it of interest.

TRANSMISSION MEMORANDUM

TO: Dorr Township Board of Trustees

FROM: Dorr Township Citizens Planning Committee

SUBJECT: Report of Recommendation

DATE: Submitted to the Board on September 1, 2009
CC: Township Officials

All recommendations with the exception of those for the Road Commissioner are considered short term while the economy remains unsettled and tax revenues decline. The goal is to use current facilities more efficiently while providing essential town services. Every entity – both private and governmental – is trying to be more resourceful and work within current constraints.

We took the mission to

“…to assist the Dorr Township Board of Trustees to determine whether new facilities are required to carry out its township functions and programs efficiently and to help prepare a presentation to the Dorr Township Board of Trustees, as well as to the citizens of Dorr Township”.

Attached hereto are our recommendations.

We request that the Board of Trustees respond to our recommendations in writing to the various committee members by October 21, 2009. The committee members’ list is attached.

DORR TOWNSHIP CITIZENS PLANNING COMMITTEE

Report of Recommendations – September 8, 2009

I. Assessor

Findings: The committee unanimously agrees that the current space is inadequate. This office has the most client volume and an increase in workload is anticipated. In the interest of client service, it would be ideal to provide a counter with monitors allowing easy access to property records thereby reducing on staff involvement.

Suggested Solutions:

1. Reconfigure current space eliminating the board room in favor of increasing assessor’s square footage. Modify the space to include a counter. Utilize the back door for ingress. Board meetings could be held elsewhere – banks holding township funds, for example.

2.Rent commercial space.

II. Township Clerk

Findings: The clerk has no township work space or dedicated storage and currently schedules herself to access the office during off hours. She should be provided with a computer linked to the printer and necessary supplies for use at her convenience during business hours. She should also be reimbursed for all business expenses including the cost of refreshments for town clerk meetings.

Suggested Solutions: The committee unanimously agrees that space be found to accommodate her needs and that all election material, township business records, as well as road district records be consolidated in fire-resistant storage boxes at the office.

1. Utilize a section of the board room if it is not reconfigured to meet the assessor’s needs.

2. A corner of Sue Brokaw’s office could be used.

While the concern the clerk voiced about a deputy clerk is not within our purview, we recommend an opinion be solicited from the township’s current lawyer. The previous lawyer considered the drafting of Sue Brokaw to function in the clerk’s stead a conflict of interest.

III.Road Commissioner

Findings: Although the Commissioner appreciates the desire to consolidate all town functions in one location, he also feels that the current garage facilities are well placed to allow personnel to reach all segments of town roads without going through the center to town. Concern was also expressed about mixing the public and heavy equipment. The committee believes environmental mitigation is required to address salt runoff into the adjacent wetlands and eventually into the underlying aquifers and groundwater.

Suggested Solutions:

The committee recommends that the facility should stay where it is
with the following changes:

1. Construct a salt dome to fit on the current site. The mixing of salt with other components should be done in such a way as to eliminate any potential for leaching into adjacent wetlands. We also strongly suggest that the supermix anti-ice liquid developed by Mark DeVries for the county be thoroughly investigated because it reduces salt usage. Last winter Algonquin Township used 2100 tons of salt for 60 miles while Dorr Township used 3100 tons for 35 miles of road.

Make necessary repairs to the salt building to convert it to cold storage and consider adding block ‘n’ roll doors. This would respond to the concern of storing mowers should the old Farm & Fleet building be sold.

Determine electrical needs and arrange for necessary repairs and/or upgrades.

The barn needs cleaning, painting and paneling and would be enhanced by the installation of skylights.

Remove all non-essential items including engine blocks, tires, etc.

Buy a flammable fuel containment storage unit and install floor pans under inside
units. This is an EPA requirement.

If space is at a premium, consider eliminating salt storage for other entities.

IV. Supervisor

Concerns were expressed about confidentiality relative to General Assistance applications and lack of space to offer additional programs. While the Supervisor has enumerated programs he would like to offer, no space requirements or financial costs for these programs have been determined.

Suggested Solutions:

1. The confidentiality concern would be resolved if the Assessor’s office and entrance are separated from the front desk.

2.Relocate the Supervisor to shared space with Sue Brokaw.

3.Modify the existing Supervisor’s office to include a partitioned counter.

V. Town Hall

The Supervisor has indicated that the physical plant requires some upgrading such as window replacement and heating/ac update.

Township Outreach:

A questionnaire should be developed and sent to township
residents. We suggest the following concerns:

1.Seek input regarding desired programs for youth, seniors and all ages

2.Ask if different business hours are desirable

3. Present taxpayer constituents with financial options ranging from spending the accumulated funds to rebates and lowering of levies.

Report submitted by: Dorr Township Citizens Planning Committee
Ted Andersen
Lynde Anderson
Jane L. Collins
Steve Kaiser
Quinn Keefe
Caryl Lemanski
Diane Range Magnuson
Kelli Myers
Vivian Sodini

For banning phosphate fertilizer, the Village of Lakewood won the Environmental Defenders of McHenry County Theta Award last night at McHenry’s Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church.

Accepting the award on behalf of Village President Julie Richardson was Village Administrator Catherine Peterson. Village Clerk Janice Hansen was also in attendance.

“It’s a terrific effort that we hopes rubs off on Crystal Lake and Lake in the Hills,” award presenter Dwight Dalton said.

“This ordinance is simply Lakewood’s attempt to be the most environmentally sensitive community in McHenry County and, maybe, in Northern Illinois” Peterson said.

“Our citizens have stepped up and said, ‘We understand.’

“People really want to do the right thing.”

The McHenry County Department of Transportation won the Government Award.

Mark DeVries accepted on behalf of what I’ll probably always call the “McHenry County Highway Department.”

In making the presentation, former Defenders Executive Director Cindy Skrukrud described the worldwide attention his discovery of how to diminish highway salt use by 40%.

The innovation consists of

• 85% salt water,
• 10% sugar beet juice and
• 5% calcium cloride.

“Once you become an innovator, people bring new things to you to try,” DeVries noted.

Defenders Volunteer of the Year was Huntley’s Dorothy Johnson.

How many hours did she volunteer?

About 2,000 hours.

“It’s my home away from home,” she remarked.

Ward Duel, the first Theta Award winner, was also present.

He was first Director of the McHenry County Health Department.

He has a wonderful sense of humor. In a land inventory map, he included the one nudist colony. It’s now a McHenry County Conservation District Area north of Marengo.

Having come from the Eastern Shore of Maryland, my family was astounded that McHenry County did no have a public health department until the mid-1960′s.

= = = = =
On top, Dwight Dalton can be seen giving the Theta Award to Lakewood Village Administrator Catherine Peterson. Next, Cindy Skrukrud presents the award to Mark DeVries. Below super-volunteer Dorothy Johnson is recognized by Dwight Dalton.

This road, that is.

Some call it Walkup Avenue, others the McHenry Blacktop.

McHenry folks may call it the Crystal Lake Blacktop.

And, yesterday, I heard it called Walkup Road.

Whatever one calls it, this portion of the road is rivaling the worst road in the Village of Bull Valley.

Bull Valley is noted for its b-b-umpy roads.

The photo on top shows a hurriedly shot picture taken in the middle of the McHenry Blacktop in front of the Mormon Church.

Traffic was a bit too heavy to be doing something like this in the middle of the road.

Going out of town at the end of Veterans Acres, people are traveling slow enough to try to dodge the potholes.

Coming into Crystal Lake, if drivers don’t know of the bumps in the road, they just plunge off the good part of the highway that is good into two potholes.

There is not problem hearing when their wheels bottom out.

I called the County Transportation Department and found Maintenance Superintendent Mark DeVries.

“We have two crews out and Walkup is on their schedule,” he told me. (We always have one crew out,” he added later.)

“That’s probably the worst stretch,” he suggested.

I asked about when that small part of Walkup would be repaved.

“There’s a project for Walkup Road, the whole road, for widening and turn signals and turn lanes, but they may stage it,” DeVries told me. He’s not really the one to ask about such matters.

Yesterday McHenry County Highway crews were repairing Bay Road, Main Street west going out of town, “right down by the bridge,” besides the McHenry Blacktop near in front of the Crystal Lake LDS Church.

I asked DeVries how he learned about problems on county boards and was surprised to learn that members of the public rarely call. The snowplow guys (of whom I am a fan) turn identify many.

So, if a pothole on a county road is bothering you, give DeVries a call 815-334-4960.

All photos can be enlarged by clicking on them.

This road, that is.

Some call it Walkup Avenue, others the McHenry Blacktop.

McHenry folks may call it the Crystal Lake Blacktop.

And, yesterday, I heard it called Walkup Road.

Whatever one calls it, this portion of the road is rivaling the worst road in the Village of Bull Valley.

Bull Valley is noted for its b-b-umpy roads.

The photo on top shows a hurriedly shot picture taken in the middle of the McHenry Blacktop in front of the Mormon Church.

Traffic was a bit too heavy to be doing something like this in the middle of the road.

Going out of town at the end of Veterans Acres, people are traveling slow enough to try to dodge the potholes.

Coming into Crystal Lake, if drivers don’t know of the bumps in the road, they just plunge off the good part of the highway that is good into two potholes.

There is not problem hearing when their wheels bottom out.

I called the County Transportation Department and found Maintenance Superintendent Mark DeVries.

“We have two crews out and Walkup is on their schedule,” he told me. (We always have one crew out,” he added later.)

“That’s probably the worst stretch,” he suggested.

I asked about when that small part of Walkup would be repaved.

“There’s a project for Walkup Road, the whole road, for widening and turn signals and turn lanes, but they may stage it,” DeVries told me. He’s not really the one to ask about such matters.

Yesterday McHenry County Highway crews were repairing Bay Road, Main Street west going out of town, “right down by the bridge,” besides the McHenry Blacktop near in front of the Crystal Lake LDS Church.

I asked DeVries how he learned about problems on county boards and was surprised to learn that members of the public rarely call. The snowplow guys (of whom I am a fan) turn identify many.

So, if a pothole on a county road is bothering you, give DeVries a call 815-334-4960.

All photos can be enlarged by clicking on them.