McHenry County Blog

Crystal Lake resident Paul Greenlee has shared his communication with the Crystal Lake City Council about a couple of items on tonight’s meeting agenda:

Mayor Shepley and Members of the City Council:

It is not clear whether or not I will be able to attend the Council meeting on May 15, 2012, but it is important that I comment on and call to your attention the following:

1. Our portion of our neighborhood (South of Barlina/West of Golf Course) had a power outage May 13, 2012.

It lasted about 30-45 minutes.

Given that there was no adverse weather and no other known condition, this kind of out of the blue occurrence is of concern.

Especially in light of Com Ed’s performance when we had such a recent significant storm, their inability to provide reliable service in relatively serene condition is a concern.

The outage was reported to Com Ed and their automated system indicated that there was no outage.

When I called it in, the power had already been out a little while; it wasn’t like they were called 30 seconds after the power went off.

When I held to speak to a customer service representative they indicated that their automated system was in error, but then contradicted themselves and said there was no outage in Crystal Lake, and then said that power from said non-outage would be restored about 12:45 a.m.

It came on earlier than that, but their inability to answer simple questions correctly is of great concern.

They should know from their grid where power outages exist, one would think.

2. On the agenda for your consideration is a request from Bernotas Middle School for an electronic message center sign. The Plan Commission previously rejected this request.

I am not a Bernotas parent (I am a Lundahl parent), but I support the school’s request for you to override the Plan Commission recommendation.

First the kids in that school worked quite hard to raise the money for the sign.

If you want to engender apathy within young people or upset parents, then support the Plan Commission’s recommendation.

The kids need to know (as do the parents who supported them) that their efforts truly meant something.

It sounds like the Bernotas group tried to follow the rules from the beginning but received faulty guidance or some other misunderstanding that caused the Plan’s recommendation.

Also, I think Bernotas is the only school in the district without some kind of sign of that nature.

Finally, if I WERE a neighbor of that school, I cannot imagine a sign like that (even with lights, for goodness sake) would be a nuisance.

I urge you to reward the efforts of the families of Bernotas Middle School and approve their request for a sign.

3. I notice a request for a business for Lightning Lazer Tag.

If established, I am sure my nine year old son and his friends would make use of this facility.

I suppose if I were a neighbor to this facility, I would have concerns about it becoming a nuisance.

If you receive significant complaints and concerns about establishing this business by the neighbors, I support your not allowing it.

If the neighbors do not raise issues, I still would ask that you strictly enforce anti-loitering ordinances to keep a “bad element” from initiating a presence.

[The location near the 7-11 on Berkshire seems to be the same space previously occupied by a lazer tax facility.]

Thank you very much for your consideration.

Paul Greenlee

A letter dated Wednesday, August 3, 2011, to the Crystal Lake City Council from Paul Greenlee, who lives on Bennington Drive, expresses concerns Commonwealth Edison service failures in his neighborhood:

Mayor Shepley and Members of the City Council:

When I arrived home from work yesterday, I found our home had lost power.

Based on the time my family left home for back to school shopping and my return, the power had been off some time between 10:30 a.m. to 2:45 p.m.

So apparently there had been a power failure on a very hot and uncomfortable day before peak power usage had been reached.

A similar incident occurred on Saturday, July 30, sometime between 2:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m.

Com Ed line in McHenry County with a problem.

It was another instance in which on another almost painful weather day there was a power failure.

This time it occurred on a weekend day which is not a peak power usage day. I am again grateful we weren’t home for the inconvenience as well.

I don’t want to complain about something that is an inconvenience, as people often gripe about minor issues.

However, for what we pay in utility costs and taxes, reliable power supplies should not be an issue especially in less than peak usage periods.

Com Ed dispatched a number of trucks to repair this fallen tree problem on Lake Avenue near the Crystal Lake-Lakewood line.

Were these issues that came from brown-outs, planned or otherwise?

If they were, I don’t think the residents of our area got that memo.

Crystal Lake and McHenry County were especially devastated during the storms of early and mid-July.

Commonwealth Edison, in my opinion, took their sweet time in making repairs (even realizing the enormity of the situation, they were slow in responding and their communication was horrific and only added to the frustration suffered by many).

With subsequent power failures even after those repairs from the big storm, apparently the repairs were not of a quality nature.

That sets the stage for unnecessary future problems.

And Com Ed has NEVER been a very forthcoming utility when it comes to providing information.

A Com Ed lineman fixes a problem on Lake Avenue in Lakewood.

I urge you to haul Com Ed representatives before the City Council and hold them accountable for the poor service.

It’s not just a matter of frustration from the big storm, although their poor communication should be addressed so they don’t fail the public again.

It is the apparent ongoing occurrences of power failures that should be acted upon now so there isn’t a greater consequence to an individual or a community later.

Personally, I think they should have to face the public in an open forum.

However, I trust that if you and the members of the Council compel Com Ed (and not just some P.R. flak) to appear and address these issues, we might well see a change in their behavior.

I don’t like to use utilities or big business as scapegoats for any problem.

I work in property and casualty insurance, an industry often vilified and sometimes even correctly.

Utilities, just like elected officials and public employees, have a responsibility to deliver services and be accountable for their actions and their failures in fulfilling their obligations.

I hope you address this issue in a way to protect the community in the future.

Paul Greenlee

Maybe this other email from a reader explains more than Com Ed would like people to know. The author is an engineer:

The essence of the explanation of the lead person (my presumption) was that CoEd found it less expensive to repair problem equipment rather than replacing it.

Of course, this is understandable from a surface analysis but is only viable when you have a captive customer base.

The cost to the customer is very difficult to determine but reasoning of that type would be unacceptable in a competitive market.

Obviously, many of the customers would switch to a competitive service.

My question to the service person was initiated because we had an excessive number of outages in comparison to another group of houses on our street. They would have service and our group would be in the dark.

Articles of potential interest:

“Com Ed’s Infrastructure and the Last Com Ed Scam” (The rate hike bill passed by the Illinois General Assembly this year and the deregulation bill of the late 1990′s)

“Fire and Brimstone” (August, 2010, high power line failure next to Best Buy in Crystal Lake.)

“McCullom Lake Is Last in Com Ed Reliability” (list of all towns in McHenry County in descending order of the quality of Com Ed service, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.)

Yesterday, I speculated on the rumor that Kane County Board Chairman Karen McConnaughay would leave that powerful post and run in the vacant 33rd State Senate District.

As sometimes happens with such articles, more information is offered by those who comment.

Jon Zahm wrote the following:

Chad Koppie is supporting Orville Brettman for State Senate in the 33rd.

Rick Zirk, the Village President of Gilberts and former Village President of South Elgin is considering a run for the 33rd. He is the only person in Illinois history to be electing Mayor of two different communities. Zirk is a former Public Works director and currently works for a major McHenry County company, so he has many contacts in the north end of the district.

Cliff Surges, a twice elected Gilberts board member and owner of a successful insurance business with offices in Gilberts and Chicago is also exploring a run. Surges is the Booster Club President at Jacobs HS in Dundee and has been very involved in Gilberts and East Dundee campaigns and elections over the years. Surges was born and raised in the St. Charles part of the district so he has key contacts there.

McConnaughay can run from her record of crony hiring, pay to play, and big pay raises to favorite staff members, but she cannot hide.

Phil Collins added,

Chad Koppie, a member of the Kane Co. Regional Board of Schools, will probably run for the 33rd State Senate District.

If Chairman McConnaughay runs, statewide, in 2014, I hope that she’ll run for comptroller. Comptroller [Judy Baar] Topinka might decide to retire, since she’ll be 70.

I emailed State Sen. [Chris] Lauzen, and I asked him to run for Congress, in the new 11th District, which won’t have an incumbent. No Republican has announced, in that district, and a Republican can easily win. Most of that district has a republican state senator, including Senators Lauzen, Dillard, and Radogno.

Paul Greenlee weighed in with this comment:

Karen McConnaughay

A number of years ago, I served with Karen on a volunteer project in Kane County, where we heard the appeals from first time offenders for alternative sentencing and made recommendations to the state’s attorney. She is a capable lady, a good person and well thought of by her constituents, as she should be. I look forward to supporting her campaign in whatever she chooses.