McHenry County Blog

I didn’t attend the McHenry County Mental Health Board Tuesday night, but someone who was present tells me there was considerable attention given to attorney Frank Gosser’s bill.

At the 708 Board Finance Committee on May 16th, new member Rob Routzahn, a former Crystal Lake Grade School Board member, said,

“The only bill I want to see every month is Frank Gosser’s, the attorney’s.”

Here’ is the bill Gosser submitted on May 17th:

The 708 Board will hold a retreat staring this afternoon at 4 at its Crystal Lake office.

At the finance Committee meeting of the McHenry County 708 Mental Health Board on May 16th, the members voted to give up the function of screening patients and directing them to the agency thought best suited to their needs.

Interim Executive Director Todd Schroll pointed out twice that would result in the 708 Board’s having no influence in the process because State government would be contracting directly with another agency.

He readily conceded that “from a cost standpoint,” giving up the “Screening Assessment Support Services” function would save money.

He pointed out that the 708 Board uses master’s degree people as screeners, while others use therapists with bachelor’s degrees.

The transition period will take three-to five months Schroll said.

The draft cost-benefit analysis Schroll distributed showed an estimated annual savings of $347,182.

Pioneer Center has indicated an interest is assuming the role.

Newly-appointed Board member Rob Routzahn’s position was

“Let SAS administration go elsewhere. Let’s cut out the middleman.

Board member Connie Meschin, given a one-year extension on her term, suggested giving the contract back to the State and asking them to give it to a county agency.

Giving up the state contract will require letting go about 4.5 employees.

The meeting will start at 6, but be preceded by a committee meeting at 5:15 this afternoon at 620 Dakota Street in Crystal Lake.

Those who read my article yesterday entitled,

708 Board Staff Outlines Audit Alternatives – “Audit…Might Be Very Damaging”

might have guessed I might have had something to say in public comment.

And I did.

I read the outlined part of the report that I emphasized in the article.

Having spent six years on the Legislative Audit Commission and reviewed hundreds of audits, I told the committee members, if I saw the head of an agency making such a recommendation that I would have demanded the most extensive audit possible.

I told the members that I hoped they would vote for a real audit.

Interim Executive Director Todd Schroll said that the memo was “not a true representation of my intent.”

He said, “It’s all about making sure we’re auditing the right things.”

Schroll pointed out that figures existed not only at the 708 Board, but also in County government.

Former Crystal Lake School District 47 Board member Rob Routzahn explained that he had talked to auditors and “the message I hear is to “ignore the county…to make this an audit of how [we're doing things].”

He said the Request for Proposal should be “really crisp about what we want to accomplish with the audit,” but that the Board should be open to modifications suggested by auditing firms.

Routzahn said the Board needed to “hedge against ‘We don’t know what we don’t know.’”

He was emphatic that the audit should not be an internal audit, but an external audit.

“We don’t want to be seen as steering the audit.”

“I agree with Rob,” subcommittee chairman Don Larsen said.

Schroll pointed out that they would not be auditing “the official numbers.”

“There’s not a fear of something wrong,” he added.

“If you remove the county from the picture, you remove separation of duties,” warned Fiscal Operations Manager Jane Wacker, a CPA.

“It’s one of checks and balances,” former Vice Chairman of the County Board Larsen agreed.

“None of this conversation should be considered as resistance to an audit,” Schroll said.  “They’re not coming to do a standard audit.  They’re coming to perform a blended audit.”

The third member of the Finance Committee, Connee Meschini then weighed in:

“I like a high audit like Cal said on the Mental Health Board not the County…and be open to what an auditor would say or affirm.”

Routzahn suggested that later, the Board might “want to do a procedural or operational audit, [but] let’s get out arms around the numbers first.”

He pointed out that the District 47 Board met with auditors without administrators in the room, asking other things the auditors had observed that were not in the audit or the management letter.

“They know when they see when  there’s something not right.”

Then Routzahn dropped this opinion:

“I do not think we should have a McHenry County [based] auditor.”

“That’s contrary to what we usually do,” Larsen pointed out.

Routzahn said he wanted the audit “so far above reproach, passing the sniff test for the public and me.”

The members voted 3-0 to present their idea at the next 708 Board meeting.

Just like McHenry County College, Elementary School 47′s Board has a major infusion of new blood.

Virginia Visin retired.

Incumbents Rob Routzahn and Ruth Scifo ran for re-election.

Pretty similar to the MCC Board of Trustees’ contest.

A former principal, Betsy Les was the third of what I have dubbed “the incumbent slate” for the District 47 Board.

Running from the outside were Donna Ricci and Eileen Palsgrove.

Les had lots of signs, four-by-four foot and regular yard signs.

Routzahn and Scifo shared yard signs. There were a good number.

I saw one joint sign for Ricci and Palsgrove.

Of the candidates, I only heard one in campaign mode.

That was Donna Ricci.

She asked for and received permission to speak to the Nunda Township Republican candidates’ night crowd.

Besides that and the signs, the only campaigning I saw was a post card.

It was sent on behalf of Ricci and Palsgrove by the Pro-Life Victory Committee.

I assume the Crystal Lake Elementary Teachers Association, CLETA, informed its members of its favorites.

The list used was probably the same one that Arne Waltmire used for his McHenry County College campaign mailing that hit my precinct on the Saturday before the election.

Waltmire is the Regional Director of the Illinois Education Association, but he came in seventh of nine candidates in the MCC Board of Trustees race.

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.

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.

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.

 

Crystal Lake Elementary School District 47 has four seats up for grabs in April’s election.

Terms are expiring for

• Jeff Mason
• Rob Routzahn
• Ruth Scifo
• Virginia Visin

So far three people have filed petitions for the openings:

• Jeff Mason
• Rob Routzahn
• Betsy Les

Filing is open until the close of business on December 26th.

Those thinking about running need to file a Statement of Economic Interest with the County Clerk and attach its receipt with a staple to one’s petitions and Statement of Candidacy. And, be sure to number the pages.