McHenry County Blog

Could the Northwest Herald be planning to endorse a Democrat if Ken Koehler wins one of the four GOP spots in the District 2 primary election?

Maybe it’s not tea leaves.

Maybe it’s newspaper clippings to which I should allude.

In any event, the first two McHenry County Board endorsement editorials got me thinking.

McHenry County’s paper of record has suggested dumping

• Board Chairman Ken Koehler in District 2 and
• incumbent Nick Provenzano in District 3.

There is one commonality and that is their having taken part in the secret meeting about district lines that the Illinois Attorney General rules violated the Open Meetings Act.

If Nick Provenzano wins the District 3 GOP primary, could the Northwest Herald be planning to endorse the re-election of Democrat Kathy Bergan Schmidt?

The two were on opposing sides on the tax hike issue with Koehler leading the majority, while Provenzano vote against levying the maximum amount possible.

That brings me to my first thought.

Five members took part in that secret remap meeting.

One, Marc Munaretto, is not running for re-election.

The other two are on the ballot, however:

• Tina Hill
• John Jung

Both are in District 5.

There are five people running in District 5′s Republican primary election.

Listed in ballot order, they are:

• John Jung, Jr.
• Tina R. Hill
• Virginia D. Peschke
• Michael Rein
• Michael Skala

If the Northwest Herald forgoes endorsing incumbents Tina Hill and John Jung in District 5, if could mean Democrat Paul Yensen would get a re-election recommendation.

Will the Northwest Herald refuse to endorse both Jung and Hill?

No more reason to endorse four people for the four spots than there is to vote for four candidates, if only one, two or three turn you on.

Both Hill and Jung also voted to raise tax bills as much as the law allows, as you can see in the article linked to below.  Hill switched her vote to help  break a tie vote on a motion to keep taxes constant.

Will its editorial board say, “We can only recommend three”?

And that brings me to my second reading of the tea leaves.

By not endorsing strong incumbents in District 2 (Koehler) and District 3 (Provenzano) and, maybe only three Republicans in District 5, could the folks at the NWH be setting the stage for endorsing at least one Democrat in Districts 2, 3 and 5?

There are, of course, already Democrats in District 3 and 5,

• Kathy Bergan Schmidt
• Paul Yensen

Yensen was on the side of the taxpayers on the levy vote.   Schmidt wasn’t.

In District 2, there are two Democrats running.  The first is Jim Kennedy, who was defeated by John Jung in District 5 two years after Yensen defeated Jung.

The second is Ridgefield businessman (The Framery) and almost lifetime resident Jim Roden, who seems poised to run as the “anti-Koehler.”

I’m leaving out District 4, the one that has northern McHenry Township, plus Richmond and Burton Townships in the northeast corner of McHenry County.

A hard-charging Democrat has filed, Mary Margaret Maule.

There are GOP six candidates running there.  None were involved in the secret meeting.

The only one who voted for the tax hike who is running for re-election is Sue Draftcorn.

= = = = =

See “Who Voted to Raise Your County Taxes?“

It couldn’t be characterized as “transparent,” but the secret meeting the McHenry County Board held on Feb. 14, 2011, to discuss legal bills from Special Prosecutor Henry Tonigan doesn’t qualify as “Illegal.’

Former McHenry County Board member Lou Anne Majewski filed a complaint about it on March 28th with the Public Access Division of the Illinois Attorney General’s Office about the closed door session.

In a letter dated June 3, 2011, Assistant Public Access Counselor Amanda Lundeen ruled that the Board was discussing “pending litigation.” Weighing in on the matter is the fact that the County is an intervenor in the case involving the appointment of the special prosecutor. Majewski argued that the Appellate Prosecutor was the intervenor.

Majewski also argued that the meeting concerned the payment of the special prosecutor’s bills in his criminal case against McHenry County State’s Attorney Lou Bianchi, which she contended was not eligible to hide from the public.

The Public Access Counselor’s Office ruled that the resolution concerning Tonigan’s bill was discussed “only as a part of the Board’s overall litigation strategy”… and, therefore, was “proper” to discuss in private.
Prior to issuing the opinion, AG Office staff read the minutes of the Executive Session and listened to a tape of the meeting behind closed doors.

Yesterday, Kevin Craver wrote an article for the Northwest Herald in which three members of the McHenry County Board’s Legislative Committee were reprorted to have met in private.

The Open Meetings Act provides that a majority of no committee may meet in private and, in any event, must give 48 hours notice.

Democrat Kathy Bergan Schmitt told the paper that such action was “inappropriate.”

The three committee members involved were Marc Munaretto, John Jung and Nick Provenzano.

Munaretto said that the three were not in the room at the same time, that when a third one came in another left.

The NW Herald has referred the matter to the Public Access Counselor, the article says.

There are two items on the agenda of the McHenry County College Board’s 6:30 meeting tonight, but we citizens aren’t good enough to see the board packet items under consideration.

Clearly pieces of paper with writing on them have been prepared for the two resolutions relating to the acquistion of land seen above.

Any hope that this board will be more transparent than the last is fading rapidly.

You remember those boards.

The one that would reveal nothing about its plan to put taxpayers on the hook for over $20 million in baseball stadium debt without revealing the details of who the investors would be or what companies would make money on the deal.

And, who can forget the board’s plan to sell land for the tallest broadcast tower in Illinois on The Breaker’s side of the campus.

There is no reason to believe that the board is not buying land at the right time, but there is equally no reason for the board to be hiding details that will be voted upon tonight.

A community college would trust the public with the information.

A junior college would not.

On the agenda for this Thursday night’s meeting of the McHenry County College Board of Trustees is a resolution concerning condemnation.

Can’t, that is, don’t want to, let the public in on the details, so first the Board is scheduled to go into secret session.

We know the College Board wants to buy 20 acres.

20 acres that McHenry County College proposes to buy.

We know there have been appraisals, even though they have been discussed in an open meeting, MCC refuses to share with the public.

Signaling that no closed session is needed are the two following items on the agenda:

• Resolution to reject offer
• Resolution to condem

College officials must believe that their appraisals will stand up in court.

And there must be money in the bank to buy the land.

Time will tell what the offer to the unwilling seller will be.

We know that prices of land are down.

Former McHenry County Board member Lou Anne Majewski filed an Open Meetings complaint against the McHenry County Board for going into closed session to discuss a resolution drafted by a county board committee.  Majewski says Chairman Ken Koehler said the public was excluded because the board members would be discussing litigation.

Here it is:

Lou Anne Majewski's Open Meetings complaint filed by email with the Public Access Counselor of the Illinois Attorney General's Office.

The response from the Attorney General’s Public Access Division was previously published here.

McHenry County’s response can be found here.

First the Crystal Lake Park District objects to passage of McHenry County College’s minor league baseball stadium before the city council revises the three decade old Watershed Ordinance, which the city staff has not followed.

That’s after the Planning and Zoning Commission hear the college’s pitch and delay matters until this Wednesday.

Then there’s a secret meeting between Crystal Lake Mayor Aaron Shepley and Crystal Lake Park Board President Mike Zellman.

The same night the park board asks the city to ban wakes on Crystal Lake because the lake level is so high. This is before the maximum flooding. Here’s what Crystal Lake looked like that Tuesday.

Next, the park board sends a letter to the City of Crystal Lake asking it to delay consideration of the MCC baseball stadium until a park district consultant different from the one hired by the city to re-write the ordinance can review that consultant’s work. (That consultant, Gary Schaefer, also words for the park district on watershed matters.)

Now, look at the agenda below of the Crystal Lake City Council for Tuesday, September 4th.

Way, way down at the bottom is the following:

“26. Consideration of the Crystal Lake Storm Water Management Design Manual”

It’s right above

“25. Moratorium on new development petitions for the northwest area of the city.”

Maybe that’s because the sewer still isn’t working.

If you want to hear and/or participate in the discussion of this most important item on the agenda, be prepared to stay for a long, long time.

No wonder city management is delaying in providing me copies of the aerial photographs of the flooding in Crystal Lake mentioned at the August 21st meeting. You know, the ones that Councilman Jeff Thorsen requested copies of.

The illustration for today is from west of the intersection of Route 14 and Woodstock Street.

The pictures of the flooding on this Route 14 property, which is right north of the site being developed as the new animal control facility for McHenry County, go from the view of the “FOR SALE” to the back of the property.

I believe this is the property which city attorney John Cowlin mentioned had beaten the 20% limitation for development within Crystal Lake’s watershed.

The bottom photograph, taken Labor Day evening at Haligus Road, shows the uncompleted re-installation of the sewer line along Route 176.

Click the agenda and you should be able to read it. The pictures can be enlarged the same way.

First the Crystal Lake Park District objects to passage of McHenry County College’s minor league baseball stadium before the city council revises the three decade old Watershed Ordinance, which the city staff has not followed.

That’s after the Planning and Zoning Commission hear the college’s pitch and delay matters until this Wednesday.

Then there’s a secret meeting between Crystal Lake Mayor Aaron Shepley and Crystal Lake Park Board President Mike Zellman.

The same night the park board asks the city to ban wakes on Crystal Lake because the lake level is so high. This is before the maximum flooding. Here’s what Crystal Lake looked like that Tuesday.

Next, the park board sends a letter to the City of Crystal Lake asking it to delay consideration of the MCC baseball stadium until a park district consultant different from the one hired by the city to re-write the ordinance can review that consultant’s work. (That consultant, Gary Schaefer, also words for the park district on watershed matters.)

Now, look at the agenda below of the Crystal Lake City Council for Tuesday, September 4th.

Way, way down at the bottom is the following:

“26. Consideration of the Crystal Lake Storm Water Management Design Manual”

It’s right above

“25. Moratorium on new development petitions for the northwest area of the city.”

Maybe that’s because the sewer still isn’t working.

If you want to hear and/or participate in the discussion of this most important item on the agenda, be prepared to stay for a long, long time.

No wonder city management is delaying in providing me copies of the aerial photographs of the flooding in Crystal Lake mentioned at the August 21st meeting. You know, the ones that Councilman Jeff Thorsen requested copies of.

The illustration for today is from west of the intersection of Route 14 and Woodstock Street.

The pictures of the flooding on this Route 14 property, which is right north of the site being developed as the new animal control facility for McHenry County, go from the view of the “FOR SALE” to the back of the property.

I believe this is the property which city attorney John Cowlin mentioned had beaten the 20% limitation for development within Crystal Lake’s watershed.

The bottom photograph, taken Labor Day evening at Haligus Road, shows the uncompleted re-installation of the sewer line along Route 176.

Click the agenda and you should be able to read it. The pictures can be enlarged the same way.

Remember when District 300’s outgoing Board President Mary Fioretti justified the closed door meeting to rent the Sears Centre for Graduation on the grounds of safety?

David Fitzgerald of the Northwest Herald discovered this violation of the Opening Meetings Act in January while reviewing minutes from closed meetings. District 300 got whomped for it.

This is what the board president told Fitzgerald:

“This last time, they darn near did get hit by lightning [at the outdoor graduation ceremony]. We were going to break a culture of having [graduation] at Carpenter Park. But I think we did it the right way.”

Mary Fioretti did not win re-election, being defeated by John Ryan, a vociferous opponent of the 55-cent tax hike and $185 million bond issue last year.

Well, it seems the school board may have decreased the safety of its graduating seniors significantly.

The following is from the daily announcements at Jacobs High School:

SENIORS

Your Graduation Rehearsal is on Thursday, May 31st. We will be
leaving the school at 8am and returning around 11am. If you are unable to drive or carpool with another senior to the Sears Centre, please come down to the Main Office and sign up for bus transportation by the end of this week.

One might wonder if it will be safer to have hundreds of kids find their own way to the Sears Centre than to walk to the athletic field for rehearsal.

Remember when District 300’s outgoing Board President Mary Fioretti justified the closed door meeting to rent the Sears Centre for Graduation on the grounds of safety?

David Fitzgerald of the Northwest Herald discovered this violation of the Opening Meetings Act in January while reviewing minutes from closed meetings. District 300 got whomped for it.

This is what the board president told Fitzgerald:

“This last time, they darn near did get hit by lightning [at the outdoor graduation ceremony]. We were going to break a culture of having [graduation] at Carpenter Park. But I think we did it the right way.”

Mary Fioretti did not win re-election, being defeated by John Ryan, a vociferous opponent of the 55-cent tax hike and $185 million bond issue last year.

Well, it seems the school board may have decreased the safety of its graduating seniors significantly.

The following is from the daily announcements at Jacobs High School:

SENIORS

Your Graduation Rehearsal is on Thursday, May 31st. We will be
leaving the school at 8am and returning around 11am. If you are unable to drive or carpool with another senior to the Sears Centre, please come down to the Main Office and sign up for bus transportation by the end of this week.

One might wonder if it will be safer to have hundreds of kids find their own way to the Sears Centre than to walk to the athletic field for rehearsal.

There’s an area blog called “Heck of a Guy” by Crystal Lake’s Allan Showalter that had me laughing almost as much as I was at Karen Bowman when she was throwing her extended hissy fit at Charlotte Kremer in the executive session of the Prairie Grove School Board last Tuesday night.

He bought a Northwest Herald Friday and found Nick Swedberg’s story about the McHenry County State’s Attorney having requested the minutes of a secret school board meeting at which an illegal approval of School Superintendent Mary Fasbender’s $450,000 three-year contract.

The headline on the jump page was

on political blogger

Right at the top of Heck of a Guy’s post is a wanted picture.

Of me.

It cracked me up.

then a picture of me, probably from 1998

The blog subhead line below reads:

Public Officials Placed In Jeopardy By Sneaky Photos Taken Openly

And next,

The Tale of Terror

[Warning: This story contains a graphic account of heckling which may be unsettling.]

I was already laughing, but now I got really loud.

Good thing only my son was home.

Here’s another line or two in that section that set off a belly laugh:

Skinner was heckling through both metaphorically and physically closed doors from the hallway outside the meeting room.

Yep, he was heckling a closed door executive session from outside that meeting.

This guy is very, very good.

But, it gets better:

While taking photos of public officials through a readily accessible window is clearly sufficient cause for arrest, there is more.

The District officials astutely pointed out Skinner’s more antisocial behavior and somehow, thank goodness, divined his far more sinister intention.

District [46] officials also said he was laughing loudly in the hallway outside, and they were concerned that Skinner might photograph documents that they wanted kept secret.

You have to read what the author says would have happened had I succeeded in photographing Prairie Grove secret documents.

I wish I had his sense of humor.

And I think the Prairie Grove School Board Establishment Six should read the Sunday Chicago Tribune article about how good laughing is for people.