Comments for McHenry County Blog

Comment on County Board Seeks Finance Types for Public Building Commission by Klatu Barrada Nikto

Klatu Barrada Nikto — Sat, 25 May 2013 10:57:33 +0000

Does Tina Hill pick these too? If so, be sure to bring plenty of

super glue to be applied to a certain part of the anatomy or

practice your best at being a bobble head.

Comment on MCC Board Votes to Privatize Custodial Services, Annual Savings Estimated at $676,000 by Mark

Mark — Sat, 25 May 2013 10:27:02 +0000

While she was employed at MCC Molly Walsh was a member of the McHenry County College Staff Council, Local 1642, IFT/AFT, AFL/CIO union.
The employees losing their jobs are not part of a union?
What’s the college doing to reduce administration and benefits?
The biggest savings would be in pensions.
Community colleges are included in the SURS pension program.
The State of Illinois shares the cost of providing benefits to SURS participants.
There’s discussions in Springfield about shifting that State of Illinois contribution to local taxpayers.
If local taxpayers want to advocate for themselves, as opposed to just letting the public sector workers take their money without protest, contact your state legislators.
House Bill 2404 is better than SB1, but both bills contain a funding guarantee.
The problem with the funding guarantee is due to benefit increases the pensions are unaffordable.
When contacting legislators advocate for no funding guarantee in state pensions (TRS, SURS, SERS, GARS, JRS).
The benefit increase legislation escalated after a sentence was added to the Illinois State Constitution at the 1970 Constitutional Convention.
“Membership in any pension or retirement system of the State, any unit of local government or school district, or any agency or instrumentality thereof, shall be an enforceable contractual relationship, the benefits of which shall not be diminished or impaired.”
That one sentence is the single largest factor in the State of Illinois pension mess.
And thus the single largest factor in the State of Illinois fiscal problems.
If it wasn’t for that sentence, the custodians could very well still have their jobs.
There’s only so much money to go around.

Comment on MCC President Vicky Smith as “Conduit” by Mark

Mark — Sat, 25 May 2013 09:25:52 +0000

Control freak.

Comment on MCC President Vicky Smith as “Conduit” by Steve Willson

Steve Willson — Sat, 25 May 2013 05:34:59 +0000

And exactly what message does the “policy” send to the rest of the employees at MCC, knowing that Vickey Smith is the “preferred” conduit, that actually voicing an unfiltered opinion to a trustee could be considered a violation of “policy”?

The message it sends is clear: keep your mouths shut!

Why in the world would any organization purposely pass a “closed door” policy, especially one that is supposed to serve the taxpayers and the students?

Comment on MCC President Vicky Smith as “Conduit” by Steve Willson

Steve Willson — Sat, 25 May 2013 05:12:33 +0000

The reason this “system” worked well for ten years is because the sitting trustees always did what they were told.

In no business organization — for profit or nonprofit — does a subordinate tell her boss to whom he or she may speak.

Why not?

Good management is about incentives. IF a subordinate knows that her boss relies on her to filter and communicate all information, THEN the subordinate has a tremendous incentive to pass along only the information that supports her position.

That is why all good books on management talk about the necessity of cultivating alternative, informal lines of communication to make sure the boss gets the real scoop.

Comment on MCC President Vicky Smith as “Conduit” by anonymous

anonymous — Sat, 25 May 2013 03:53:16 +0000

The word.

PREFERRED

looks like a suggestion, not a limitation.

I wish Educators would get over themselves.

Comment on Johnsburg’s 1st Way Life Center Raising Money for Ultrasound Machine, Almost All Fathers Who See Baby Urge Mother Not to Abort by P

Sat, 25 May 2013 00:04:42 +0000

Karma,
I am a volunteer at 1st Way in Johnsburg.

Yes, we advise against abortion and yes we do provide information for adoption and a lot of other resources for mothers, mothers-to-be and their babies.

Please come to see our center in Johnsburg.

Last year we serviced over 150 women.

All of our help is made up of volunteers, no one gets paid.

Our rent is paid with donation money.

Our supplies for moms and babies are all donated.

You will be amazed to see how wonderful this center is!

Please stop by anytime M, T, Th – 9 a.m. – 4:00 p.m., W – 9 a.m. – 6:00 p.m., and F – 9:00 a.m. – 1:00!

Comment on House Passes Compromise “Shall-Issue” Concealed Carry Bill – Roll Call by Gus Philpott

Gus Philpott — Fri, 24 May 2013 23:42:08 +0000

The application fee is a non-refundable $150.

The hidden cost is that of the 16-hour training course, including 30 rounds of bullets.

I estimate that will cost $350, meaning that the total cost to apply is $500.

How many people are willing to spend that?

Wisconsin is looking better and better.

Comment on MCC Board Votes to Privatize Custodial Services, Annual Savings Estimated at $676,000 by Steve Willson

Steve Willson — Fri, 24 May 2013 21:43:52 +0000

I must disagree with Molly Walsh’s position.

It would be wrong not to have sympathy for those people who will lose jobs.

It’s never easy to fire people, especially when they’re doing their jobs.

However, the money to pay those people comes from taxpayers, who deserve the best deal they can get.

I regard the new board’s action as a good first step.

It makes sense for all governments to put out to bid as many services as possible in order to save money.

An even better way to save money is to figure out if there are services and tasks being performed that are not central to the College’s mission and can be cut entirely, like stupid full-age newspaper ads.

I don’t know that there are, I’m just saying this is a good approach:

first, figure out all the things the institution is doing;

second, eliminate those that are not core to its mission;

third, bid out the remaining functions that can be bid out;

fourth, focus on the core functions and ask the right questions: Are we offering the right career courses, where there are jobs that pay well? Are our career students graduating in acceptable numbers? (We know the answer to this question is, “No.”) Do our college-bound students perform well and graduate in acceptable numbers?

Comment on CL Police Having Increased Traffic Enforcement for Memorial Day Weekend by Cal Skinner

Cal Skinner — Fri, 24 May 2013 19:49:50 +0000

I ran another story about the enforcement efforts at The Breakers.