Here are the final filings for the Republican Primary Election for McHenry County Board: District 1 Yvonne Barnes, Cary Anna May Miller, Cary Terence Ferenc, Fox River Grove Tom Wilbeck, Barrington Hills District 2 Cameron Hubbard, Crystal Lake John Reinert, … Continue reading
Category Archives: Yvonne Barnes
The all-Republican McHenry County Board Tuesday night voted unanimously to cut the tax levy for the Valley Hi Nursing Home to zero. The significant amendment did not even require a roll call, as County Board Chairman Joe Gottemoller called for … Continue reading
Peter Austin unveiled graphic results of Valley Hi Administrator Tom Annarella’s modeling efforts Tuesday. All versions assumed that the levy would be cut from $3 million to $2.250 million. The first version, seen below, shows the Valley Hi bank account … Continue reading
Tom Wilbeck ran unsuccessfully for the McHenry County Board in District 2 a couple of years ago. Then he ran a successful campaign for the McHenry County College Board, which comprises all of District 155. Since then he moved out … Continue reading
What a difference five days makes. On Thursday, the members of the McHenry County Board’s Finance Committee voted 4-3 against lowering the $3 million Valley Hi Nursing Home levy by one penny. First-term member Chuck Wheeler, who was recently appointed … Continue reading
At this point Barnes weighed in. “That’s concerns me,” she said. “You don’t solve that $20 million problem by [lowering the levy]. “I disagree,” Barnes replied. “If you’re going to be thinking about another facility,” Walkup said, “I think that … Continue reading
First, Mike Walkup, not a member of the Finance Committee, asked that the Valley Hi levy be split from the others for voting purposes. Pointing out that he had served on the nursing home’s Operating Board for two years, Walkup … Continue reading
McHenry County Board Chairman Joe Gottemoller has apparently decided not to put next year’s levy ordinance on the Board Agenda without a positive vote from the Finance and Audit Committee. As you can read exclusively here, the vote was 3-3 … Continue reading
After the public comment period, the contents of which can be found here, the McHenry County Board considered the township consolidation proposals put forth by the Task Force. The debate began with Carolyn Schofield making a $15,000 study of township … Continue reading
McHenry County Board member Chuck Wheeler brought up the extra $5,000 paid to the Vice Chairman at Tuesday’s County Board meeting, just as he did in the Finance Committee. Although unsuccessful in Finance, his motion to follow state law and … Continue reading
In the last Republican Primary election two candidates campaigning on not taking pension and health benefits. They were District 1 candidates Andrew Gasser and David Stieper. Gasser won the primary and the election, while Stieper lost to incumbent Republican Robert … Continue reading
As I was entering the County Board’s Finance Committee last Thursday, Mary McCann was proposing an amendment to the resolution setting members’ salaries. Instead of the flat rate of $21,000 a year, she proposed returning to the per diem approach … Continue reading
There are so many good stories to be written about last Thursday’s Finance Committee meeting. Let me do a little one first. The Lake County State’s Attorney has ruled that its County Board’s Vice Chairman cannot receive extra pay, that … Continue reading
The McHenry County Board’s Human Resources Committee will consider a resolution to eliminate the $5,000 in extra pay that the Vice Chairman (now a woman, Yvonne Barnes) gets. Newly-elected members of the Board will receive $21,000 per year, plus be … Continue reading
The Human Resources Committee held a meeting on April 2nd which I attended. The reason was the following agenda item: Discussion on Establishing Elected Officials’ Salaries During public comment time, former Board member Kathy Bergan-Schmidt encouraged members to “drop the … Continue reading
Wednesday McHenry County Blog ran a piece entitled, “Should Misdeeds Uncovered by Internal Audits Be Made Public?” There has apparently been double billing for providing dental care to Veterans. Both the Veterans department and the County Health Department have been … Continue reading
Former McHenry County Board member Marc Munaretto failed to get a contract to handle real estate deals with the County at Tuesday night’s meeting. This was the second time the resolution to approve him made it to the Board floor. … Continue reading
Newly-elected McHenry County Board Chairman Joe Gottemoller has a chance to build a coalition for an at-large race for County Board in the fall of 2016, but he decided to please his current supporters instead. (See “Joe Gottemoller’s Quandary.”) Gottemoller … Continue reading
There was a very, very long McHenry County Board Finance Committee meeting on Tuesday. I went to encourage its members to encourage Governor Pat Quinn to veto the Pam Althoff-Karen McConnaughay-Mike Tryon bill to allow the McHenry County Conservation District … Continue reading
This is the third installment of the debate which occurred at the McHenry County Board Tuesday morning over the resolution to approve a contract to continue the widening of Randall Road from four to six lanes, plus revamping its intersection … Continue reading