Not much notice, but the people in favor of borrowing $30.1 million to build a new Crystal Lake Library at the corner of West Crystal Lake and McHenry Avenues are asking the City Council to put another referendum on the ballot in April.
The meeting starts at 7:30 PM.
Notice to the public of a Tuesday night item before the Crystal Lake City Council asking for another referendum on borrowing $30.1 million to builid a new Crystal Lake Public Library.
Political advisors suggest that those seeking tax increases stand a better chance of winning, the lower the voter turnout.
The proposed library building will face south toward the expanded parking lot extending to Paddock Street.
The reason is that proponents are usually much better organized that opponents.
What the two pitches looked like when placed side by side.
While both proponents and opponents and opponents distributed literature door-to-door (at least in my precicnt), the proponents had multi-color professionally-prepared door hangers, while the opponents used a copying machine to print their arguments and attached them to dorr handles with rubber bands.
Proponents also were better financed with one $8,000 contribution coming from the archetectural firm Engberg Anderson, which has the contract. (In my experience, architects are paid about 10% of the cost of the project. The atchitects’ contribution, by the way, has still not been revealed in a Northwest Herald news article.)
Adding up the money donated to convince Crystal Lakers to vote in favor of the referendum, one gets to $26,466.36.
$3,939.52 of that remains unspent. (Links to the various reports filed can be found here.)
Political Action Committess and candidates don’t have to file anything with the Illinois State Board of Elections unless they spend or raise over $5,000.
Referendum opponents did not file a campaign disclosure report.
The rest of the memo prepared by city staff can be seen below:
A comparison of the ballot upon which people voted in November and the one proposed for the April 4th election.
Perhaps stimulated by the possibility that the City Council might vote to put another referendum on the ballot, two opponents of borrowing the $30.1 million filed for Council seats.
There were five candidates in all.
The incumbents running for re-election are
- Ralph Dawson
- Haig Halelblian (appointed to replace Jeff Thorsen, when he was appointed to the McHenry County Board)
- Cameron Hubbard
Halelblian had a “Vote Yes” sign in his front yard.
Challengers, both new library opponents, are
- Sally Munn
- Stefano Liparoto
Results from the November referendum follows:
Election results of the Crystal Lake Library bond referendum.
Blue is “Yes,” green is “No” and brown is a tie vote.
The ‘blood-suckers’ just don’t know how to take No for an answer.
Vote NO on any councilman who votes for this nonsense.
First, the campaign by the Board and the employees of the Library for the November election was unethical.
Board members and employees have an obligation to provide the public with all the facts needed to make an informed decision.
Instead the board and their employees provided heavily biased, one-sided information.
They left out relevant facts and in one very important case flatly lied to the public about the cost of circulating books and DVDs.
The City Council should remove those responsible.
Failure to act is to be complicit in the deception.
Further, the architect made a major contribution to the Library YES campaign.
If an investment bank had done such a thing, they would be barred by SEC regulations from doing any business with the municipality for two years.
The SEC instituted such rules because of the “pay to play” scandal.
If it’s unethical for investment banks, it’s unethical for architects, and the architect that made the donation — a firm that has already been paid hundreds of thousands of dollars and stands to make millions if they get the contract for the new library — should be barred from further business with the City.
Northwest Herald
Endorsement: McHenry County Board Chairman: Jack Franks
October 9, 2016
“Franks promises to reduce the county’s levy by 10 percent and use his bully pulpit to persuade other local taxing bodies to reduce their levies.”
http://www.nwherald.com/2016/10/05/endorsement-mchenry-county-board-chairman-jack-franks/a80cle1
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Crystal Lake Mayor Aaron Shepley endorsed Jack Franks for County Board Chair.
You idiots had better wake up and not fall down on this one!
This would be your third strike!!!!!!!!!!!
What time is the meeting?
Losers who don’t know what the word NO means unbelievable time to make a law against this tax waste!
7:30 PM.
Your article says the time right on the top.
It does NOT however, mention the address where this meeting is to take place.
City Council Chambers of City Hall at 100 West Woodstock Street at 7:30 PM
I remember reading the note last Oct/Nov attached to my door that stated the increase, but it also stated what we are already paying and I was stunned.
Way to much for 2017.
Kids use their computers, not a library.
Huge waste of money.
Council meetings are held at City Hall.
Thank you, Cal (and Very), I hope this looks like Oakwood Hills when droves showed up to protest the power plant.
Taxpayer friendly boards introduce an item at one board meeting.
And don’t vote on the item that meeting.
Then, a minimum of two weeks later, the board votes on the item.
This allows time for voters to weigh in on measures with their elected board members.
An often heard comment by those opposing such transparency is something along the lines of, this topic has received plenty of scrutiny in the past.
Here is the Agenda Packet for tonight’s meeting.
http://www.crystallake.org/home/showdocument?id=13246
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The agenda packet is not searchable.
No one in Crystal Lake has put forth an organized effort demanding the board produce searchable board agenda packets for taxpayers, unlike Paul Serwakta in Lakewood.
The agenda packet can be made searchable.
One method is by purchasing a product called Adobe Document Cloud.
There’s a subscription option for $15 a month or so.
So, even if Crystal Lake does not have Adobe Document Cloud, they could purchase it (their license might be more than $15 a month, depends on the number of users).
Here is the step by step method once the unsearchable pdf is open in Adobe Document Cloud.
Tools > Enhance Scan > Recognize Text > In this file > Recognize Text.
Then wait for a minute or so, and the result is searchable.
In some cases, a different or additional series of steps may be necessary using different tools to make a document searchable, such as printing to Microsoft XPS Document Writer, opening the result, and saving it to pdf.
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Instead Crystal Lake taxpayers have non searchable board packets and no two week taxpayer transparency period before the board votes on a measure.
There’s a sucker born every minute.
In this case a lot of suckers.
The Jack Franks bully pulpit is more difficult to find than Where’s Waldo.
Wonder if it will show up at the Village of Crystal Lake board meeting tonight at 7:30PM at 100 W Woodstock St, Crystal Lake.
Board meetings typically include plenty boring time as not all matters interest everyone.
Might want to bring a Where’s Waldo book, crossword puzzle, Souoku, Rubik’s Cube, headphones, tablet, laptop, smartphone, or something to pass the time.