Algonquin Township Clerk Karen Lukasik no longer broadcasts meetings and she doesn’t publish details of what will be considered on an agenda yet, but Township Supervisor Chuck Lutzow’s office sent the following resolutions which are on that agenda.

Why his staff has to do what the Township Clerk should do is beyond me.

In any event, here is the resolution about nepotism and patronage:

Resolution on Nepotism and Patronage

WHEREAS, Algonquin Township is a unit of local government in McHenry County,
State of Illinois; and

WHEREAS, the Township Board recognizes that patronage and nepotism are bad
and should be prohibited in Algonquin Township and in the Algonquin Township Road
District; and

WHEREAS, the Township Board desires to have a policy regarding patronage and
nepotism; and

WHEREAS, the Township Board considers a patronage hire to be the hiring of an
employee solely on the basis of a political relationship or as a political favor; and

WHEREAS, the Township Board considers patronage to be a practice in which an
elected official gives government jobs to his/her supporters, friends, spouses and relatives as a reward for working toward victory; and

WHEREAS, the Township Board considers nepotism to be the hiring of an employee
solely on the basis of a familial relationship; and

This side of a 2016 mailing talks about double dipping, long service and nepotism in the context of Anna May Miller’s employment.

WHEREAS, the Township Board considers a familial relationship to be an individual
who is related to the public official as father, mother, son, daughter, brother, sister, uncle, aunt, first cousin, nephew, niece, husband, wife, father-in-law, mother-in-law, son-in-law, daughter-in-law, brother-in-law, sister-in-law, stepfather, stepmother, stepson, stepdaughter, stepbrother, stepsister, half-brother, or half-sister; and

WHEREAS, the Highway Commissioner, Andrew Gasser, has requested to join in this
resolution and this resolution will be binding upon the Algonquin Township Road District.

NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, by the Algonquin Township Board, McHenry
County, Illinois, that:

1. RECITALS. The Recitals set forth above are incorporated here as if set forth
fully here.

2. PROHIBITED ACTIVITIES.

(a) Employment in Algonquin Township and Algonquin Township Road District
will be given on the basis of merit and not solely on the basis of nepotism or patronage.

(b) As employees are hired based upon merit, an employee who has the necessary
knowledge and experience but also has a family relationship with the Supervisor, Board of Trustees, Highway Commissioner, Clerk or Assessor will not be considered a
nepotism hire.

(c) As employees are hired based upon merit, an employee who has the necessary
knowledge and experience but also has a political relationship with the Supervisor, Board of Trustees, Highway Commissioner, Clerk or Assessor or is owed a political favor will not be considered a patronage hire.

The back of the Algonquin Township Republican Party’s literature on nepotism refers to Joe Tirio’s Recorder of Deeds campaign.

(d) Algonquin Township, its departments, and Algonquin Township Road
District will not hire on the basis of nepotism or patronage as such hiring is prohibited.

(e) The Township Ethics Ordinance applies and any and all actions that violate
the Ethics Ordinance violate this Resolution.

3. EFFECTIVE DATE. This Resolution shall be in full force and effect from
August ___, 2018.

PASSED THIS ____ day of August, 2018 by the Board of Trustees of Algonquin
Township, McHenry County, Illinois

The resolution presumes that the Township Board has authority over hiring in the Township Highway Department.

Notice the loopholes for hiring family and friends in the resolution.

It will be interesting to see the statute cited authorizing such action.

Just last month Trustee Rachael Lawrence brought a resolution to the Board which would have allowed such oversight beginning in 2021.

It called for a fall referendum to put the Road District under the Township Board in 2021.

Her motion failed for lack of a second, that is, no one else on the Board wanted a vote on the issue.

There is another resolution naming the departments in Algonquin Township with the exception of the Road District.