1.) Everybody says transportation is one of the top issues facing McHenry County. How exactly would you improve it? Build new roads and bypasses? Improve and widen current roads? Expressways? Better regional planning and coordination? And where will the money come from?

McHenry County is experiencing explosive growth. Many people are commuting outside the county. The traffic could be lessened appreciably if we had a good public transportation system. It has been proven by the Environmental Law and Policy Center that a more effective approach to alleviating traffic congestion is to improve local roads and public transportation. The people are presently paying for this transportation, by tax. We are not getting our fair share of taxes returned, and are subsidizing the RTA for their operations in other counties. PACE is currently suing the RTA to recover our fair share of revenues. Bus routes that connect to the train could significantly decrease drive times and pollution. But this would happen only if operated on a usable scheduled service, which at this point does not occur. McHenry County needs to be proactive in implementing a public transportation system all citizens of McHenry County can rely on.

When a municipality expands and property is annexed, the county loses 1% of sales tax dollars, a portion of the motor fuel tax, and responsibility for the roads. These tax dollars go to the municipalities for improvements and roads.

The municipalities that are annexing land and encouraging commercial development are not always able to foresee the problems that are inherent with this growth. This is where the trust between the county and the municipality can work to our mutual advantage - if we work together . Any new development should be designed to accommodate the high flow of traffic.

2.) Growth is also a top issue, and everyone says better planning is needed. But the county already has long-range land-use plans, and the vast majority of growth takes place inside city or village limits - outside county control. How would you better plan for and control growth?

By law, we have no authority to control development in a municipality. The fact of the matter is, we have the ability to encourage development by providing low cost loans, allowing a Special Service Area (SSA), or withholding dense residential and commercial zoning in areas where it is demanded outside the municipality, encouraging developers to ask for annexation to a municipality.

Our only hope of controlling development is to arbitrate boundary agreements between municipalities. This requires the confidence and trust of the mayors and the boards of the municipalities. Our recent decision to arbitrarily withdraw from the Randall Road agreement, our decision to sell the Highway Department and Fairground property (open space park), and sue the City of Woodstock did not strengthen the county’s ties or encourage their trust. I am on record on opposing these actions. We must work rapidly to regain their trust and rebuild the lines of communication.

3.) Some say a 20 year conditional use-permit is the same as a permanent zoning change. Should conditional-use permits be more difficult to obtain? Should peaker plants and gravel pits require a permanent zoning change?

I believe that conditional use permits should be more difficult to obtain for some uses, such as peaker plants, and gravel pits. These should require either a 2/3 vote of the county board or they should be permanent zoning changes. There should not be any spot zoning.

4.) Should county board members be paid a yearly salary or per meeting attended? Half of county board meetings and all committee meetings all held during the day - should they be held at night instead? Should there be more or fewer committees? Board members taking office in December 1, 2002 will make $16,250 a year - is that too much or too little?

I voted to maintain the salary at $8,775.00. I see the County Board as a public service, not as a job. I think $16,250 is too much for public service.

In fairness, salaries should be the same for all members. In the past the per meeting structure was used for rewards. Since that has been removed, there have been less committee meetings, without losing effectiveness. We must be beyond the influence of bureaucratic administration. We were all elected by the people, and all the County board members should be paid the same.

I believe there should be fewer committees, and all board meetings should be held at night. The input of the people is much more important than any other consideration.

5.) A new highway department just opened, Animal control wants a new facility, the Sheriff wants to build out the third floor of the jail and the county board is working on expanding the courthouse for administrative departments. But officials say they can’t afford building improvements to Valley Hi Nursing Home without a referendum. How do you prioritize building projects?

I prioritize building projects with a cost benefit analysis. There are a number of considerations. We must gather all projected costs, investigate and compare bids and have true documentation of the benefits. We must identify the revenue sources, the affect on our taxes as well as the perceived benefits, and we must consider the project’s overall impact on our environment.

These projects are moving too fast! An example would be when I projected the construction costs on the new Highway Department building. I was able to identify $250,000 in costs that we were able to save for the county’s taxpayers.

6.) The county has had to subsidize Valley Hi for decades. Does the county belong in the nursing home business? If not, where will aging citizens go when they can’t pay for nursing care?

I believe that the cost benefit relationship should be also applied to the nursing home. We have subjected the nursing home staff to endless studies, yet the per-patient costs at Valley Hi have not been identified, despite requests by myself and the finance committee.

With our county’s growing population of 260,000, we need to consider how many more aging citizens beyond the 100 patients currently being cared for at Valley Hi we could help if these millions were applied with a cost benefit analysis.

Melanie Balog e-mail: melaniebalog@NWHerald.com
Northwest Herald
PO Box 250
Crystal Lake, IL 60039-0250