Idea for veterans retreat floated for McHenry, but not through proper channels, officials say

A proposal for a veterans retreat center in McHenry was not presented to the city via normal channels, said Mayor Wayne Jett, which is why it was not included on a recent McHenry agenda.

A private event where the proposal was brought up may have also violated the Open Meetings Act, a charge those who attended deny.

If a developer wants to pitch a project in McHenry, the process starts with contacting city staff.

“It is crucial to follow that every step of the way,” Jett said, addressing the McHenry City Council and audience members, including residents who had earlier voiced support for a veterans foundation development.

If three members of the City Council – the majority of a quorum of the seven-member board – attended a private event and discussed a potential development, it may have been a violation of the Illinois Open Meeting Act, City Attorney David McArdle said.

At least two of those council members have voiced support for the plan.

McHenry resident Tony Esposito previously told the Northwest Herald that, with a representative from the Maine-based veterans organization Travis Mills Foundation, he planned to present the veterans retreat proposal at the Aug. 4 Council meeting for the former wastewater treatment plant property on Waukegan Road at the Fox River. As no official proposal was given to city staff for placement on the agenda, Esposito said he would present it during the public comment portion of the meeting, where speakers are given three minutes to speak on topics.

Similarly, he asked to present the idea at the July 16 McHenry County Veterans Assistance Commission meeting, commission Superintendent Michael Iwanicki said. As that request came too late to change the agenda and with no details in advance, Esposito and another representative offered a six-minute presentation, Iwanicki said.

“It may be a very good project, but we can’t make it an actionable item” without notice, Iwanicki said.

Ultimately, no proposal was made at the Aug. 4 McHenry City Council meeting, and Esposito was not in attendance.

According to its website, the foundation in question provides retreats for wounded veterans and their families in the state of Maine.

Esposito said he started calling veterans organizations after talking with others about what the McHenry-owned land down the street from him could be used for.

“What could go there that everybody would be on board with? Who would not want a veterans organization?” Esposito said.

He invited the organization’s board chairman to McHenry and hosted a July event near the proposed site.

Ward 6 Alderman Michael Koch was one of those invited. Koch said he left the event “as soon as I saw a couple of people,” adding that “they were going about it the wrong way, if they wanted to bring it up to the Council. The city has a protocol.”

Ward 4 Alderwoman Chris Bassi called the event a meet-and-greet, adding that she was invited to meet with two representatives of the foundation in July and that no specifics were discussed then.

“McHenry is fortunate enough to be in consideration as a location for the Travis Mills Foundation’s veteran retreats because of the hard work of a resident. This is an incredible opportunity for McHenry,” Bassi said.

She contacted the city staff “early last week” to request that the matter be added to the Aug. 4 meeting as a discussion item.

“Council’s job is to represent the residents, and bringing their ideas to the city is part of that,” Bassi said.

Jett said he was not provided with details on what the foundation might want to do in McHenry, other than seeing social media posts that claimed the city “is considering gifting property to the Travis Mills Foundation to create a Veterans Retreat” and inviting veterans to come speak in support.

Second Ward Alderman Andy Glab said the idea of the city donating the land was not brought up at the July meet-and-greet, and there was no discussion of city business. He said he saw Koch there, but said Koch left “to get food or something” and did not return.

The Facebook post, forwarded to Glab by Jett, was the first time he heard of a potential donation, Glab said.

Jett said he asked local veteran organizations that had shared the post to remove it from social media.

McHenry American Legion Post 491 was approached to post about the meeting, Cmdr. Chad Miller said, adding that he planned to speak against the idea before hearing that there would not be a presentation.

“The city of McHenry, the McHenry American Legion and the McHenry VFW work closely together. Should this be real, we would have been approached by the city for our opinion first,” Miller said.

McHenry and McHenry County “have plenty of other veterans organizations like Veterans Path to Hope and Operation Wild Horse that can use grant funds,” Miller said.

Bringing in an outside organization like Travis Mills Foundation “could make the grant pool much more shallow for the existing veterans organizations in the county,” Miller said.

Jett said he eventually made contact with the foundation, but that the person “had no idea he was not talking to the right people, that the city did not know about it. That is unacceptable,” Jett said.

He hopes to work with the Mills Foundation to learn more, potentially traveling to Maine or meeting the board chairman at his home in Missouri, Jett said.

Esposito also said he encourages Jett to meet with the foundation to learn more about a proposed McHenry facility.

Texts for comment to the foundation representative were not returned.

The former wastewater treatment plant site has been eyed for multi-family housing, though a proposal to build hundreds of apartments and a hotel there was rejected as being too dense.