April 19, 2024
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McHenry Township trustees grill supervisor, clerk over special meeting agenda item implying possible pay raise

Township board worried voters could reverse pay cuts for elected officials

By Sam Lounsberry
John Macrito, a candidate for McHenry Township trustee, criticizes the current board of trustees in public comments Friday. Board member Steve Verr, pictured, right, and Bob Anderson expressed concerns with an agenda item at an upcoming special meeting of voters that suggested the pay could be raised for elected offices.

John Macrito, a candidate for McHenry Township trustee, criticizes the current board of trustees in public comments Friday. Board member Steve Verr, pictured, right, and Bob Anderson expressed concerns with an agenda item at an upcoming special meeting of voters that suggested the pay could be raised for elected offices. (Sam Lounsberry)

McHenry Township trustees grilled township Supervisor Craig Adams and Clerk Dan Aylward Friday over the agenda of an upcoming special meeting where pay raises for some officials could be on the table.

The agenda for an upcoming meeting lays out two possible action items: One transferring general fund dollars for benefit of township seniors and the other to “fairly compensate” elected officials to “attract qualified and competent” candidates.

The meeting is where township residents would get to vote as opposed to the elected board. It would require a two-thirds majority of at least 15 township voters to make certain policy changes at these types of meetings.

The showdown Friday came after the salaries for the elected assessor, highway commissioner and supervisor saw their pay for the upcoming four-year term slashed by nearly half last year to $45,000 annually.

Each position came with a more than $76,000 salary for the current term, which ends in May following the April 6 election. The trustees stripped health insurance benefits from those positions, as well.

The trustees also eliminated their per-meeting pay entirely, and cut the clerk’s pay to $10,000 from more than $14,000 and also cut the road district treasurer pay to $100 annually from $1,000.

The trustees also significantly decreased the property tax levies for the township and its road district, far below what Adams and Highway Commissioner Jim Condon recommended.

“It’s going to take every cent we’ve got in this current levy to operate. I don’t know how effectively we’re going to operate, either,” Adams said in an interview, adding he would not likely run for another term after the upcoming four-year stretch unless the pay were raised by some level.

McHenry Township Trustee Steve Verr and Clerk Dan Aylward exchange barbs McHenry Township Trustee Steve Verr and Clerk Dan Aylward engaged in testy exchanges Friday over the publication of a notice of a special meeting. (Sam Lounsberry)

Adams is running unopposed for another term as supervisor in the upcoming April 6 election, and so are the incumbents Condon and Mary Mahady for the highway commissioner and assessor roles, respectively.

Robert Beltran, a McHenry Township voter who was present at Friday’s meeting, said he authored the pay raise agenda item and tried to craft language that would allow the pay of the elected officials to be frozen at what it is right now for the upcoming term.

State law prohibits local boards from changing the pay of elected positions within 180 days of an election.

Beltran said he thought by keeping the pay frozen, the township could get around the law while undoing the pay cut approved by the majority of trustees, which included Bob Anderson, Mike Rakestraw and Steve Verr.

“It certainly is a change because the board wanted to cut [the salaries],” Verr said. “... There’s people that are being elected who know they are going to be elected now talking about overriding the board. That’s the reason why we have the 180 day rule, just to prevent this kind of situation, where everyone knows who is going to hold these offices, and it’s all a sham deal and the taxpayer gets screwed once again.”

The township’s attorney, Jim Militello, said he doesn’t think township voters have the power to change officials’ pay. There was no concern expressed over voters trying to tackle the other task outlined: restoring funding for a transportation service for seniors so that those who cannot afford to pay for rides don’t have to.

Verr and Anderson said they felt Aylward as the clerk erred by posting the agenda before sharing it with the township attorney as the board passed a policy saying the attorney should review public notices before they are published, Anderson and Verr said.

Aylward said he feels he has been unfairly targeted and harassed by the pair of trustees. Some township voters, who consistently interjected during Friday’s meeting to disagree with Anderson and Verr, agreed with the clerk’s assessment that he has been picked on.

“Two more months, and we’ll be done with these jerks,” Aylward said of Verr, Anderson and Rakestraw, none of whom are running for reelection.

Their attempts to consolidate and abolish McHenry Township and its road district through ballot questions, including one this coming April about getting rid of the road district, are ill-advised, Aylward said. He said Condon would make more money as a private engineering contractor hired by the township than he does now as a public servant.

“Everything they’ve done will be reversed. They’ve done enough damage over the last three years,” Aylward said of the trio.