Mary McClellan: Candidate Profile

Note: Answers provided have not been edited for grammar, misspellings or typos. In some instances, candidate claims that could not be immediately verified have been omitted. Jump to:BioKey IssuesQA Bio City: Holiday HIllsWebsite: http://www.McClellan2012.comOffice sought: McHenry County board District 3Age: Candidate did not respond.Family: Married, one son and three grandchildrenOccupation: Cook County State's Attorneys office - Civil DivisionEducation: Bachelor of Science in Business and Law DegreeCivic involvement: Candidate did not respond.Elected offices held: NoneHave you ever been arrested for or convicted of a crime? If yes, please explain: NoCandidate's Key Issues Key Issue 1 Accountability to votersKey Issue 2 Managing the budget of government offices to lower taxesKey Issue 3 Promoting business growth in our community.Questions Answers McHenry County has managed the recession without a budgetary crisis like those in other counties. How do you ensure the county continues on that path and that reserves aren?t depleted? Are there specific budget areas that need more attention?Government needs to live within its means. Only when each government entity stops asking for the maximum amount of tax revenue they can ask for will property taxes actually go down. Expand the Commercial Tax Base to relieve property tax pressure on homeowners. Aggressively Promote Business Growth Work with our local business to fulfill their needs for growth and help them position themselves to thrive in this challenging and dynamic economy.Does the McHenry County Board have a good transportation improvement plan? Please be specific and suggest whether you think anything is missing or should be scrapped.I believe there is room for improvement the transportation division seems to focus on highways and not transportation as a unit in the county. There needs to be created a comprehensive picture of what transit services (public and private) are operating in McHenry County. Review existing and anticipated demographics to gain an understanding of future growth in the county. Involve the public -- take an active approach considering employers, public officials and the general public. Develop a transit plan -- With the input, analysis and identification of opportunities, identifying recommended transit services within the county. The implementation should be (immediate, short, medium and long term) and cost estimates for each service.Does the county need to address its ethics policies? Why or why not? If so, how?The ethics policy needs to be addressed it seems to be to narrow and undefined creating ambiguity in its own definitions.Assess McHenry County?s efforts thus far in terms of groundwater preservation and protection. What needs to be done now and in the future?This is a good start in a very important preservation McHenry County Board meeting passed the Water Resources Action Plan. McHenry County Water Resources Action Plan (WRAP). This plan was developed over a two and a half year time period using a consensus building approach with McHenry County municipalities, townships, and other interested stakeholders. The plan underwent an additional two years of review by the County Board's Natural and Environmental Resources Committee. The Plan is vitally important because the County is solely dependent on groundwater for all of its potable water needs, with no other options available. Studies suggest that areas in Northeastern Illinois and McHenry County may experience water supply shortages as early as 2030. In an effort to plan for the future and guard against supply shortages, McHenry County engaged in a comprehensive effort to study its Groundwater. In 2007, McHenry County hired a Water Resource Manager and initiated the development of a comprehensive water resources plan. The Water Resources Action Plan is predicated on the importance of cooperative planning and the significance of building a strong base of scientific knowledge. While developing the WRAP, McHenry County engaged in four scientific projects by partnering with state and federal agencies. McHenry County has invested nearly $2 million dollars of county, state and federal funds to complete these projects. Projects include: ?3-D Hydrogeological Modeling (ISGS), ?Groundwater Flow Modeling (ISWS), ?Installation of and real-timing of 41 Observation Wells, ?2 Stream Gauges, and ?Precipitation Gauges (USACE, USGS, and ISGS), and ?Water Quality Sampling (USGS). In March, the United States Geological Survey launched the McHenry County Hydrologic Information Website to track the real-time information: http://il.water.usgs.gov/data/McHenry/index.php. The data are collected and transmitted on an hourly basis to record the short and long-term hydrological condition of the County. The data gathered from this project will be used to develop and refine a groundwater-flow model to assist with future groundwater management decisions.Assess how the county health department approached the whooping cough outbreak. What should have been done differently?At the beginning of October we had two cases at Cary-Grove High School, and that raised a red flag because most of our other cases are here and there, but when you have two cases, it's an indicator that you have an outbreak going on," said the McHenry public health Department's Mary Lou Ludicky. This is a quote. The problem I have here is if there was a red flag why did the health department not do anything until November. I believe there should be a better way of communicating to the public when you public health in jeopordy. The students were told by the School in Cary "The school told us to wash our hands a lot, stay home if you're sick, and see a doctor if you think you have anything," There should have been a clear message sent to parents and this could have been a different scenario. I would hope that the Department would review their own procedures to do see where they think they can improve. However, I do believe they should be commended for their handling of the matter this time. The Department of Health is going through a tremendous change with their top people leaving I would hope that this is something the new administration will consider and be mindful of.