McHenry County moves to halt Lake in the Hills Sanitary District land purchase
A legal battle is brewing among board members of the Lake in the Hills Sanitary District regarding a potential land purchase and possible consolidation of the district with the local municipality.
At a special meeting earlier this month, two newly appointed trustees voted to reverse the previous board's action in April to annex the right of way along Square Barn Road in Huntley in Kane County. The new trustees backed away from a plan to purchase 13.88 acres sanctioned by two members of the previous three-member board.
Former Trustee Shelby Key and Trustee Terry Easler, who supported the annexation and land purchase for more than $950,000, are contesting the legal authority of the newly appointed trustees.
Derke Price, special counsel for the sanitary district and the attorney representing Key and Easler, said the county board didn't have the authority to appoint new board members since the sanitary district became a multicounty entity with the April 27 annexation and proposed land purchase.
"Because the district is located in two counties only a member of the General Assembly can appoint people to the board," Price said.
McHenry County Board Chairman Jack Franks called the move toward annexation an attempt at thwarting the county's plans to consolidate the district with the village of Lake in the Hills.
A McHenry County judge temporarily has halted the sanitary district's proposed Kane County land purchase. A ruling on whether the two new board members - appointed in June by Franks - had legal authority to undo the annexation deal is expected Aug. 15.
"The court granted our injunction to stop the transaction for them to be buying this land," Franks said. "They are trying to spend almost $1 million to enter into a land deal for land they can't use. They are trying to protect their six-figure salaries and perks, and operating in the dark."
Franks appointed Trustees Eric Hansen and Kyle Kane to fill a vacancy on the district board and replace Key, whose term as board president expired April 30. The vacancy was created when former board member David McPhee was appointed to the Lake in the Hills Village Board to fill a vacancy there.
Price said the McHenry County Board's June 20 meeting agenda didn't mention the appointments, which he called an Open Meetings Act violation. "These two guys were never sworn in," Price said. "Even if the county had the power to appoint, the way they did it is illegal."
While there has been no decision on consolidation, Franks said Key and Easler and the district administration are not willing to even entertain the idea.
Franks added, he chose not to reappoint Key for another term because he distributed letters promising to fight consolidation.
"They spent taxpayer dollars on communications arguing against consolidation," Franks said. "Then they go and attempt to annex land a mile and a half away from their service area, which would stymie the law that the governor signed."
As a former state legislator, Franks wrote the new state law that allows the McHenry and Lake county boards to eliminate taxing bodies within their jurisdictions if they appoint a majority of the trustees for those entities. McHenry County has more than 120 taxing bodies.
"This is certainly the poster child for why I wrote this law," Franks said.
The Lake in the Hills Sanitary District provides wastewater collection and water pollution control - funded through taxes and user fees - to roughly 40,000 residents within 11 square miles. It has 11,700 mostly residential customers in Lake in the Hills and parts of Crystal Lake and Huntley.
An analysis by Lake in the Hills estimates $400,000 in savings could come from consolidation, primarily through cutting $258,000 in personnel costs by eliminating positions and reducing salaries, taxes, insurance and pension costs.