McHenry County changes its rules for land buys
Hoping to avoid the mistakes that dogged efforts to build a new animal control facility, two McHenry County Board committees passed new rules Tuesday governing how they go about buying and selling property.
Officials said the new policy directly stems from the confusion and low cost estimates that nearly derailed a $3.7 million plan to buy a vacant Crystal Lake office building and turn it into an animal shelter.
"It's not a secret that I don't think the process moved as fluidly as it could have," said Marc Munaretto, chairman of the board's finance and audit review committee. "We had more difficulty with this process than we should have."
Endorsed Tuesday by Munaretto's committee and the management services committee, the policy creates strict guidelines for steps officials must follow when buying or selling land, who has the authority to hire a real estate broker and which board committees must sign off on a deal before it comes to a full board vote.
The measure, likely to win approval from the full county board next week, also requires any land purchase or sale be approved by a two-thirds majority of the board.
Had a similar policy been in place a year ago, officials believe they would not have faced many of the problems that swirled around the animal control project.
The county board voted 16-8 last August to buy the former State Farm Insurance building at Route 14 and Woodstock Street in Crystal Lake for $1.7 million, then spend another $2 million to renovate it.
But within six months, officials began to realize the initial estimate for the renovation was not nearly high enough. New estimates placed the figure closer to $2.7 million, an increase that led county officials to ponder canceling the project.
Instead, the board voted in May to keep the plan but scale it back enough to remain within the initial $3.7 million projection.
Most of the blame for the bungled estimates fell Tuesday on the rush to buy the vacant building last summer and a lack of communication between the county board and animal control staff. The new policy, officials believe, will force a closer examination of costs and better communication in the future.
However, Munaretto also placed some responsibility on county board Chairman Ken Koehler. A strong supporter of the Crystal Lake site, Koehler "usurped" the authority of county administrators as they investigated the feasibility of the project, Munaretto said.
"If you (as chairman) get involved in the day-to-day operations when we have professional administrators to do that, it can be problematic," he said.
When later told of Munaretto's remarks, Koehler rejected the criticism and accused him of playing politics.
"Mr. Munaretto has not liked this project from day one, and he's going to keep getting his digs in when he can," he said.