Koehler shakes up McHenry County board

McHenry County Board Chairman Ken Koehler engineered a major overhaul of county government Tuesday, installing nine new chairmen to the board's 11 standing committees and relegating some former chairmen to non-leadership positions.

Among those ousted was Barbara Wheeler, who for the past two years headed the board's influential Planning and Development Committee.

Wheeler said she was "horrified" by Koehler's decisions and blamed the moves on her unsuccessful attempt last month to replace him as board chairman.

"People warned me about the pettiness of politics, but this has risen to heights beyond belief," said Wheeler, a second-term Republican from Crystal Lake. "This is a slap in the face to the citizens of McHenry County."

Koehler rejected Wheeler's claims, saying the committees to which she was assigned - environmental, building projects and liquor and license - were the top three she requested.

"I don't think she has an argument because she got all of the committees she wanted to be on," he said.

As for bypassing Wheeler in favor of first-time chairmen on two of those committees, Koehler said, "I chose the people I thought would be best for the job."

Koehler issued the assignments Tuesday after discussing them last month with all but one board member and a special committee on committees. He and his vice chairman, Jim Heisler, decided on the committee chairmen and vice-chairmen posts.

Wheeler was not the only board member smarting after the committee assignments were revealed Tuesday. Virginia Peschke, the longest-serving member of the board, lost her chairmanship of the board's Public Health and Human Services Committee.

"(Experience) doesn't count, obviously," said Peschke, who chaired the committee for six years. "Politics plays into a lot of things, so I don't see why not this as well."

Koehler said Peschke was moved because he, and several others on the board, feared the committee would get stagnant under the same leadership for two more years.

"It was time for a change," he said. "My objective was to try to shake things up a little bit, move some people around."

In that sense, Koehler accomplished his mission. Only Finance Committee Chairman Marc Munaretto and Liquor and License Chairman John Hammerand remain atop the committees they led the previous two years.

Elsewhere, Anna May Miller, a Republican from Cary, was chosen to chair the important Transportation Committee, replacing retired chairman Dan Shea. Woodstock Republican Tina Hill will assume Wheeler's role as chairman of Planning and Development and Lyn Orphal, a Republican from Crystal Lake, will take Peschke's chair as head of Public Health and Human Services.

The only Democrat assigned a leadership role on the Republican-dominated board is Jim Kennedy of Lake in the Hills, who will serve as vice chairman on the Law and Justice Committee.