Michael Walkup: 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: Crystal LakeWebsite: Candidate did not respond.Office sought: McHenry County board District 3Age: 62Family: Married, one daughterOccupation: Attorney, Organic FarmerEducation: Juris DoctorCivic involvement: McHenry County Regional Planning Commission; McHenry County Historic Preservation Commission, Nunda Township Planning Commission; Crystal Lake Historic Preservation Commission; Northwest Suburban Bar Association; McHenry County Bar Asssociation; McHenry County Historical Society; Crystal Lake Historical Society; Environmental Defenders of McHenry County.Elected offices held: Commissioner, Crystal Lake Park District (current) Republican Precinct Committeeman, Nunda 15 (2000)Have you ever been arrested for or convicted of a crime? If yes, please explain: NoCandidate's Key Issues Key Issue 1 Preserving the character of McHenry County and our local environment and agriculural base.Key Issue 2 Reducing the size of local government and of the County Board.Key Issue 3 Reducing the cost of local government and the salaries and benefits of County Board members.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?I think we should start with the County Board itself. We have a bloated County Board with 24 members each of whom is paid $20,000 per year plus up to $20,000 in additional health insurance benefits along with a pension. Some of them now want to be reimbursed for travel and cell phone costs on top of that. I think we can get along perfectly well with half of that, both in terms of number of Board members and salaries and benefits. We can to do this by referendum which the Board can vote to put on the ballot.We can also provide for the County Board Chair to be elected county wide and have term limits applied to that position.This will help make the Board more accountable as there will be fewer representatives for each district and the Chair will not be able to play politics within the Board to ensure continual re-election by the rest of the Board members, as is currently the case. The salary of the Chair should also be cut in half.We already have a county administrator to run the county on a daily basis. The current full time Chair duplicates that.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 was one of the authors of the current transportation plan as a member of the 2020 Planning Commission.Unfortunately, the Land Use Plan that we drafted to go along with it was not passed by the County Board so there is now a disconnect between land use planning and transportation planning.We need to be careful, in particular, about siting subdivisions and businesses in areas which are not properly served by current road infrastructure. New development should be placed in or adjacent to areas that are already developed, such as municipalities, so that more traffic is not placed on inadequate rural roads, requiring their eventual upgrading. The land use plan that was ultimately adopted does not adequately do this. Our studies during the development of the transportation plan showed that we will only be receiving about 25 cents on the dollar for new roads for each dollar in revenue received from anticipated development. Therefore, the best way to approach the future transportation needs of the county is to be very careful in development decisions. In brief, we should not build anything that is not close to the current infrastructure network.This is what our 2020 Plan had called for but the Board at the time did not see fit to adopt it.Does the county need to address its ethics policies' Why or why not? If so, how?I was a founder of the citizen group that was eventually able to force the County Board to adopt new ethics ruleslast year. Unfortunately, the rules that were ultimately adopted were watered down from what the group had proposed. Nevertheless, it was an improvement over the previous rules.One problem which was sought to be addressed was that of disclosure of real estate interests by all Board members. Although a Board member may not vote on a zoning change that would affect that member's property, any changes in the surrounding area, including any road improvements, can affect the value of nearby parcels. In the past, a Board member could own a parcel adjacent to one for which a zoning change and approval for increased development was being requested, vote for the change,and not have to disclose that interest. Obviously, if the adjacent parcel goes from agriculatural zoning to a higher permitted use, that increases the value of everything around it. This was a sorely needed change in the ethics rules but was nevertheless opposed by some Board members, one of whom has elected not to run for re-election.We need to now see how the new rules will play out and consider strengthening them if there continues to be a problem.Assess McHenry County's efforts thus far in terms of groundwater preservation and protection. What needs to be done now and in the future?Again, the group I helped to found, the Alliance for Land, Agriculture and Water (ALAW) was called into being by this issue.We attempted to have a referendum approved by the voters to establish a Water Protection District for the entire Kishwaukee River watershed, an area which covered parts of four counties, including McHenry County. McHenry County is not legally allowed to take water out of Lake Michigan due to a treaty with Canada and federal court decisions.Therefore we need to rely for our drinking and irrigation water with what is currently under our feet. Our concern was that the County would attempt to solve the groundwater problem by simply drilling wells and running pipelines from the agricultural areas into the cities which were using up their own water suppplies, thus lowering the water table in the agricultural portions of the county. The referendum did not succeed but the County did create an administrative position for groundwater protection.This was a step in the right direction.However, the above described problem is still there.We need to focus on conservation of water resources as well as possible sources of pollution.The current administrative position is not adequately supported to be able to do this effectively.Assess how the county health department approached the whooping cough outbreak. What should have been done differently?This did not wind up being as large a problem as initially projected so they did a good job in containment.