County sorting out Valley Hi options

Despite some trepidation, McHenry County leaders moved a little closer Tuesday to privatizing management of its new Valley Hi nursing home.

County board members directed administrators to prepare detailed reports on the cost of hiring two potential suitors and present the reports before the panel's Valley Hi Committee next week.

Officials began exploring the move in July after the $14 million facility's current administrator, Timothy Wenberg, resigned after a scathing report on his performance.

The report found the 127-bed home near Woodstock was "managerially dysfunctional" and spending money unwisely while failing to take advantage of money-making opportunities.

As a result, the facility took in about $2 million less than it spent in 2006, the report found.

The report sparked calls for the county to get out of the nursing home business and hire a private firm to manage the home.

While that could happen this month, several board members remained concerned Tuesday about whether turning management over to a for-profit company would affect the home's mission of serving mostly poor seniors.

"I like the idea, but my constituents are saying loud and clear they want a home for our neediest residents," board member Tina Hill said.

Others questioned whether a management firm's fees -- estimated at $180,000 or more -- would be money well spent when they could hire their own administrator for half the cost.

"I don't like spending that kind of money," said Mary Lou Zierer, chairman of the board's Valley Hi committee.