4 May 1 t rans fe r Town Offices To New Building The 30 to 40 people in attendance at the annual McHenry township meeting heard Supervisor Albert "Albie" Adams give May l as the date the new township building at 3703 Richmond road is scheduled to open. The township office at 3922 W. Main street will be closed all day Friday, April 30, during the moving process. Business will resume Monday, May 3, at the new location. The township supervisor also noted that the Workfare program was progressing well. In this program, recipients of public aid work for municipalities or other organizations at the minimum wage in order to repay the money received. Adams said that in March, 1982, $3,900 was paid out in general assistance to needy individuals. Also in March, approximately 25 per cent, or $1,100, of the general assistance money was worked off in the Workfare program The McHenry Township Road Commissioner Clarence Regner outlined the 1982-83 road resurfacing program. According to Regner, the township will undertake the im provement of about 8 miles of road at an estimated cost of $350,000 or less The program includes a variety of roads in Eastwood Manor, Pistakee Highlands, Huemann subdivision, Sunnyside Estates, Ringwood and other parts of the township The electors also approved the transfer of $25,000 revenue sharing monies to the general assistance fund. Buy New Buses For Local School Fleet Rehearse For Jazz Festival The popular all-city Jazz Festival will be held this year on Wednesday, May 5, starting at 7 p.m. in the West campus high school auditorium. Featured to conclude the two and a half hour program will be the McHenry stage band, members of which are shown above in rehearsal. The McHenry county parochial school aggregation, directed by Jerrie Mikus, will open the evening's concert at 7 o'clock, to be followed by the Marian Central band, with Richard Mikus as director, at 9:30. At 8 o'clock, John Leighty will lead his West c*mpus musicians in a half hour of selections, fAlowed at 8:30 by the East campus band, with W. N. Toalson as director. Toalson also directs the city band. • STAFF PHOTO-WAYNE GAYLORD THE MCHENRY PLAINDEALER ( "SERVING THE CHAIN O-LAKES REGION SINCE 1875" VOLUME 106 NUMBER 79 FRIDAY, APRIL 30, 1982 1 SECTION 20 PAGES 25* District 156 By Marion Olsen In purchasing three new buses recently, the District 156 school board departed from its usual practice of awarding contracts to the lowest bid ders. At the last business meeting Robert Anderson, Transportation committee chairman, recommended purchasing three 65-passenger bus chassis from Buss Ford of McHenry for $13,097 each for a total of $39,291. Buss's bid was about $40 higher per unit than the lowest bid submitted. Board members agreed that the slight difference in cost justified keeping the contract local The bodies for the three buses will be purchased from Bluebird Coach Sales of Northbrook, 111 , at a net price of $9,377.86 each. Bus transportation figured in several other issues. Approval was given for two student field trips, one to Sauk City, Wis., and (Continued on page 18) District 15 Following action by District 156. the McHenry Elementary School District 15 board approved the purchase of three buses at this week's instructional meeting. A 16-passenger mini-bus will be purchased from Amtran of Illinois at a cost of $14,991.28. The chassis for two full size buses (66 passengers each) will be bought from Buss Ford of McHenry at a total bid of $26,194. The successful bid for bodies for the two full size buses went to Bluebird Coach Sales at a cost of $18,755.72. In other business, the board passed a resolution presented by the Elementary District of Illinois, protesting Governor Thompson's proposal to defer the portion of state aid payments usually received in June That action, which affects the second June payment, applies to all state schools. It was announced that on June 22, Ralph Godzicki, field services director of the Illinois Association of School (Continued on page 18) Face Local Emergency Service Problems by Marion Olsen _Is a merger or consolidation of the McHenry and *•„; Johnsburg Rescue il--di With the McHenry Township Fire Protection district the answer to problems facing local emergency services? About 20 people representing the three agencies met April 22 at the McHenry Township Fire Protection district offices to come to grips with this question. A number of things made us feel good today. Not the least of these is the prospect of having a voice in something - any little thing - that might go into McHenry's time capsule for the future. Would they accept a bronzed tomato plant from our now infamous office window box? Or even better, maybe this 30-year-plus Smith-Corona typewriter that has pounded out copy for umpteen years. On second thought, the typewriter will have to wait. We expect to find need (pr it well into the future, and especially >hen modern computers fail to do their The presentation of a consultant's report, input from two attorneys and concerned comments from members of the involved groups led to the ap pointment of a six-member committee to explore the issue. The committee is composed of two members from each of the agencies: Hilary Rodenkirch and Glenn Peterson, McHenry Township Fire Protection district; Phillip Gust and David Zamastil, McHenry Rescue squad; and Robert Meyer and William Swartzloff, Johnsburg Rescue squad. After a review of the consultant's report and discussion with their respective agencies, the members will meet May 13 in the first of an expected series of problem-solving sessions. In presenting the consultant's report, Fire Chief Glenn Peterson describe it as a service rendered under a grant from the federal government. The report was prepared by Mary Beth Michos, Technical Support Services consultant for the Advanced Coronary Treatment foundation. Gust reapportions of the report to the- group. The report reviewed the emergency service situation based on interviews with representatives of the three involved agencies as well as McHenry Mayor Joseph Stanek and the McHenry-Western Lake County M.I.C.U. Project director Dr. George Gallant, EMS Director William Riggs and Paramedic Coordinator Phillip Gust. In describing the three agencies, the report, dated Dec. 11-12, 1981, noted that fire department personnel are paid per call (along with nominal com pensation for training) and rescue squad personnel are not compensated for their services. The report indicated that the McHenry Rescue squad was having difficulty in responding within "reasonable" time to incidents, par ticularly during the day. Possible causes for this were cited by squad staff . as (1) Increasing number of members employed out of the area, (2) Difficulty V imrwkrng non-compensated personnel "accountable" to respond, and (3) Limited number of membership. As captain of the McHenry Rescue squad, Phillip Gust summed up the problem as one of structure and per sonnel. While the squad is maintaining adequate service, he indicated concern for the future and reported a consensus of the squad members favoring a merger with the fire district. Although the consultant's report did not indicate problems at the Johnsburg Rescue squad, Robert Meyer, Johns burg . Rescue squad trustee, referred to their concerns as being primarily financial. He said the Johnsburg squad has not seriously considered a merger, but will participate in discussion and research and make a decision based on resulting information. He noted that McHenry receives 2Mi times more emergency calls than Johnsburg, which accounts for more operational problems. "We want and will do what is in the best interest of the community," he added. The report stated that the McHenry Rescue squad anticipated a decrease in voluntary contributions. Gust in terjected that there has been no decrease this year, but that he cannot forecast future funding. The McHenry fire chief, the report continued,expressed the feeling that rescue squad operation could be enhanced through some sort of con solidation with the fire department. Speaking for the fire department, Captain Phillip Bartmann said they would like to attend meetings to get the facts, that "as the Rescue squad goes, cur company goes." He added, "If the Rescue squad does not merge with the fire district, we will have some tough decisions (to make)". The report recommended some kind of merger or consolidation. "While the rescue squads offer very good emergency care services," it said, "their operations could be enhanced through a merger," Advantages cited were: (1) more personnel available (Continued on page 18) Hospital Relevant To Zoning One alderman presented the idea of placing the capsule in the Pearl street park with the hope that it could possibly remain there, undisturbed, for 100 years. There was some debate about whether future city councils of 50 years could be bound to this proposal. The answer, of course, was that no guarantee could be made for any piece of earth. Now here's where we're going to get some bets. While the uniqueness will stir up hometown pride, as well it should, there are always the mischief- makers who take matters into their own hands. We hope some of us might take a peek into the park in 2062 from a vantage point beyond this earth to see how successful the venture has been. Personally, it founds like a great idea that should §voke great interest, but we wouldn't want to make a bet on someone not finding the capsule before the powers- that-be in the next century. Pearl street park has many memories for old timers in McHenry and others who have long left their home community. It is an ideal choice for the capsule. The park was the setting for much of the celebration surrounding the city's 100th anniversary back in the mid- 1930's, and there were many other memorable occasions. As we dwell on this pleasant part of Fiesta Days next summer, we recall two other reasons, in the form of (Continued on page 18) Relevancy to the proposed new McHenry hospital building was the common element in arguments used in hearings on two zoning petitions before the McHenry Zoning Board of Appeals, Friday, April 23. The ZBA recommended that the City Council approve the petition for commercial use (B-l) and extension of existing industrial park zoning for the 245-acre parcel which includes the former McDonald property and 41 acres of the Heckman property. The hearing on the Laufer property proposal for an office building near the proposed hospital site was continued until May 21 when it became evident that testimony would become prolonged and argumentive over possible inclu^on of medical uses in the 54,000 square feet of area planned. Attorney Jeffrey Ladd, representing the hospital board, claimed that this would compete with a proposed facility at the hospital and endanger the financial feasibility study results. On the McDonald petition, four ob jectors questioned and testified against the industrial park proposal for the site proposed, claiming that the soil was unsatisfactory and that the project represented a trend that threatened the residential uses on the west side of the railroad tracks. They presented a petition containing 74 signatures protesting this industrial rezoning. Tom Dyke, of* Thompson Dyke Associates of Northbrook, a planning firm that was formerly employed by McHenry, argued that the McDonald project, which was born 10 years ago, had now reached its time, and that additionally the development was necessary to provide the sewer and water connections with the hospital site south of Bull Valley road. Dyke testified that Leonard R. Mc Donald, the owner of most of the property, had died in October, 1981, and the property was now held in trust with the estate as the beneficiary Mid- states Development co., which is the estate, the Heck property owners, and the State Bank of Woodstock filed the petition. The land extends north from Bull Talley road to within a few hundred feet south of Lillian street, and east from the railroad track to Route 31 with the exception of several properties owned or developed by others. Dyke said they were planning to use 65 acres fronting on Route 31 for B-l commercial. The balance 179 acres, would be gradually developed as an industrial park that would have access through a 100 foot wide collector street extending from the highway west and then south to Bull Valley road. The street would carry easements for water and sewer It was pointed out that the exhibits Dyke presented represented only the general concept for the use of the land and were not specific development plans for approval ZBA chairman Jim Fouse noted for clarification that the petitioners were asking for B-l business use and an industrial park planned unit development zoning which would be a multiple plan for two owners. Since Dyke had stated that the present proposal was an extension of the earlier plan for an industrial park submitted to the city by McDonald, but not carried forward, Anna Mae Cuda, a ZBA member, asked Dyke why he thought it was ready for commercial development now. Dyke indicated that conditions in the city had changed and somebody would want to develop it now. The estate of McDonald would be removed from the actual development, he said. Paul Baltys, 4723 W. Crystal Lake road, one of the objectors, noted that since they have no idea who, or what, would come into the park, he wondered what the possible uses are under an industrial park zoning. A ZBA member read what was listed as possible in the planning ordinance. Fouse said this was not part of the hearing but the information was available. Mrs. Baltys summed up the ob jectors' opposition to the proposed industrial park They like the idea of living in a rural area and did not want industry or shops close by. They suggested the city beautify the existing industrial areas within the city instead of destroying the countryside. Other objectors claimed that the subject land was "all swamp back in there "and" there &as no way to walk or drive in back there " Announce Plan For O ld Mi l l James Althoff, McHenry business man, announced Thursday morning that Taylormade Golf Co., headed by Gary Adams, will occupy the old McHenry Flour Mill on Crystal Lake road. Althoff bought the local landmark recently and sandblasting has been in progress to restore the structure. According to the seller, Taylormade will occupy both its present location in the old Admiral building and the mill, which will be ready for occupancy no later than June 1. ?>* ' ® Vf - » * . - X " i *** •' *"*• >. SI:-* vil*-. 6 6 Katherina, played by Kathy Wester, resists the m r "taming" process undertaken by Petruchio,with I ( lTn IT lOr ( J f Paul Metzger in the important role. It all takes r) J place in the Shakespeare comedy, "The Taming of the Shrew", which opened April 29, and continues April 30' and May 1 at 8 p.m. in the johnsburg high school theatre. Tickets may be purchased at the door. STAFF PHOTO-WAYNE GAYLORD The Shrew 9 9 'Ask A Lawyer" Day Free Lega l Adv i ce Page 16 FREE TV Guide In Today's Edition Daffodil Walk May 1-2 In Bu l l Va l ley Page 15 •%