Animal Control Palace

Should we all be amused, or terrified, by the project to create a palace for the McHenry County Animal Control folks?

Terrified, I’d say.

Kevin Craver wrote in this morning’s Northwest Herald (5/26/07, Page 1B) that McHenry County “…will bid out a scaled-back Animal Control building…”

What I want to know is, how did it ever get “scaled-up” above the $3,700,000 budget in the first place!

Cutting $27,000 for aesthetic millworking? Aw, gee…. Won’t the poor little doggies and kitties feel slighted when dragged biting and clawing into a plain-looking building?

Cutting back the number of plumbing fixtures? Just how many employees are there? One restroom for visitors is plenty, and make it uni-sex. Oh, wait; OSHA probably has something to say about that. Just like it did in a mining camp in the Colorado mountains, when OSHA required two old brothers to provide separate restrooms for men and women – even though they didn’t allow women in their mine!

How could inflation significantly affect a remodeling estimate established only a few months ago? Didn’t the Management Services Committee or the County Board include inflation (hey, we’re not running 20% inflation that I know of…) in its considerations before approving the $3.7 Million?

And a “redesign based on staff recommendations”? Come on, folks. Give us a break here. The staff had its chance BEFORE the $3.7 budget was approved. Has McHenry County slid east into Washington, D.C. or south into Springfield? Or, worse, just a little east into Chicago?

We, the People, need to start attending County Board meetings and meetings of the Board’s Committees. And don’t just sit there. Register upon arrival to speak and then speak up. Let our elected representatives know what you think and what you want. Tell them what you want; ask them to do what you want; ask them what they intend to do (i.e., how do they intend to vote on a certain issue).

Most importantly, follow up and find out just how they DID vote. Then thank them – or ask why they changed their minds!