The McHenry County Board has set a new standard for appointment to a County committee.
"Lovely." That's lovely. Isn't it? No, I don't mean it's "lovely" that they did so. "Lovely" seems to be the new standard.
Not academic qualification.
Not professional experience.
Not specific legal or accounting background.
Not experience in analysis of complicated spreadsheets and interpretation of contracts.
Just "lovely". Oh, and the preference of the Chair helped. A lot.
As Donna Kurtz was quoted in the Northwest Herald upon Cathy Ferguson's appointment to the Mental Health Board, "She's a really lovely lady."
Like Donna, I don't have any problem with Cathy Ferguson. I don't even know her. I had never heard her name before it surfaced as Tina Hill's pocket choice for the appointment. Then I learned that she is on the Crystal Lake City Council.
Should that be a dis-qualifier? Doesn't that represent a potential conflict-of-interest? What if the Mental Health Board, which is located in Crystal Lake, gets into a snit with the City of Crystal Lake?
It's just that, for me, 30 years of experience as a therapist doesn't mean that Cathy Ferguson is qualified to sit on the Mental Health Board and make important financial decisions on a multi-million dollar budget.
I suspect that she is a "lovely" person, as many women might describe many women therapists.
The Mental Health Board didn't need a "lovely" member. It needed the appointment of a person with critical management thinking skills, someone with hard experience in that area who will quickly recognize the business-operations end of the Mental Health Board, not the therapeutic side of mental health.
Cathy Ferguson already holds one public service position. She is a member of the Crystal Lake City Council. Since she works out of the County, isn't one public service position enough?
The County Board vote was 16-8 to appoint her. The Northwest Herald reported "Most of those who voted against her made it clear that they did not
oppose her, but the process by which she was brought forward." So that would mean that Ferguson squeaked through with five of the eight No's not really being No, just being "no".
And 16 County Board members didn't give a hoot about the "process" of respecting the Public Health and Human Services Committee.
You never know who is interested…
3 months ago
2 comments:
Gus, I was kind of disappointed to see you were not at this meeting. You were better off not wasting your time because most of the meeting was spent talking about how dumb everyone acted at the last meeting. The only thing that was interesting at this meeting was the vote on Cathy Ferguson.
Thanks, Cainen. If I'm going to get heartburn, I might as well have a bad meal at home, instead of going to the County Board meeting.
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