Contemplating his departure from office next month, Crystal Lake Mayor George Wells offered this piece of advice to the man who ousted him in Tuesday’s election:
“It’s time to deliver on the promises,” Wells said of Robert Wagner, 40, who becomes Crystal Lake’s new mayor on May 2.
Wagner won a landslide victory Tuesday night over one-term incumbent Wells, 60, that was based largely on the strength of his appeal with Crystal Lake’s newcomers.
In the community of 30,000, nearly half of the residents have lived there less than 10 years.
Wells described his defeat as a harbinger of what’s to come in growing suburbs in the collar counties, where residents struggle with growth and the problems that accompany it.
Voters are placing today’s leaders on the hot seat to find immediate answers to complicated problems, such as congested streets, crowded schools and increasing demand for city services.
Especially in communities in McHenry County, the fastest-growing county in the state.
“This was a very profound election because when you get past all the political rhetoric, this truly is a well-managed town with a low tax rate,” Wells said. “You know, this is becoming a demanding town with new residents who want more, more, more,” he added.
Wells, who stressed a halt to growth during his campaign, carried only 10 of Crystal Lake’s 40 precincts.
Final returns showed Wagner received 58 percent of the vote, while Wells received 42 percent.
But delivering on his promises was at the top of Wagner’s agenda Wednesday as he began laying the groundwork for his first term.
Wagner said he’s already begun to form a task force of community advisers who will help him carry out his plans.
Tops on his list is annexing businesses surrounding Crystal Lake that, he said, will channel at least $1 million in sales tax revenues to municipal coffers.
He also plans to lead the effort to raise the city’s impact fee on new homes by $1,000, to a total of $4,200.
“The election was a rout, and I know that places responsibility on me,” said Wagner, a Crystal Lake attorney. “That’s why we are getting started right away.”
Wells, a retired airline pilot, said Tuesday’s loss signaled the end of his political career.
Meanwhile in two other McHenry communities, Woodstock and Marengo, residents shot down school bond proposals that called for raising property taxes. But both questions may be on the ballot again in November.
In Woodstock, voters overwhelmingly rejected a proposed $52.5 million bond issue that school officials said was badly needed to reduce building overcrowding and to keep the district from going to split shifts. The referendum proposal failed by a 3-2 ratio.
Already, school District 200 officials were talking about resurrecting the bond question for November.
The district wants to build a new high school and middle school as well as refurbish seven existing facilities.
But this talk was upsetting to Julia Hansen, a school board member, who said raising taxes by 58 cents per $100 of assessed valuation is too much.
For the owner of a $125,000 home, the increase would mean an additional $221 a year.
“It’s already failed three other times. I think it’s time we got the message and scaled this back considerably or managed to make due without it,” Hansen said.
Marengo High School District 154 officials are considering whether to request a recount of the ballots because their modest bond referendum proposal lost by only one vote, 709-708.
“We’ll decide whether to seek a recount within a week,” said Robert Seaver, District 154 superintendent.
He added that the district may seek to have the referendum question placed on the November ballot because the vote was so close.
Seaver said the district doesn’t plan to cut programs during the current school year. But by the fall, the board will be facing a need to make cuts to eliminate the district’s $200,000 to $300,000 deficit.
“We’ll consider all areas for cuts,” he said.
Among other results, two rural McHenry communities won approval from voters to incorporate.
Following the controversial lead of Ringwood last year, Barnard Mills and Greenwood, in separate referendums, sought permission to incorporate to help them control growth.
Residents of Cary and surrounding communities easily approved four separate ballot questions to clear the way for construction of a new $3 million library in Cary.
The new facility will triple the space of the existing library.
At issue in Tuesday’s election was extending the existing Cary library boundaries into surrounding communities, such as the Village of Oakwood, and in the unincorporated subdivisions of Lake Killarney, Trout Valley and Silver Lake.
“Ultimately, the people saw this library as a benefit to themselves,” said Mary Patterson, president of the Cary Library Board of Directors.
