A call to action to save local control!
- Staff Writer
- 12 minutes ago
- 3 min read
Send a message to Springfield that you want to regain local control!
McHenry County voters,
At the McHenry County Board meeting on Tuesday, July 21, 2026, at 7:00 PM, the Board will take up three referendum resolutions under New and Unfinished Business: Items 13.a, 13.b, and 13.c. All three deal with your local control and your ballot in November. I'm asking you to contact your County Board member today, before the meeting, and tell them exactly how to vote.
Here's what to tell our County Board Members:
Vote YES on 13.a
It asks the Illinois General Assembly to repeal the state laws passed in recent years that stripped McHenry County of local zoning authority over commercial solar, wind, and battery energy storage projects, and over large-scale residential development. Springfield decided your county board and municipal government should no longer have a real say in what gets built next to your farm or your subdivision. This non-binding referendum puts McHenry County voters on record, telling the legislature to return that authority. Other, very similar referenda are going up all over the state. We believe the net result will be a resounding roar from the voters, reminding Springfield that its just powers are derived from the consent of the governed. Springfield's overreach has neutered your County and municipal governments and essentially invalidated the power of your vote in local government.
Vote NO on 13.b
This is a binding referendum. If it passes in November, McHenry County will become a home rule county with an elected county executive. This does not guarantee freedom from the lack of local control, but does guarantee that the County will have different rules around how it is governed and how it taxes. McHenry County GOPAC is officially and strongly opposed to this measure.
Vote YES on 13.c
This is the advisory, non-binding version of the same home rule and county executive question. It asks voters what they think without locking the county into anything. This is the responsible way to find out where the public actually stands on Home Rule before anyone commits McHenry County to a binding structural overhaul it may not want, and that may not solve the underlying problem anyway.
In short: ask your legislature to give zoning power back to the county (13.a), find out what the people actually want on home rule before deciding anything (13.c), and don't lock in a binding home rule change on a single vote that wouldn't even fix the real problem (13.b, no).
Here's what to do right now:
1. Contact your County Board member directly using the list below.
2. Call or email them today.
3. Ask them by name: YES on 13.a, NO on 13.b, YES on 13.c. In other words, tell them to vote YES on the advisory referenda and NO on the binding one.
4. If you can attend the meeting in person at the County Board Conference Room, Administration Building, 667 Ware Rd., Woodstock, public comment is the most direct way to be heard.
We've made emailing easy!
You have two options.
You can copy the email addresses from the list below and paste them into your email program, or
You can click the two "Instant Email" buttons below, at the bottom of this message. When you click the buttons, they will open a new message in your email program and insert the first or second half of the County Board's emails and present a subject line, and sample content. To email the full board using the buttons, you must click both buttons.
Due to system limitations, the list had to be split into two lists, hence the two buttons.
Email List Follows:
County Board Chairman
Michael Buehler - MJBuehler@mchenrycountyil.gov
District 1
Matt Kunkle - MMKunkle@mchenrycountyil.gov
Patrick Sullivan - PBSullivan@mchenrycountyil.gov
District 2
Gloria Van Hof - GJVanHof@mchenrycountyil.gov
John Collins - JKCollins@mchenrycountyil.gov
District 3
Carolyn Campbell - CMCampbell@mchenrycountyil.gov
Eric Hendricks - ECHendricks@mchenrycountyil.gov
District 4
Joseph Gottemoller - jxgottemoller@mchenrycountyil.gov
Mike Shorten - MTShorten@mchenrycountyil.gov
District 5
Terri Greeno - TWGreeno@mchenrycountyil.gov
Deena Krieger - DNKrieger@mchenrycountyil.gov
District 6
Pamela Althoff - pjalthoff@mchenrycountyil.gov
Carl Kamienski - CLKamienski@mchenrycountyil.gov
District 7
Brian Sager - BPSager@mchenrycountyil.gov
Paul Thomas - PCThomas@mchenrycountyil.gov
District 8
Larry Smith - lwsmith@mchenrycountyil.gov
Tracie Von Bergen - TLVonBergen@mchenrycountyil.gov
District 9
Michael Skala - mjskala@mchenrycountyil.gov
Jim Kearns - jakearns@mchenrycountyil.gov
Local control has to be defended, one vote at a time, by people who show up.
Thank you for taking action.
Joe and Karen Tirio
PAID FOR BY McHenry County GOPAC, PO BOX 288, ISLAND LAKE, IL 60042
A copy of our report with the State Board of Elections is (or will be) available on the Board's official website (www.elections.il.gov)
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