County Pol Calls Grafton Township Payment "Fair"

A records request due this week from a group of dissident Grafton Township taxpayers seeks to unravel the mystery of what Algonquin Township Clerk and powerful District 1 County Board member Marc Munaretto did to earn a hefty payment in trying to build the township's now-aborted new offices.

McHenry County Blogger Cal Skinner revealed in July that Munaretto had received $66,000 in the sale of the township offices to the township road district, a transaction so apparently simple it would almost amount to a bookkeeping entry.  That sale has been reported at about $600,000 and, McHenry County politics being what it is, there's been speculation and innuendo about the Munaretto money ever since.

Jim Bishop, attorney for a group of residents who stopped the move to build new offices said Friday "I can't say there was any improperiety.  The trustees have refused to provide the information.  The records on this really haven't been available to anybody."

Monday Munaretto revealed the details of his involvement in the convoluted episode to FEN saying it wasn't as simple as it sounds.

Munaretto's business outside local government is running M.J. Munaretto & Co., Inc., a commercial real estate brokerage and management firm. He said the Grafton Township Board hired him last year "to market and sell the township offices to unlock the capital in the building," at a 6 percent commission. 

Munaretto called the rate "a fair commission for the kind of work we're accustomed to doing."  An FEN check with another local commercial real estate agent found it was in the ballpark for last year.

The listing agreement, a copy of which Munaretto provided, called for him to find a buyer for the Grafton Township offices at an $800,000 asking price. He said he located one willing to pay $1.1 million for the property on Huntley's commercial Vine Street.

Munaretto said the deal fell through when a higher offer came in.  The listing agreement included a standard "pay or play" clause, however, requiring the township to pay his commission even if they backed out.

The higher offer came from the Grafton Township Road District which operates out of the township Offices location.

Trustee Betty Zirk said Monday that Commissioner Jack Freund didn't want to move and asked to buy the property which, in fact, the highway district did at a price of $611,000.

How $611,000 trumped a $1.1 million offer is part of what makes trying to unravel the Grafton Township controversy something like trying to sort out a plate of spaghetti.

Former Grafton Supervisor John Rossi declined to discuss the details of the sale saying only, "I'm out of politics now."

Zirk provided more information, however.  She said that under now-suspended state law the township road district was prohibited from owning property.  Even so, the district had paid for garage additions to the township offices and purchase of the property on which the district's salt-storage dome is now located.

"We hired a professional appraiser and he valued (the road district-financed property) at $800,000.  So we allowed Jack $600,000 for that," said Zirk. In addition, according to Zirk the district paid another $611,000 cash in a total package valued at $1.2 million; more than the $1.1 million offer Munaretto brought in.

The transaction was supposed to help pay for new township offices on Haligus Road in Lake in the Hills but that project has been effectively halted by the opponents now seeking records on Munaretto's payment.  An injunction against building the new offices was upheld in Appellate County last week and the township returned $3.5 million financing for the project earlier this year.

The complicated affair isn't completely unwound, however.  For one thing, current Township Supervisor Linda Moore reports there's $611,000 from the sale of the offices all dressed up with nowhere to go. Moreover, the township itself has nowhere to go. Under the terms of the sale, the township's no-rent lease with the Road District is up in early November. And even if the township had somewhere to go, "There's nothing in the budget for paying rent," Moore complained.

Worse, she said, because nothing's been resolved the money's sitting in a non-interest checking account.  It came from a loan the road district took out last year to finance the township office purchase and Moore figures interest on it runs about $30,000 a year.

How much of this tortuous account will be found in the dissidents' records request is open to question.  Former township attorney Joe Gottemoller told FEN after this resignation early this month that one of his problems sorting out Grafton Township affairs was that, "There's no paper trail."

An examination of the past three years' board minutes reveals a wealth of detail on things like toner cartridge purchases.  Information on township offices planning is scanty.  They show only Munaretto's occasional presence and trustees ducking in and out of executive session half a dozen times. Sometimes the sessions were for "discussing land acquisition", sometimes there was no stated purpose whatsoever.