Two hours of argument but no decision yet on whether Algonquin Township referendum will appear on April ballot

A decision on whether Algonquin Township voters will get to decide whether to abolish the local government unit and its associated township road district was again pushed back.

A virtual hearing was scheduled Tuesday to consider the merits of an objection brought by Randy Funk, a candidate for township supervisor running in the April election, which challenged the petition seeking to put the question on the April 6 ballot.

Algonquin Township officials continued the hearing Tuesday, the second time this month they’ve done so. Attorneys for both supporters and objectors to the petition still have more evidence to submit and cross-examinations to perform after two hours of argument Tuesday.

Funk said in his objection the petition had 193 signatures that he and other supporters of keeping the township intact suspect are invalid.

The petition contained 533 signatures gathered by the opponents of township government, who in this case were led in part by a request from former McHenry County Board Chairman Jack Franks and the McHenry County State’s Attorney Patrick Kenneally to get the abolition question onto the spring ballot.

To keep the question on track for the ballot, at least 445 signatures must remain valid by the Algonquin Township Electoral Board, which consists of township Supervisor Chuck Lutzow, Clerk Karen Lukasik and Trustee Daniel Shea.

Rob Hanlon, an attorney for the petitioners, moved to dismiss Funk’s objection to the petition, but the electoral board declined that request and decided to hear the evidence.

Michael Cortina, a lawyer representing Funk, said the petitioners are “terrified” of the electoral board looking at the evidence against the voter endorsements in question. Funk said 105 signatures he thinks do not match voter registration autographs, and another 88 where he thinks the signer doesn’t live in Algonquin Township and therefore cannot be used to certify the ballot question.

“My signature changes per my mood, which is every two minutes, so it’s really hard to know,” Lutzow said.

A member of the public during the hearing held over a Zoom video call raised concerns with the township electoral board hearing a matter involving an attempt to quash the very body they serve.

“We are not hearing a case to keep the township or not, we are hearing a case of an objection to invalid petitions,” Lukasik said.

Bob Anderson, who is a McHenry Township trustee and a longtime opponent of townships, helped to gather voter signatures for the petition to ask voters to do away with Algonquin Township.

Funk questioned some of the signatures gathered by Anderson, saying they may not be sufficient to support the petition.

“I stand 100% behind every signature I collected,” Anderson said in an interview, adding he obtained 199 endorsements. “I know the boundaries of the township. I made sure I was in the boundary. I went door to door. I talked to people on the street, in neighborhoods.”

The next hearing date, at which the Algonquin Township Electoral Board will hear more evidence from Cortina in support of removing the township elimination question from the April ballot, as well as defense from Hanlon, is set for 10 a.m. Jan. 15.

Once a decision is issued by the electoral board, either side could potentially appeal to the McHenry County Circuit Court to ask for a judge’s reversal of the electoral board’s action. Both attorneys said they were prepared to go to court.

“We are confident it won’t get that far, but if it goes to court, we are ready to defend residents’ right to determine the structure of their government,” Franks said, adding he thinks a judge would quickly overturn the electoral board’s dismissal of Hanlon’s motion to strike Funk’s objection.