Stephenson County Board to consider endorsing Gov. Rauner’s Turnaround Agenda
FREEPORT — The Stephenson County Board will consider a resolution supporting Gov. Bruce Rauner’s sweeping Turnaround Agenda on Thursday, after the County Board’s Finance Committee narrowly supported it Monday.
Stephenson County Board Chairman Bill Hadley said a Rauner representative indicated Rauner wasn’t interested in Winnebago County’s version that removed some anti-union provisions, so committee members only voted on sending Rauner’s original version to the full County Board. That motion passed 4-3.
Stephenson County is just the latest local government to consider the resolution to support Rauner’s crusade against unions and state policies that encumber local governments. Rockford City Council approved it April 20; other entities that have supported it include Winnebago, Elk Grove Village, McHenry County, Iroquois County, Effingham County and East Dundee.
The Turnaround Agenda calls for reforming pensions, eliminating unfunded mandates, creating right-to-work zones via referendum and eliminating statewide prevailing wages on government contracts. It also would allow voters or local governments to redefine what would be allowed in negotiations with unions. Wages, health insurance, use of employee time, staffing levels and job review criteria are among issues that Rauner wants excluded from collective bargaining.
Stephenson County Finance Committee Chairman Alvin Wire said taxpayers could be affected as local governments could save money if the prevailing wage laws were changed; smaller, nonunion businesses currently not eligible to bid on county projects could become eligible.
Finance Committee members Jeffrey Mikkelsen, Sheila Hooper and Samuel Newton voted against sending the proposal on to the board. Mikkelsen said he didn’t believe the resolution was worth the County Board’s time.
“I’m against the right-to-work language,” Mikkelsen said. “I’m a union guy, and I would like the County Board to just vote it down directly.”
Ann Coan, of the United Steel Workers Local 745, agreed with Mikkelsen. A Titan Tire employee, Coan was among a dozen or so people who rallied against Rauner’s resolution outside the Finance Committee meeting Monday.
“Having union wages kept (Titan Tire employees) at a livable wage,” she said. “I don’t think (having nonunion and union employees) work next to each other is conducive to a good working relationship with employees.”
Hadley said County Board members must decide whether to pass the resolution, but he ultimately believes the issue is for the state Legislature to decide, not individual counties.
“We have a lot of problems, and dragging the counties and municipalities into this isn’t what’s going to change things,” he said. “The Republicans and Democrats need to work together, not force the issue to the counties. I don’t disagree with the governor’s resolution as a whole, just some of the union stuff. I don’t like the idea of opening up individual counties to right to work.”
The County Board meeting starts at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at the county boardroom at the Stephenson County Courthouse, 15 N. Galena Ave., Freeport.