McHenry Times

Blasting civic leaders for favoring family in hiring practices, Algonquin Township trustee candidate Rachael Lawrence is standing up to an archaic hiring tradition in her bid for trusteeship based on altruistic values.

Having leapt over several minor hurdles in her mission, such as overcoming administrative flaws in the application process, Lawrence has already proved her pro-active approach. First, she called out the township for unnecessary spending following its own paperwork errors, helping ensure that others’ paths would be smoother. Now, she is criticizing the overt nepotism she has observed among current township officials.

Recently, Lawrence told the township board that she was “appalled” to discover that hiring family members is so pervasive that plans are in the works for employing a fourth-generation relative for the highway department.

“I've heard many concerns from constituents about nepotism in this township — specifically within the Highway Department,” she told the McHenry County blog in a statement, adding that a recent Northwest Herald article quoted Highway Commissioner Bob Miller as stating, "You use 'nepotism' as a dirty word."

Lawrence acknowledged that in previous decades it was more common for rural jurisdictions to hand over the reins to kin, but at the same time pointed out the need to run the township as a government, not a family business. At a recent township board meeting, she requested that the township “adopt policies that denounce nepotism, ensure every job opening within the township is publicly posted, that everyone has a fair shot at employment, that interviews take place, and salaries be commensurate with the market standard.”