McHenry Times

In a fight to eliminate the McHenry Township Road District, Bob Anderson has become the center of attention yet again. 

Now, Anderson and his group, Citizens for Consolidation, is meeting weekly with like-minded individuals to brainstorm on a campaign aimed at influencing McHenry Township voters to abolish the road district and have its duties taken over by the township board. 

The grass-roots group does not yet have a website, and Anderson will not comment on who the other members of the group are. 

“We’re in the planning stages and laying out how we want to move up to the election in November,” Anderson told the Northwest Herald.

Citizens for Consolidation was formed in response to a controversial vote that tied McHenry Township residents to a referendum in the November election asking whether they want to abolish the road district. 

In 1994, Anderson spearheaded a referendum to abolish townships by switching to a county board with a three-member panel of trustees. The initiative was defeated by a 3-1 margin, according to the Northwest Herald article. 

McHenry Township Highway Commissioner James Condon and other consolidation opponents argue that getting rid of the road district would be disastrous. The county needs the extra funds from the road district taxes to maintain their transportation system, they argue. 

"(Bob Anderson is) not spending his time and energy providing proof that what he proposes saves any substantial taxpayer dollars,” Condon said to the Northwest Herald. “I’m sure we’ll put something together – an effort to educate the public on Bob Anderson’s half-truths.”

Condon and his supporters say they plan to start a similar campaign to persuade voters to vote against the road district referendum in November.