Erik Sivertsen, McHenry County Board 2022 Primary Election Questionnaire

Full Name: Erik Sivertsen

What office are you seeking? McHenry County Board District 6

What offices, if any, have you previously held? McHenry School District 15 Board Member

Occupation: Construction Superintendant

Education: Associates Degree from McHenry County College

What would be your top three priorities?

Fiscal Responsibility should be a top priority of any elected official. I will not waste taxpayer resources and I will make sure that all of the county’s resources are efficiently utilized so that they bring the most value.

Transparency is a must. Anything that any unit of government does, should be open to the scrutiny of the public. No hiding behind loopholes in the Open Meetings Act. No backroom deals. All of the public’s business should be conducted in the open.

Protecting the quality of life. The citizens of McHenry County could choose to live anywhere, but we have chosen to be here. McHenry County is one of the last Conservative Counties in this part of the state. We don’t want to let Chicago’s failed policies destroy our great place to live.

Taxes are a top concern raised by voters locally. What do you do within your position to address residents’ tax burden?

I have a record from my time on the school board of opposing any tax increases, advocating for paying off debt rather than refinance the debt, and rooting out waste. I also worked to bring some common sense to the district’s projects. I will bring that same attitude to the county’s budget.

There is always waste in government spending and there are many opportunities to do things more efficiently that can save taxpayer dollars. We need to always work to reduce the scope and size of government. The government is less efficient than the market, so the less that the government does, the better.

Voters also cited crime as a concern. What do you think needs to be done to address this concern?

Law and order is necessary for a successful society. The priority must be on an equal application of justice. We need to restore the public’s trust in law enforcement. If we cannot maintain civil order, society falls apart. The authority for law enforcement and all of government comes from the people. If the government does not respect the dignity and rights of all human life, it is doomed to fail.

How would you encourage economic and employment growth within McHenry County?

The highest priority is getting the government out of the way.

The government should not have programs that pick winners and losers in the economy. The market is a much better regulator of who succeeds and who fails. Any dollar taken out of the pockets of citizens cannot be invested in growing the local economy.

We need to make McHenry County more business friendly instead of making it so difficult for new businesses to get started. McHenry County’s UDO is far too restrictive of businesses, and deters people from locating their businesses here and from expanding their existing businesses.

Do you think McHenry County should continue to challenge the new state law that prohibits its contract with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement? Why or why not?

The highest priority is getting the government out of the way.

What is the County Board’s role in addressing audit issues at the McHenry County Regional Office of Education?

As with everything, the county board needs to be more proactive and less reactionary. They should have addressed the problems as they arose instead of letting it get so bad for so long. The issues with the ROE were administrative and if they had been addressed properly and in a timely manner, would not have become such a mess. The board failed to do that.

The board should immediately address the vacancies in the Regional Board of School Trustees. They should be proactively finding trustees rather than have to react after a petition has been filed that needs to go before that board. With some of the new development happening in McHenry it is becoming more likely that the board may need to do its job and the board as it stands only has 1 of the 7 trustees.

What road and bridge infrastructure needs to be addressed in McHenry County?

Maintenance should be the priority. We don’t need to reinvent the wheel. Most of the county roads are either rural or residential. We don’t need to turn them into expressways that are wide enough to land a Boeing 747. There are some areas that really need work, especially when you drive further west in the county, and you could lose your whole tire in the holes. The priority should be restoration of the road surface, while preserving the rural character of McHenry County. As the county builds and revises it’s 2050 transportation plan, we need to look at McHenry County’s actual needs, not just Chicago and Springfields model for “improvement”.

What are the top issues facing Valley Hi Nursing Home and how should the County Board help address them?

They have identified a need for a memory care wing. As they move into this project, it will be important to keep the scope of the project narrow. Government projects have a tendency to grow, and to miss their budgets.

Assess the McHenry County Department of Health’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. What changes, if any, need to be made related to the pandemic or any future response?

The McHenry County Department of Health did an excellent job of tracking the pandemic in the county. Their website laid out clear statistics that made it easier to see what the status of the pandemic was, in McHenry County. The McHenry County School Metrics Dashboard was excellent. They very clearly defined what was actually being measured so that you could accurately understand the information that you were seeing.

If you could reverse one decision made by the County Board last year, what would it be?

McHenry County should have used more of the Covid-19 federal money to reduce the burden on taxpayers and instead has used it to increase the scope of government by adding new programs to the county government that need to be discontinued.

Do you think there is a local crime problem? If so, what needs to be done about it?

It is hard to miss the stories related to McHenry County’s drug problem. Drug related deaths are on the rise in our county and a drug problem brings with it a crime problem. Fentanyl Overdose is the #1 cause of death for Americans age 18-45. If we can address the addiction problem, that will fix the crime problem.

What local road and bridge projects should be a priority to get done in the county?

I have heard the statistic that nearly half of all bridges are more than 50 years old and that nearly 1 in 10 is structurally deficient. We have seen several examples of that in McHenry County in recent memory, where a bridge became unsafe. The most recent example is at the intersection on Johnsburg rd and Riverside drive. We need to be vigilant to make sure that we address problems as maintenance before they become major disruptions and even more expensive repairs.

Do you support decreasing local property taxes? If so, how would the county make up the difference?

Yes. Cut waste and reduce the size and scope of government.

I have a record as an elected official of voting against tax increases. I will continue to be a fiscally conservative representative. The current tax burden in McHenry County is driving people and businesses out of the state. We need to always be looking for ways to lessen that burden.

As we are all seeing, inflation has driven costs through the roof. The County will have to make changes and find more efficient ways to do things. As much as we see the cost of materials, fuel and other goods increasing, labor is really going to hurt the McHenry County budget long term.

It is hard to find enough people to fill vacant positions right now. As wages in the marketplace increase, and with inflation like this, and state and federal government meddling in wages, the County will have to match the market. Wages are a huge portion of the County budget and will be a major concern in upcoming years.

Do you support stronger county government ethics laws? What measures do you support?

Yes. Unfortunately most government ethics laws are reactionary. By the time the law is passed the unethical politicians have already found a way around it. The only way to have an ethical government is to elect ethical politicians. In Illinois that may sound like a contradiction, but electing better representatives is our responsibility as citizens.

What are your thoughts on the Illinois Freedom of Information Act?

There is always room for improvement, but my experience with FOIA in Illinois has almost always produced the documents that I was looking for. Unfortunately some units of government try and hide behind exceptions in the law. Those exceptions were designed to protect people’s individual rights and not to hide government screwups. Units of government should be more proactive in making documents available without them having to be requested.

Please state your plan to maintain government transparency.

As a school board member, when the school board voted against a crazy 6-figure proposal to begin recording and posting the meetings online, I bought a $100 camera and began recording them and posting them to Youtube myself. I even started scanning the board packets and posting them online, when the district refused to do it.

As a board member, I would prefer to do business in front of the public rather than behind closed doors. Just because there is an exception in the Open Meetings Act that allows the meeting to be closed doesn’t mean that it has to be closed. More often than not, the business being discussed in closed session should be discussed in open session.

What would you push for as a member of county government to boost local businesses?

As the county looks to the future in preparing its 2050 comprehensive plan, it should be looking for ways to get out of the way, so that the free market can flourish.

One of the ways that McHenry County could become more business friendly would be revising some of the more restrictive sections of the Unified Development Ordinance. There are portions of McHenry County’s ordinance that are more restrictive than municipalities. Landowners should be allowed to use their land as they see fit.

Should government employees and officials be allowed to sign non-disclosure agreements with private businesses?

No. I cannot at this point in time see any reason why this would be in the best interest of the citizens.

Would you push for or against government officials and employees being allowed to sign non- disclosure agreements with private businesses?

I have a proven record of pushing for government transparency and will continue to do so.