Door bells and shoe leather

On Saturday, Patrick Murfin, with Meredith Reed Sarkees one of the Change for Nunda candidates for Township Trustee, was out canvassing for votes the old fashioned way—by ringing door bells and talking to actual voters. He had to work fast with a heavy spring snow storm threatening to close in. He will be hitting the bricks again next weekend. So will volunteers in other “urban” precincts.

While the tactic may be traditional, a high tech voter data base enables Democratic Party Precinct Representatives to target likely supporters. Getting those supporters to the polls on April 7 or to cast an early vote is critical to electoral success.

Voters, including those in more rural areas of Nunda Township, are also being contacted by phone and by post card mailing.

Look for us in your mail box and at your front door!

Patrick Murfin and Meredith Reid Sarkees, your Change for Nunda candidates, are campaigning hard for election as Trustees in Nunda Township.

Fifteen hundred post cards are already in the mail to Nunda Township mail boxes. A second wave will be going out at the end of the week. These cards will also be carried by the candidates and volunteer canvassers walking door to door in many urban precincts.

Early voting has already begun and continues through Thursday, April 2. Election Day is Tuesday, April 7. Make sure your voice is heard! Get out and vote. And remember to make sure to get the change we need, vote only for Murfin and Sarkees and not for any other candidates!

Join us to learn about water resources in Nunda Township

The Nunda Township Plan Commission will be hosting an informational presentation on the Future Supply of Groundwater in Nunda Township on Tuesday, March 24 at 7 pm at the Nunda Township Hall.

Meredith Reid Sarkees and Patrick Murfin, your Change for Nunda candidates for Township Trustee, will be in the audience to learn more about our critical water resources. This program promises to shed light on the need to preserve open space to aid in re-charging precious ground water, as provided for in the Open Space Referendum on the April 7 ballot, as well as proving a broad view of the challenges we face.

Nunda Township was identified as one of several townships in Southeastern McHenry County at risk of running low of groundwater supplies. This meeting is intended to provide background on the situation to local residents and municipal officials. Two speakers will be featured; Cassandra McKinney, the Water Resource Manager for McHenry County, and Janet Agnoletti, the Executive Director of the Barrington Area Council of Governments (BACOG).

McKinney staffs the county’s Groundwater Protection Task Force and its effort to create a draft policy for groundwater management for all of McHenry County. Agnoletti recently guided the preparation of a groundwater analysis of the BACOG area, with consultant Kurt Thomsen, which mapped out three dimensional layers of groundwater supply over more than 100 square miles, including portions of Nunda Township.The meeting will help guide Nunda Township Plan Commission efforts in its updating of the township’s comprehensive plan.

The Nunda Township office is located at 3510 Bay Road. From Crystal Lake Road, take Edgewood Road east and turn South on Bay Rd. Or take Edgewood Road west off of Rt. 31, then left on Bay Rd.

Signs, Signs, Everywhere are Signs...

Our Change for Nunda yard signs are in! If you would like to host a sign, please e-mail your request to pmurfin@sbcglobal.net. Hurry, supplies are limited!

CHANGE FOR NUNDA CANDIDATES ENDORSE OPEN SPACE REFERENDUM

Patrick Murfin and Meredith Reid Sarkees, candidates for Nunda Township Trustee, announced their endorsement of the Nunda Open Space Referendum on Tuesday, March 17.

Democrats Murfin and Sarkees are running together as the Change for Nunda ticket and are opposed by four Republican Team Nunda candidates.

Both Sarkees and Murfin supported the last Open Space Referenda in which the authorization to establish the program was passed, but the funding mechanism was narrowly defeated. Both, however, wanted to take a careful look at the new proposal.

“One of our main campaign issues,” Murfin said, “has been ‘how can we best preserve our threatened ground water resources and preserve open space as citizens buffeted by the economy while tax revenues stagnate or fall?’” He said a close examination of the referendum question in its present form convinced the candidates that it was the best option for preserving ground water and maintaining open and undeveloped land in a responsible and affordable manner.

Responding to critics of the referendum Murfin noted that intense development with its roads and rooftops really is a demonsratable threat to scarce ground water resourses. Land purchases under the program will insure that more rain water and snow melt will recharge the aquifer.

The program, which will save smaller and isolated parcels, does not in anyway duplicate or compete with the McHenry County Conservation District’s land acquisition program, which the MCCD itself has acknowledged.

The total bonding authority being requested has been reduced to 15 million dollars from the measure as it last appeared on the ballot. Yet currently falling land prices means that the same amount—or even more—land will be able to be acquired for preservation.

The twenty year level tax rate to repay the bonds means that costs to individual homeowners are reasonable and predictable—they will not rise. An average 250,000 home, for example, would see only a $44 yearly cost. “And open space is proven to enhance property values in the long run,” Murfin said, “many homeowners could find their costs offset by the rise in the value of their property.”

Murfin and Sarkees join elected officials from both parties in supporting the referendum including Nunda Township Supervisor John Heisler, State Senator Pam Althoff, and County Board District 3 members Kathy Bergan Schmidt and Barb Wheeler.

The measure is also endorsed by virtually every environmental organization in the county including the McHenry County Conservation Foundation, the Land Conservancy, Boone Creek Watershed Alliance, USDA Natural Resources Conservation District, The Sierra Club, McHenry County Audubon Society, Friends of the Fox, Environmental Defenders of McHenry County, and the McHenry County Soil and Water Conservation District Open Lands Project.

Agricultural and land owning interests including the McHenry County Farm Bureau and the Bull Valley Association are also on board.

“We feel we are in good company joining this broad support for the public good,” Murfin said.

Early Voting Begins Monday, March 16

Early voting for the April 7 Consolidated Election begins Monday, March 16 and continues through Thursday, April 2. This increasingly popular voting option is the choice of many busy people and insures that your vote is locked in and counted no matter how hectic election day turns out to be.

Meredith Reid Sarkees and Patrick Murfin, the Change for Nunda candidates are opposed by an entrenched political machine. We need bank every reliable vote now.
Please consider opting for early or absentee voting.

If you want change in Nunda Township, when you get to the polls cast your Trustee votes only for Murfin and Sarkees. There are four Trustee positions up for election and only two Democratic candidates. You are not required to cast 4 votes! Votes for any of the Republican candidates will pile up votes for them and lessens the chance that your voice for change will be heard.

Early Voting Will Be Conducted At:

McHenry County Administration Building
667 Ware Rd., 2nd Floor, Conference Room A
Woodstock, IL 60098
Mar 16th thru Mar 20th, Mar 23rd thru Mar 27th,
Mar 30th thru Apr 2nd
Hours: 8:30 AM to 4:30 PM
Saturday, Mar 21st and Mar 28th
9:00 AM to 1:00 PM

Nunda Township Offices
3510 Bay Rd, Annex
Crystal Lake, IL 60012
Mar 23rd thru Mar 27th, Mar 30th thru Apr 2nd
Hours: 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM
Saturdays--NO Hours

Early voting will also be conducted at a number of other locations in the county. Ballots for all jurisdictions will be available at each location. For a full list of locations and times consult the McHenry County Clerk’s web page.

Vote April 7--Donate Now

Last November the winds of change blew through Washington. Now the same refreshing breeze is stirring in McHenry County as we come up on the April 7 Consolidated Election.

Patrick Murfin and Meredith Reid Sarkees your Democratic Party candidates are challenging an entrenched Republican establishment in Nunda Township. Just when the storm of economic crisis intensifies, fresh eyes, hands and voices are needed in local government.

These are the issues:

• How can the Township serve the greater needs of citizens buffeted by the economy while tax revenues stagnate or fall?
• How can we best preserve our threatened ground water resources and preserve open space operating under these restraints?
• How can we coordinate planning with the County and local municipalities and re-think zoning and transportation systems geared to unsustainable sprawl?

Meredith and Patrick need you help to bring

Change to Nunda and end routine business as usual.

Please consider giving $100, $50, or $25 to Friends of Murfin and Sarkees. Even $5 or $10 would help us print literature, send out mailings, and buy the signs needed to challenge our well funded opponents and the political machine that backs them.

Just click on the convenient PayPal button in the left hand column to make a contribution.

Or send a check to:

Friends of Murfin and Sarkees
c/o Murfin
522 W. Terra Cotta Ave.
Crystal Lake, IL 60014