‘We want to make sure work gets done for everybody’: Joe Chiarelli declares state of county ‘stable and productive’

By Kevin Haas
Rock River Current
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LOVES PARK — Winnebago County Board Chairman Joe Chiarelli declared the state of the county to be “strong, stable and productive” Wednesday during a speech before the local business community in which he outlined his administration’s accomplishments, priorities and future goals.

Chiarelli used his nearly 50-minute state of the county address at Forest Hills County Club to review the responsibilities of county government and reaffirm his administration’s priorities to public safety, economic development and infrastructure.

Chiarelli is the second of 10 speakers at the Parks Chamber of Commerce’s new legislative event series, which is meant to connect business and local government leaders. Mike Dunn, executive director of the Rockford airport, was the first speaker last month.

Related: Rockford airport working to land new passenger destinations

While Chiarelli used the majority of his speech to recap work that’s been done since he took office in December 2020, he also pointed to new initiatives and practices on the horizon.

“We have some exciting news we’ll be bringing forward next week about the coroner’s office,” he said without offering more details.

That office has been beleaguered since Coroner Bill Hintz was accused of stealing from the dead and other charges handed down in two separate criminal indictments in less than a year. Hintz, who initially refused calls to step down, eventually agreed to paid administrative leave in September pending the results of the criminal charges he faces.

“The only reason he agreed to be on administrative leave is because I locked the doors and I turned off his internet service, and then the sheriff towed his car,” Chiarelli said. “Was it legal? I don’t know. I can tell you this: Nobody else is doing anything, so we had to take a shot.”

County government leaders could soon have the ability to force an elected official facing criminal charges to take paid leave. A bill unanimously approved by the state Senate would allow elected officials to be temporarily relieved of their duties after certain charges. That bill now sits with the state House’s Ethics & Elections Committee.

Chiarelli said the office was “in shambles” after Hintz went on leave, but Deputy Chief Mark Karner of the Winnebago County Sheriff’s Department “did a great job by getting the office up to capacity.” Karner, however, died suddenly in early February at age 62.

Related: Winnebago County program to mentor people returning home after incarceration

Economic development

Chiarelli also hinted at two new businesses coming to the area of Baxter Road and Interstate 39. He said agreements are still being worked out with the companies, which he didn’t name, but he said they were spurred to locate there by Amazon.

In summer 2021, Amazon started building a 141,000-square-foot, $20 million last-mile delivery facility that will create an estimated 300 jobs in the Rock 39 Industrial Park.

“Now we have two other major manufacturing facilities that want to be nearby,” Chiarelli said. “One follows the other. So that’s great news for us.”

That corridor could be one of the most important in the county for development and job growth, he said.

He said the county is working with Four Rivers Sanitation Authority and New Milford to bring water and sewer west of I-39.

“This will ultimately spur growth and development and jobs in that corridor,” he said. “Right now they have no utility service there whatsoever, and they have an abundance of land.”

“We have got to get our act together and get that water west so we can spur more development.”

He said the County Board passed a comprehensive economic development strategy for 2021-25 to serve as a guiding document for how to best leverage funds for economic expansion. Doing so, he said, is key for both creating employment opportunities and curbing high taxes.

“While always viewing our county budget through fiscally conservative lenses, I know we cannot cut our way into prosperity,” he said. “I also know that the best way to keep the county’s portion of your tax bill low is by growing our tax base.”

Infrastructure

Chiarelli highlighted seven significant infrastructure projects the county plans to tackle this year:

• Charles Street from Alpine Road to Mulford Road
• Latham Road from Meridian Road to Owen Center Road
• Prairie Hill Road from Illinois 2 to Illinois 251
• Yale Bridge Road bridge over Sugar Creek
• Gleasman Road east and west of Illinois 2
• Perryville Path from Hart Road to Illinois 173
• East Riverside Boulevard from Material Avenue to Sage Drive

“Winnebago County has more infrastructure needs than available funding,” Chiarelli said. “My administration and the County Board are in the process of identifying a sustainable funding source for our infrastructure needs, which will include a long-term capital improvement plan to manage our infrastructure.”

Related: Here’s what’s on the largest capital plan in Rockford history

He said the county is also working on a water resource management plan “that will ensure water quality and quantity is equitable for all citizens in this county.”

On the horizon

Chiarelli said the county is also working on a blight reduction plan for unincorporated areas of Winnebago County.

It will involve mapping properties, reviewing existing ordinances to determine enforcement or needed changes and building capacity to demolish, repair or transfer ownership of the property when applicable.

He said the county is also creating a plan to handle garbage in the future. The Winnebago Landfill has about 2.3 million tons of trash buried inside it each year and it’s expected to reach capacity by 2034.

“I don’t believe it’s going to make it to 2034,” he said. “That’s problematic in my eyes.”

The plan will examine waste to energy and waste to fuel possibilities.

“We have to be very progressive in figuring out what we do with that garbage because I will not tolerate it being buried anymore,” Chiarelli said.

Strengths ‘need to be celebrated’

The chairman said he was sworn into office during a transitional time with a new county administrator who was roughly four months on the job and a new chief financial officer.

He also came in on the heels of a tumultuous time that saw the former chairman, Frank Haney, suing members of the board and being accused of harassment by members of his own administration.

“The culture and the environment was unstable,” Chiarelli said. “So we decided we’re going to push the reset button. And that’s what we did. We pushed the reset button.”

Chiarelli said he has tried to return civility and trust back to county government.

“We have many challenges and issues facing Winnebago County, but we also have many strengths and those need to be celebrated,” Chiarelli said. “We don’t fool around in the county. We want to make sure work gets done for everybody.”

This article is by Kevin Haas. Email him at khaas@rockrivercurrent.com or follow him on Twitter at @KevinMHaas.