Highland's $38 Million "Back Door Referendum"

 At Wednesday night's meeting of the Highland Community College Board of Trustees, the board will consider an "AUTHORIZATION AND DIRECTION TO MOVE FORWARD WITH PLANNING, DESIGN AND PERMITTING FOR THE FUTURE RENOVATION AND EXPANSION OF THE  OF THE SPORTS BUILDING (BUILDING S) according to the board's posted agenda.

The authorization will allow HCC to borrow $38 million for the project.  Below is a photo of the document trustees are being asked to approve.

Thirty-eight-million dollars is a big pile of money to borrow from the residents of northwest Illinois without much greater public input than the college has afforded inhabitants of Carroll, Jo Daviess, Ogle and Stephenson Counties, the couties that comprise the district of Community College District #519.

It's hard not to think the secretiveness was intentional on the part of HCC.  Clearly their goal has been to create a new facility and have known since the first discussion of this project that it would be dependent upon the college borrowing a huge sum of money from us, those that reside in the college's service area.

The college's pencil pushers and bean counters also knew such a massive borrowing would only be  possible through a legal process often called a "back-door referendum" whereby they can borrow the money but they have to publish a notice and allow 30-days for the public to gather a certain number of signatures of registered voters throughout the district to force the board of trustees to hold a referendum on the project.

Since making this issue known in the community many have asked "why can't they do this or that instead?" Many have good ideas on what the college could or should look like.  It is our community college and should be about serving the region, not only vision of the board of trustees.

However the board board of trustees and college employees have been pushing their vision for much of 2025 despite what others throughout the four-county area may think.  There has been no efforet to guage public opinion that I know of.  If HCC is going to spend $38 million on something, what do you think it should be?  If you live in the district it belongs to you as much as it is the elected, but temporary, board of trustees.  However the trustees appear to think it belongs to them and it's simply up to provide funding for their visions...practical or not.

Something that caught my attention was a sentence in HCC board meeting minutes from July 16 and under "Old Business" which read "If the College was proceeding with construction in the second half of 2026, the project bidding process would begin but that would be before the 30-day bond petition period would end,  which could also be problematic."

To the best of my knowlege this is the only time the possibility of using a back door referednum has been mentioned in recorded meeting minutes.  I am also troubled that the Highland Community College Board of Trustees would consider a possible referendum on the issue as "problematic."

They either have a plan that most of us will like and will accept or they don't.  The only reason to fear a referndum is if the board thinks their plan might not be accepted by the actual owners of the college, the residents of northwest Illinois.

As always, yours in honesty,

John Samuel Cook

2025

Stephenson County/Freeport Need Leaders With Vision

 Angela Kay Larson, the Chief Executive Officer of the Greater Rockford Chamber of Commerce was a guest on the morning news show on WQRF-39 and WTVO-17 today.  She was there to discuss the upcoming Midwest Aerospace Conference (MAC) which her chamber is helping to sponsor.

Ms. Larson touted the fact that the Chicago Rockford International Airport is currently the 14th largest cargo airport in the United States.  She stated, in paraphrasing, the area is fortunate to have the needed infrastructure, interstate, rail and the like to make the airport successful and help local businesses market their products.

Let's agree that Freeport needs its larger neighbor to the east, much of the economic activity  here is directly attributable to Rockford.  If Freeport has any plans of future prosperity we can not continue to ignore the potential benefits of having a proven international airport within 25-miles.

Freeport and Stephenson County should be expoiting our proxemity to the Chicago Rockford International Airport, which means we need to look at the major connecting roadway between here and there, U.S. Route 20.

Currently U.S. 20 is a limited access freeway around Freeport, becoming an expressway with cross traffic at grade from just east of Freeport to just west of Rockford where it once again becomes a limited access freeway.

Have any local officials written to the Illinois Department of Transportation about the potential of making the entire stretch from Freeport to Rockford a limited access freeway?

If Freeport is to have a robust economic future we can not continue to make the trip between here and Rockford longer.  Many of us are old enough to remember when their were no stop lights between the two municipalities, first came Pecatonica Road and then Winnebago corners.  How much longer before growth necessitates a stop light at Ridott corners?

Such a project requires years of planning and will not come without some complaining and  headaches, however such a highway would be safer and much more effecient for businesses and every day commuters.  Allowing greater marketibility for existing and potential residents and businesses of Freeport and Stephenson County.

Personally, I don't believe it is in our best interest to ignore the enormous economic potential the Chicago Rockford International Airport could have on Freeport and Stephenson County.

So I am of the hope that local leaders understand that we cannot completely sustain ourselves and then act accordingly.

As always, yours in honesty,

John Samuel Cook

2025