Six Million Dollar Man

Six Million Dollar Man

Will County Forest Preserve District

The first plan I ever worked on was the Will County Forest Preserve Land Acquisition Plan.  Will County was and is a rapidly growing County south of Chicago. The team leader of the planning process was Don Eibling. Marla Uttech Gursh and I assisted. We mapped potential open space throughout the County, with an emphasis on wetland and floodplain where most of the wooded property was located. The plan was initiated in 1973  and largely completed in 1974 and became part of the Will County General Plan adopted in 1976. I used to kid Eibling that he put any property in the County with floodplain and a tree on it in the plan. It was an excellent plan, especially considering that it was the first plan any of us had written.

Tom Murphy was the Executive Director of the Will County Regional Planning Commission and our boss. He was an aggressive and fearless individual who was passionate about planning and open space. But he irritated many County Board members for a variety of reasons. 

There was a faction on the County Board who wanted to buy open space and supported Murphy. There was another contingent that did not care about open space but wanted flood control for Joliet that would be provided by flood reservoirs to be developed in Forest Preserves on Hickory and Spring Creeks. And there was a third faction that did not care about either but wanted to get Murphy.

Mary Lou Marzuki was the citizen  who led the political fight to get the County to pass a bond issue to start buying open space. She led a small committee, but it was mostly her who met with the County Board frequently, quietly convincing them that the County needed to purchase open space.  We provided good technical support, but she was vital to building political support. We of course supported her. I watched her single handedly convince a number of County Board members that they should pass a major bond issue.

And so the County Board made the political deal. In exchange for passing the 6 million dollar bond issue for open space acquisition, Murphy was fired. And so Tom Murphy became the six million dollar man.