Nine new McHenry County Board members will be sworn into office on Monday, joining 15 incumbents who were re-elected to new terms.

We wish the new County Board the best during what are challenging financial times. We remind each of the elected members that they serve the taxpayers and voters who put them into office, not any special interests who might not have the best interests of their districts in mind.

We also remind them that county government’s business is the public’s business. The public’s business, by law, must be conducted in public. We don’t want any more attempts to hide county business from the public similar to the secret meeting last year when some County Board members attempted to redraw board district boundaries without notifying the public.