Adler Named Special Administrator For COVID-19 By Prenzler
By Stephanie Malench
Madison County Board Chairman Kurt Prenzler appointed Steve Adler 
in mid-March to a temporary position as Special Administrator for the COVID-19 response team in Madison County. Prenzler said he selected Adler because of his 20+ years of experience with the Alton Mental Health Center and his good track record as a manager/administrator in county offices.
Adler work be working in a support role across departments, including emergency management, public health, and economic development. According to Prenzler, there is “no job description”, as the job is fluid.
One of the first things Adler did was start a Daily Update on March 29 on the website and social media of the total number of positive tests confirmed, deaths, total persons tested, pending tests, gender and age range for the cumulative cases up to that day.
Adler was most recently the Executive Director of the Metro East Sanitation District from 2017-2019. During that time he had all of the pumps brought back into working order and automated, eliminating nonessential jobs and bringing the budget back into the black after losing $70,000 a year. He was also a Madison County Board Member for 12 years.
Adler is receiving the same $94,000 yearly salary he received at the MESD.
County Board Chairman Kurt Prenzler has seen fit to use the money sent the county to address the virus situation for: 1. Giving his unemployed sidekick, retired maintenance man Steve Adler, the job of heading the county’s anti-virus program, and 2. to send out messages advising folks to stay separated.
Number 2 is legitimate. It is undoubtedly intentioned to get Prenzler’s name in front of potential voters and that will be helpful to him politically. But separation is the core of the national public health strategy and any urging to do it will help.
As for Number 1, hiring Adler for a top public health job in the middle of a pandemic is not only cheap-shot corruption, it can be downright dangerous.
Adler will have an interest in making Prenzler look good and Governor Pritzker look bad. This could well subsume any public health considerations. Prenzler has already used the situation as pretext for maligning the Sheriff, who is a Democrat. That is the Sheriff and his deputies and staff who are going to work each day to keep us safe in the midst of disease.
I have written to the governor and to the local papers about the appointment of Adler. I suggest that it is not only unconscionable plunder of money provided for virus defense, it is also demonstrates a pathological indifference to public safety. I hope many more will ask the governor and other authorities to investigate Prenzler vis-à-vis Adler.