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County employees will continue to enjoy low rent in 65 Cook County Forest Preserve houses after a measure to increase the rate failed at a forest preserve board meeting Wednesday. Some forest preserve employees pay between $225 and $450 a month for homes in locales like Barrington, Rolling Meadows, Palatine, Streamwood, Mount Prospect, Elgin, Elk Grove Village, Hoffman Estates and Barrington Hills. Seven commissioners, led by Chicago Democrat Forrest Claypool, pushed to a vote a measure that would have required the district's superintendent to implement a system charging the current tenants close to market rate for their homes. Claypool argued that Cook County Board President John Stroger has used the homes to reward political friends. In a year when commissioners voted to raise the tax levy for the district, commissioners should have voted to do something that would have lowered the district's expenses by hundreds of thousands of dollars, Claypool argued. "The average family that's out there trying to pay their mortgage, ... it's just really got to be galling to see these mansions being handed out for a song to politically connected employees," Commissioner Mike Quigley said. "It's like a stick in the eye, and I think we owe them more than that. Stroger and district employees have said the houses come with a higher cost: constant duty and being on call for park patrons. As part of their rent break, "watchmen" are required to report graffiti, litter, crime and other problems when they see it. Claypool pointed out that the number of reports watchmen filed last year averaged just four per person, a number the district does not dispute. But district spokesman Steve Mayberry said the watchmen also are required to work one weekend a month and sometimes two at district headquarters. In addition, all watchmen are given firefighting training and are required to be on call to fight prairie fires at the preserves. Mayberry, himself a watchman, said watchmen have been called to fight fires, although he could not cite a specific number of times. Additionally, the district's chief attorney, Robert Kinchen, wrote a memo to the park district superintendent saying he believed if the district charged market rates, the homes would lose their tax-exempt status, something Claypool disputes.