District 150 Approves Property Purchases

Oliver Hardy said it best. "This is another fine mess you've gotten me into."

We can probably direct that towards the District 150 School Board as they have approved over $870,000 of taxpayer money already spent in the purchase of property along Prospect Rd. They had already purchased these properties, at over market value, in secrecy. Last night's vote just made the whole process legal.

According to Clare Jellick's article in the today's Peoria Journal Star, two outside attorneys made queries into the legality of this debacle, citing that is was a violation of the Illinois Open Meetings Act. Over at the Peoria Chronicle, CJ Summers claims that the process was legal (and stupid). Due to the fact, if the proposed purchases were made public *before* the purchases is actually made, it would be difficult to get the real market price as the public would be aware what properties are in "play."

Many people might view this as someone made a woeful mistake. I don't think any mistake was made; the people responsible knew exactly what they were doing. Buy buying these houses first, it sets up the situation as having gone to far to turn back. Then last night, they can say "what can we do now? We must go foreword." If they turn back, they will lose money; taxpayer money that is.

I'm sure that all the sellers were required to agree to a confidentiality clause to keep all this secret. I'm no attorney and the way this was handled may have been legal, but it sure is shady and unethical in my opinion.

Common Sense of it All: I hear so many people are opposed to the plan of building this new school at Glen Oak Park and razing these homes, yet at last night's meeting, only 3 people spoke against this plan. Apathy is a real problem. People need to get more involved if we are to stop this madness.

Update: CJ Summers had been contacted by an actual attorney who claims that the 1972 Open Meetings Act had been amended several times. The long and short of it all is that District 150 School Board's actions may have been illegal after all. According to this attorney:

“There is more recent Ill. case law holding that a board of education violated the OMA when it held an executive (closed) session to determine that the planned public sale date of school property should be rescheduled.”

Please visit CJ's blog, The Peoria Chronicle for more.