The Freeport City Council...Professionalism...or Lack Thereof?

Today's column by Freeport City Manager Lowell Crow piqued Tutty's interest.  Manager Crow wrote that, "The City is leveraging the downtown TIF money to be able to sell a government bond value of $1 million.  This bond is backed and secured by tax increment financing revenues to secure and guarantee the government bond."  According to Manager Crow's column the money generated would be used, "to develop a revolving loan fund for economic growth downtown."

Tutty believes the public has a pertinent interest when the Freeport City Council is discussing taking on additional debt. While Manager Crow stated that this bond will be backed by TIF funds, in most cases bonds such as this are referred to as "double-barreled" bonds, meaning they are backed by general taxes as well as other specific sources in order to secure a more favorable interest rate.

As a result, Tutty began seeking more information.  Tutty sought out the agenda on the City of Freeport's website, to no avail.  For whatever reason the agenda was not posted on the website, which is a problem.  The Illinois Open Meetings Act requires an agenda to be continuously available for public perusal a full 48-hours prior to the noticed meeting.  Because the City does not post their agenda where the public can see it for the required amount of time, such as on the front door of where the meeting will be held, as the Freeport Park District or Stephenson County Board does, the City can comply with the 48-hour requirement by posting the agenda on the City's website and having it available for the full 48-hour time frame.  However there was not a link to the agenda.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Manager Crow stated in his column that, "Monday night, the City Council will approve the sale of this bond to begin that process."  This statement bothered Tutty as how does he know the City Council will approve this bond?

Tutty made a few calls and, amazingly, the agenda showed up on the City's website shortly after noon on Sunday, April 15, 2018 with the meeting being pushed back by a day, until Tuesday, April 17th in an obvious effort to comply with the Illinois Open Meetings Act.  However, all the agenda has done is raise more questions.

Here is a link to this ordinance, Ordinance 2018-25, for those that want to read it for themselves. http://www.cityoffreeport.org/2018%20Agenda%20Hyperlinks/2018-25%20Draft%20Bond%20Ordinance%20-%20Downtown%20TIF.pdf

The ordinance is clear that the Freeport City Council is using home rule powers to borrow this money without published notice.  Second, the ordinance contains no mention of the amount of money being borrowed, interest rate or specific re-payment terms.  Third, there is not one single mention of TIF or tax increment financing in the ordinance supplied with the agenda.  Fourth, the ordinance is clear that the Freeport City council is going waive their own rules and pass this ordinance on a single reading with very limited public notice.

 

 

 

So why is it so important for the City Council to pass this bond ordinance immediately?  Is there a bona fide emergency the public should know about?

 

And while the City Manager's column claimed that this borrowed money will be used for "economic growth downtown" however, the language of the ordinance paints a different picture.  The ordinance states this:

"This Bond is one of a series of bonds (the “Bonds”) issued by the City for the

 

purpose of financing capital municipal improvements in the City including, but not limited to,

financing the City’s downtown development, and paying expenses incidental thereto, all as

described and defined in the ordinance of the City, adopted by the City Council of the City on

the 16th day of April, 2018..."



 

Another problem rests with the city clerk as this ordinance, Ordinance 2018-25, requires the city clerk to "certify" that this ordinance was "continuously available for public review during the entire 72-hour period preceding said meeting."  Here is the exact language the city clerk will be asked to certify if the ordinance is passed on Tuesday night, with less than 72-hours of being available for the public to peruse.

 

So will the city clerk certify with her signature that this ordinance has been available to the public for the full 72-hour time period, possibly committing fraud?

While the public has been promised more "professionalism" from Freeport City Hall, that sure seems to be a long way from fact in Freeport, Illinois.  Either way, Freeport City Council members should have some very pointed questions for the Mayor, Freeport City Manager and Freeport City Clerk, unless they really are asleep at the wheel.

As always, yours in honesty, Tutty Baker,  tutty.baker@gmail.com