From a press release:

Peoria County Board member Brad Harding will be offering an amendment at the Thursday, September 9, 2010 monthly Peoria County Board meeting to place the museum bond referendum on the February or April ballot by a direct vote of the Peoria County Board.

The passage of the new bonding instruments offers this is an alternative to gathering 9,849 petition signatures which is the other way offered by the August 2010 affirmative Peoria County Board meeting vote.

I wonder if a majority of the Board will support giving a voice to the citizens of Peoria County.

UPDATE: Assistant State’s Attorney Bill Atkins says Harding cannot offer an amendment tonight. Here is his e-mail to Brad:

The public hearings for the bond issues for Bel-wood and the museum project are not action items for the County Board. These are opportunities for the public to be heard concerning these matters, not opportunities for Board Members to offer their own views of what should be done. Offering amendments to the actions previously taken by the Board on each of these items would be a violation of the Open Meetings Act because no action item has been placed on the agenda and notice has not been given to the public. Since 48 hours public notice must be given for action to be taken it is impossible to properly notice your proposed amendments for tonight’s meeting.

Even if your proposed amendments complied with the Open Meetings Act, I don’t think they are authorized by law. Backdoor referenda are a possibility for each of these bonds and if a sufficient number of citizens want a referendum on either or both of these bonds, then they can petition for such a referendum. The County Board has to be specifically authorized by law to place a binding referendum on the ballot and I am not aware of any law that would authorize such a referendum at this point in the process of authorizing these two bond issues.

William W. P. Atkins
Chief Civil Assistant State’s Attorney
Peoria County Courthouse
324 Main Street
Peoria IL 61602

The Peoria County Board will meet this evening at 6 p.m. in the County Courthouse, 324 Main Street, County Board Room 403. On tonight’s agenda is a required public hearing for the $41.6 million debt (bonds) to construct the proposed Peoria Riverfront Museum. If you ever wondered whether such public hearings were perfunctory, just remember that they already had the museum groundbreaking two days ago. That’s how highly they regard your opinion.

Nevertheless, this is an opportunity to tell the County Board — on the record — how you feel about these bonds. I would encourage all those who are concerned about this debt to attend the meeting tonight and make your voice heard. If you haven’t signed the petition yet, you can do so at the meeting tonight — members of the Block the Bonds group will be there collecting signatures.