Category Archives: City Council

City Council, Heart of Peoria Plan, Southtown

Council roundup: Southtown deal approved

The council did the right thing by not delaying the vote on the Southtown project any longer.  The motion to defer was overturned and the council voted 10-1 to approve the project.

I wasn’t too thrilled about delaying the vote at the request of Methodist or OSF, but I thought Gary Sandberg had some excellent points regarding the suburban design of the building and the proposed density of the development.  Whatever is built in Southtown should be required to conform to the Heart of Peoria Plan.  If there is no process to facilitate that requirement, the Heart of Peoria Commission and the City Council should develop one.

Annexation, City Council

Council roundup: Crusen’s request to leave city deferred

Crusens wants their newly-acquired Hunts property at the corner of Farmington and Park roads to be annexed to West Peoria.  To do that, they have to get permission from the City of Peoria to disconnect from the city.  City of Peoria staff recommends denying that request, so Crusens asked for a one-week deferment.

After some acrimonious comments from Councilman Morris (who clearly is against letting the Hunts property out of the city), the council approved the deferral.

City Council, Southtown

The courtesy of a deferral

Second-district councilperson Barbara Van Auken laid out her case for granting “the courtesy of a deferral” to OSF, Methodist, or any business that has shown a long-term commitment to the city/community.  She wanted to make it clear that by doing so, she’s not favoring one project over another.  I believe her.

But, I can’t help but think she may have been used by the hospital(s) to affect the outcome anyway, however unintentionally.  Take a look at this report from the Journal Star today:

More than likely, the Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board will only approve one such acute-care facility for the Peoria area, as it recently did in Springfield with two competing proposals.

There, Select Medical was not chosen because it filed second.

Notice the timing issue — “Select Medical was not chosen because it filed second.”  Could it be that the one week deferral provided Methodist with the ability to get in their application for a “certificate of need” first?  And, if so, wouldn’t that give them quite an advantage in the competition for a state permit?

I could be all wet.  I hope I am.  But I’ll be interested to see the dates on the applications.

City Council, Renaissance Park, Southtown

Methodist to city: We don’t need your help

The Journal Star reports today that Methodist Medical Center, along with RehabCare of St. Louis, is going to try to bring a long-term, acute-care facility to Renaissance Park (f.k.a. The Med-Tech District).  This is the same kind of facility Select Medical would like to bring to Southtown.  However, the state will likely approve only one such facility for Peoria, so we have a competition on our hands.

The City is apparently in favor of Methodist, as evidenced by its deferral of approving the sale of the land in Southtown to Select Medical last week.  But Methodist is saying (publicly, at least), “Thanks, council, but we can compete in the marketplace without your help”:

“We have no concerns [about Select Medical’s bid]. Whoever is telling you that is a liar,” [Methodist CEO Michael] Bryant said. “If they beat us to the punch, they win. This isn’t a city issue. It comes down to a certificate of need issue. The best thing is for the city not to take any sides.”

I couldn’t agree more.  The council should reconsider the deferral tonight and vote to let the Southtown sale go through.

City Council, Southtown

Polly says it all

Polly Peoria has the right take on the Southtown deal:

Peoria very well might be better off if Methodist and/or OSF build their planned facilities and the would be buyer of the vacant lot be shut out. However, that is the role of the market place, not local government (no matter how noble their intent) to decide.

Didn’t somebody say they didn’t think government should be into choosing the winners and losers?  If this isn’t just that sort of situation, I don’t know what is.

City Council, Southtown

Nichting wants to reconsider the Select Medical deferment

Fifth-district councilman Patrick Nichting doesn’t want to wait three weeks to decide on Select Medical Corporation’s offer to buy a four-acre plot in Southtown. A motion to reconsider comes up Tuesday night:

Communication from Council Member Nichting Requesting RECONSIDERATION OF THE MOTION TO DEFER ITEM NO. 06-026 Regarding OPTION AGREEMENT with SELECT MEDICAL CORPORATION, LLC., for the PURCHASE of CITY-OWNED PROPERTY, (Bordered by Hightower, R.B. Garrett, and Richard Pryor Way), in the Amount of $714.384.00.

City Council

Council to decide whether to keep Hunts property in city

The City Council will decide Tuesday night whether to let the former Hunts property be disconnected from the city so it can be annexed to West Peoria. As you may recall, Crusens bought the neighboring Hunts property when Hunts closed for good last year. Hunts is in Peoria, whereas Crusens is in West Peoria.

I would expect the city to give the okay to disconnect it, but who knows? Maybe one of the other bars in town will ask the council to defer this a couple weeks so they can understand the deal better….

City Council, Southtown

Southtown

An anonymous commenter wondered why there has been no discussion from bloggers about the council’s deferral of a $9 million development in Southtown.  So, anon, this is for you.

A Pennsylvania company wants to build a long-term acute care hospital.  They’re not asking for any financial assistance from the city, and are willing to pay $714,384 for the four-acre parcel.  It would create 100 jobs. This sounds like a slam-dunk deal, doesn’t it?  Why in the world was it deferred?

Well, Second District Councilperson Barbara Van Auken wouldn’t say in the meeting (isn’t that intriguing?), but she later told the Journal Star that “a lawyer for OSF Saint Francis Medical Center contacted her Monday, asking for more time to understand the deal. Since St. Francis is planning a $250 million expansion and is one of the area’s largest employers, Van Auken said she didn’t see a problem with giving them the courtesy of a deferral.”

Let’s think about this for a second.  Who does this lawyer work for?  OSF.  And so who’s interests is he looking out for?  OSF’s, right?  Does he care about the city’s interests?  Only insofar as it furthers OSF’s interests.  And so, why does he need to “understand the deal” before the city can act on this offer?  Why is it in the city’s interests to defer the vote?

The statement from the Journal Star seems to imply that it’s because “St. Francis is planning a $250 million expansion and is one of the area’s largest employers.”  So?  What’s that got to do with the price of eggs in China?  As I read it, this deal is between the City of Peoria and Select Medical Property Ventures, LLC.  It doesn’t involve OSF at all.  In fact, OSF could potentially be a competitor if they have any plans to enter into the “long-term acute care” market.  It wouldn’t be any stretch of the imagination to consider that could be in their long-term plans, would it? So, again I ask, why is the city delaying the vote so that OSF’s lawyer can “understand the deal”? If you run a personal injury law firm, one of your top priorities in the business will always be getting new clients and signing more cases. Daniel Hegwer are a team of personal injury trial lawyers with proven expertise handling injury cases.

Delaying the vote so OSF can weigh in on the deal can only mean one thing:  OSF and a majority of the council believe that OSF should have a place at the table when deciding where, how, and perhaps if new medical establishments locate in Peoria. And that’s troubling.

Why should a land deal in Southtown have to get OSF’s go-ahead before the council can vote on it?

City Council, Illinois American Water

Council Roundup: Water buyout defeated again

Last night, the city council voted down a proposal to pay $37,500 in consultant fees toward an effort to get RWE AG to sell off Peoria’s portion of Illinois American Water Company.

There was so much spin put on this issue at the meeting, I started getting dizzy. The item itself seemed pretty straightforward to me:

Communication from the City Manager Requesting Authorization to Enter into a CONTRACT with CLARK-DIETZ, in an Amount Not to Exceed $50,000.00, for the CITY OF PEORIA to EXPLORE the COOPERATIVE PURCHASE of the WATER SYSTEM from ILLINOIS AMERICAN WATER COMPANY with the CITIES of PEKIN, URBANA, and CHAMPAIGN, and the UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS.

Sounds like they want to explore purchasing the water company, doesn’t it? But to hear the discussion last night, it appeared everyone agreed that this wasn’t going to work. Nevertheless, one argument after another popped up to go ahead and spend the money anyway:

  • It will show we’re good neighbors and help us build bridges to other Illinois cities
  • It will “get us on the radar screen” of the guy at RWE who makes the decisions on how to sell the company — perhaps he’ll have a change of heart
  • It will force RWE to disclose to a potential buyer that Peoria has an option to repurchase its portion of the water company every five years, and that may change the amount RWE is able to sell the company for
  • It’s not that much money — some council members drove to the council meeting in vehicles that cost more than $37,500

Boy, those are compelling. When you’re going to be spending over eight billion dollars for a company, I’m sure Peoria’s 1.5% share ($122 million on the private market) is going to be a huge consideration. Ironically, knowledge of Peoria’s buyout option could actually sweeten the deal, once the buyer learns that selling the water company to Peoria means they get an extra $100 million than they would get in the private sector.

But my favorite is the last one — “aw, shucks, 37 grand ain’t all that much money. Heck, let’s just put it in a Valentine’s Day card and mail it to Champaign-Urbana as our way of saying, ‘gee, you guys are swell!'” As long as the city’s feeling so friendly, can you send me $400 to help me pay my Ameren bill? I’ll be happy to send you a letter telling you RWE isn’t interested in selling the water company in pieces. You’ll get your rejection and save $37,100! It’s a win-win!

Wiser council members prevailed. The vote was 8-2 against spending the money.