Story by Kevin Woodard
The McLean County Board finds itself in in a legal quagmire and only has itself to blame. At last month’s meeting on May 12, the board voted to postpone a request of Towanda Solar, LLC by Cypress Creek Renewables. The problem is board members are instructed not to consider any information that isn’t first brought up at the Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) in their decision making process. Postponing the decision does not allow any new information to be presented to the ZBA. The board could have remanded the request back to the ZBA to allow this to happen but chose not to do so.
Cypress Creek Renewals wants to build a solar farm southwest of Bloomington. Some members of the board would like to see local labor used on the project. However the ZBA did not include any stipulation regarding the use of local workers in the information they forwarded to council. The idea of some members is to simply postpone the decision so discussions regarding the use of local labor can take place. But that’s not the right process.
There is an old saying that “the road to hell is paved with good intentions.” The County Board just fired up its paver. How so?
If a matter is remanded to the ZBA then a record is made of the discussions and that information is forwarded to council. It’s a transparent process.
By only postponing the decision no one will know who talked to who about what. And that is a situation ripe for extortion.
As a matter of procedure the board should not allow anything that hasn’t gone through the ZBA to enter their decision making process. So postponing the decision a month should not impact their decision at all. But that’s not what is going to happen. You know it! I know it! We all know it!
Some members are going to allow the local labor issue to enter into their decision making process. And by doing so they will sink deeper into the quagmire they are already in. By their own actions they will cast a shadow of doubt on their own behavior. And some in the community will wonder what dirty back room deals may have taken place.
This can of worms was opened by Jim Rogal, a Democrat, who moved for the postponement. Rogal said that after the ZBA meeting people reached out to him regarding using local workers on the project.
The motion was seconded by Sharon Chung, a Democrat, and candidate for state house in the 91st district whose campaign has received $28,500 from unions.
Chuck Erickson, a Republican, was quick to ask about the procedural issue regarding postponing versus remanding the item.
States Attorney Don Knapp, acting in his capacity as legal council for the county, reminded the board that they should, “constrain their opinion to what was said at the ZBA. Constrain your decision to what is contained in the record. It is easier to defend your decision.”
Jim Soeldner, a Republican, asked, “Next month, when this comes back, is their going to be documentation?”
Knapp reiterated his admonition, “If this comes back my recommendation will be the same, to constrain your decisions to what happened at the ZBA.”
Erickson, who is also an attorney, then stated his opinion saying, “It seems to me that this has to go back to the zoning board to get it in the record.”
Knapp interjected, “That is always an option for this board, to remand to the ZBA for further proceedings.”
Catherine Metsker, a Republican, then went on a ramble in which among other things, ironically, she used transparency as an argument to support a process that will not be transparent.
“I believe the reason to defer this is so that the union (which) has not had an opportunity to meet with this vendor, to try to get some kind of a labor agreement with them,” Metsker said. “We continue to talk about transparency and having the public knowledge about what is going on and that’s the reason that member Rogal is asking it to be delayed to allow some opportunity for these labor unions to try to get this particular vendor to agree to use local labor, which I am in favor of.”
Erickson replied, “That still doesn’t change the analysis. The analysis still has to be where does that information come in first. If we are constrained to only discuss what was presented to the ZBA, which we have been in prior cases, then as a matter of process it has to go back to the ZBA.”
Erickson then made a substitute motion to remand the issue back to the ZBA. However, the motion died for lack of a second.
Board member George Wendt then stated the obvious saying, “Are we just delaying this to force the company to use local labor? Is that the idea here? … that’s what it sounds like to me.”
The motion to postpone passed with four no votes. The measure will be back before the board at its June 16 meeting.
Alas, the die is cast.
