During the last month IBEW Local 197 contacted Cypress Creek Renewables and asked them to use local workers on two proposed solar farms according to Mike Raikes of the local. Raikes advised Cities 92.9 in an interview after the June 16 McLean County Board meeting that he contacted Cypress Creek but refused to disclose who he spoke with and abruptly ended the interview. Raikes had spoken during open comment at the meeting and advised that Cypress Creek had agreed to use local labor on both the Towanda Solar, LLC by Cypress Creek Renewals project and the Breezewood Solar, LLC by Cypress Creek Renewables project. After that the board voted unanimously to approve both projects as part of the consent agenda. This happened despite the fact that at last month’s meeting board attorney Don Knapp advised members to constrain their decision making process to what was presented to them by the Zoning Board Administration (ZBA) at that time.
IBEW is the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. Raikes is the Business Manager/Financial Secretary officer. Their hall is located at located at 2407 Beich Road in Bloomington. After Raikes cut off the interview Cities asked him what he was hiding. He refused to answer.
McLean County Board Member Jim Rogal who approached Cypress Creek officials after this months ZBA meeting last week and handed out business cards. Cities also interviewed Rogal after this months board meeting. Unlike Raikes, Rogal was very candid and forthcoming. He said all he said to those Cypress Creek representatives when he passed out his cards was that he hoped they would use local labor.
Rogal added, “Last month they (Cypress Creek) reached out to me just prior to the meeting and asked if I was going to support it and this was the first time I had heard from them and I asked if they were going to hire local workers and their response was they didn’t have time to work that out before the vote. So we delayed the vote for a month and the first time I had talked with Cypress Creek (at any length) was they called me 45 minutes before the meeting and advised they had worked out stuff locally.”
Why would it haven been appropriate for the board to remand this item back to the ZBA?
The board postponed the item.
Had it been remanded the ZBA could have sent a new report to the board this month and included new information on the local worker issue. Then board members could have discussed the subject in the clear without leaving the city open to a suit from the applicant.
This would also have been more ethical. As it happened we don’t know who Raikes talked to at Cypress Creek or how much pressure he put on the company and he left himself in a position where some might wonder if he committed extortion.
