Hotel owners want inside taxpaper wallets

Kudos to Jennifer Davis and Matt Buedel for two great articles.

Journal Star: Downtown hotel seeks city money

Owners of the Hotel Pere Marquette want $1 million a year in city tax dollars for the next 20 years for operation of the historic hotel, as well as a $6 million loan from the city for renovations, a city source said Thursday.

The city loan would be paid back through hotel profits, but it would not be guaranteed unless those profits emerge, said the city source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The proposal also reportedly includes a combined $6 million gift from Caterpillar Inc. and the Peoria Civic Federation, a private group of the area’s top CEOs.

City Manager Randy Oliver would not confirm details of the hotel’s proposal Thursday but said terms within it were “unacceptable,” though the city may be willing to work out a deal.

“The Pere Marquette made a proposal, and I think it would be up to them to say what that proposal consisted of,” Oliver said.

Neither Ron Samples, vice president of TransAmerican Investment Properties Inc., which owns the hotel, nor hotel manager Bill Carter could be reached for
comment Thursday

I’m willing to bet that a most of the Peoria City Council members who voted for closing Fire Station 11 will be enthusiastically in favor of this. After all, why waste money providing essential city services when you can bail out the owners of a luxury hotel.

And on a related note:

Journal Star: Civic Center panel may have violated Open Meetings Act

The Civic Center Authority may have violated the Illinois Open Meetings Act on Thursday by discussing financial options for the Hotel Pere Marquette in private, according to a Springfield attorney who specializes in media law.

That closed-door discussion with City Manager Randy Oliver included a recent proposal made by the Pere Marquette, said the authority’s liaison to the City Council, at-large Councilman Chuck Grayeb, who also attended.

The Downtown hotel reportedly has asked for $1 million per year in hotel, restaurant and amusement (HRA) tax dollars - which now repay bonds used to build the Civic Center - and a $6 million loan from the city that would be repaid only if improvements to the historic building turn a profit.

The proposal also includes a $6 million joint gift from Caterpillar Inc. and the Peoria Civic Federation, a group of area CEOs that includes Civic Center Authority chairman Dan Daly.

Though an executive session had been scheduled Thursday, its intent was not specified on the agenda. Before the meeting, however, Daly said it was to discuss “land acquisition,” one of the exemptions allowed under public meeting regulations.

“They have no reason to go into closed session” to discuss the proposed Pere Marquette deal, attorney Don Craven said afterward. The Civic Center Authority “is not giving money to the Pere; the city (would be). And, first of all, giving money to the Pere is not an exemption within the Open Meetings Act.”

HRA tax money is passed to the Civic Center through the city in an intergovernmental agreement. The Civic Center has no authority to route those funds to a separate entity. But even if it did, Craven said that would not allow the closed-door talks./

Here is the kicker:

Craven said a formal complaint would have to be made to determine what was said in the executive session and whether the discussion
was illegal.

Peoria County State’s Attorney Kevin Lyons said his office would investigate the possible violation if someone present at the meeting verified what topics were broached in executive session.

So, the complaint must be filed who by someone who actually met behind closed doors. My reading of this is that unless someone who actually
violated the law files a complaint, there would be no prosecution. Terrific. That’s Illinois politics for you.