The Deep State of Geneva’s Administrative Kleptocracy: The Malone Funeral Home Illegal “Special-Use/Variance” Fraud

Below are three provisions of the Geneva Municipal Code.

“Title 11 – Zoning

11-1-2: – INTERPRETATION:
B. Where the conditions imposed by any provision of this title, upon the use of land or buildings or upon the bulk of buildings, are either more restrictive or less restrictive than comparable conditions imposed by any other provision of this title or of any other law, ordinance, resolution, rule or regulation of any kind, the regulations which are more restrictive or which impose higher standards or requirements shall govern.

11-14-4: – SPECIAL USE PERMITS:

Authority: The city council has the authority to grant special use permits in accordance with the provisions of this title.

11-14-5: – VARIATIONS:

Authority: The city council has the authority to grant or deny requested variations in accordance with the provisions of this title.”

Here is a quote from the Geneva Plan Commission agenda of July 22, 2021: “The applicant is making these requests in accordance with Section 11-14-5 (Variations) of the Geneva Zoning Ordinance.” But this statement is incorrect because it conveniently misplaces the phrase “in accordance with.” Accordance with the entire “title 11” was mandatory but fraudulently skipped over. A Special Use Permit was illegally joined to the Variances. Malone’s requests for a Special Use and Variances were simultaneously recommended for approval by the puppet Plan Commission and approved via collusion between the City Council and the mayor’s “professional” staff. In fact, the funeral home was not eligible for either a Special Use or a Variance because it was illegally expanded without the required Special Use Permit twenty years ago (early in the reign of the sitting tyrant.)

1-2-1: – RULES OF CONSTRUCTION: 5. May/Shall: The word “may” is permissive; the word “shall” is mandatory.

I am confident that any Geneva middle schooler, after being informed by the teacher that the Geneva Code defines “shall” as “mandatory” and that 11-14-4 is indisputably more restrictive than 11-14-5, could read the above and answer the following question correctly: “Under Geneva’s Code of Ordinances can an applicant for a Special Use Permit simultaneously successfully apply for Variances from the mandatory standards of the Special Use under 11-14-4?”

The seventh-grader would answer: “Of course not, under 11-1-2 the Code requires that the Special Use Provisions of Title 11 “shall (must) govern.”

Special Use Standard 8: “The proposed building, other structures and use comply with any and all regulations, conditions or requirements of the city applicable to such building, structure or use.” This standard adopts and mandates that ALL the provisions of the Municipal Code be met!!! No wiggle room existed until the current mayor took office decades ago. Now the City Council has completely destroyed the Special Use property value protections in Geneva and has infringed on a fundamental individual property right. Do not complain when the mayor approves a Tilted Kilt and massage parlor next to your house. (The Dunkin’ developer does these also.)

Parents ordinarily imbue their children with the principle that their default position on rules should be to understand and obey them. This is not to say that a rule cannot be protested and changed through the processes defined under our constitutional republic.

The “adults” on the Geneva Plan Commission and Geneva City Council (most of them parents themselves) have set many bad examples where they have violated, for political gain, their oaths of office and openly defied the rules they swore to uphold. What part of 11-1-2 do they not comprehend? Should Genevans let them get away with this treasonous usurpation of power? What kind of town is Geneva, and where is it headed?

Dunkin’s Bait & Switch on Neighborhood Amenities

If You live near any City of Geneva project, never take your eye off the peanut while playing the City of Geneva zoning shell game. (Warning: the game is fixed.)

During the City’s evisceration of its formerly robust Special Use Ordinance during the Dunkin’ application (approved when the mayor broke the tie) at State and Crissey, many forced unlawful conditional kinks were embedded. Only two of these kinks are discussed here as examples: 1) The shell game that omitted the required trees on the parkways, and 2) the shell game surrounding the electrical service that made losers out of the neighbors and winners of the mayor’s friends, the Twisted Kilt franchisers. The two subterfuges are related.

First, parkway trees were required to be planted as part of the development. This streetscape upgrade was ostensibly to improve the appeal of the project and to enhance the neighborhood. The City waived this requirement and belatedly collected a few hundred dollars in lieu of the trees. “Overhead wires” were cited as the justification for this penalization of the neighbors. Not mentioned was the illegal retaining wall abutting the sidewalk and encroaching on the parkway, limiting room for trees. Also not mentioned was the fact that the offending pole and wires were to be removed entirely as part of the electrical plan. If you think the Geneva Plan Commission has its eyes open, think again.

The second electric service shell game was “highlighted” by its total absence from the discussion of the Committee of the Whole meeting of February 22, 2022.

Attention is called to Dawkins’ claim that “no funds had yet been disbursed…” This was not a truthful statement.

The above is a line in the Geneva financial reports. For the reader to follow this $30K peanut under its shell, the actual applicable electrical service plan must be known. What has existed since early 2021 is overhead wires to the pole at the “back” SW corner of the Dunkin site and then down the pole and under the sidewalk to a transformer in the overcrowded encroached parkway, then drilled underground through the LUST site while dumping the removed contaminated soil on the parkway without the IEPA required precautions (or knowledge.) Mr “P,” the payee, was a member of the Dunkin’ team.

The latest publically known plan for the site is that of IDOT from last fall, seen below:

dunkin-idot-p72-plan Download

This plan does not accurately describe the electric service provided by the City of Geneva right now, July 11,2022. The note highlighted in yellow in the left lower corner reads: “Upgraded electric service to be installed underground from intersection of Oak and Crissey to transformer.” The “upgrade” was “refunded” to the Tilters. Not even a Fifth Ward Alderman took notice.

So, the City Council approved (years ago now) a Special Use” plan that fails several of the “must” be met nine criteria. Then the mayor’s “professional” minions manipulate the approved plan to reward the tax-scoff developer and apply its “forced unlawful conditional kinks” to illegally screw the neighborhood and taxpayers while sending a check of $30K of laundered refund juice money to the developer. So much for Dawkins’ “designated points of completion.” The “developers’ issues” were all self-inflicted so they could receive “first aide” from the City by taking away property value and amenities from the neighborhood.

Alderman Kilberg should ask again about “legal recourse,” but this time he should ask the Attorney General and the State’s Attorney. He should also demand that no occupancy permit be granted until the electric service is buried from Oak and Crissey as promised.

To the Geneva City Council: Release the Minutes and Tapes of the February 10th and 24th, 2020 Secret Closed Sessions or Resign

July 5th is a good day to begin refocusing on “… when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is [the people’s] right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.”

The Degroot to Manning email of Feb 25, 2020, with the “again last night” phrase (see page 22 of the document below) is part of a long train of abuses and usurpations at Geneva City Hall.

degroot-to-manning-25-feb-2020 Download

“Agenda item for March 21, 2022: 14. “OPEN SESSION TO APPROVE CERTAIN CLOSED SESSION MINUTES AND APPROVAL OF DESTRUCTION OF CLOSED SESSION AUDIO RECORDINGS JANUARY 2020 THROUGH SEPTEMBER 2020 PURSUANT TO 5 ILCS 12/2.06 (c).” [Actually, the correct statute is 5 ILCS 120/2.06 (c). But even this correct citation is incomplete in this context.]

Kosirog’s motion after secret session: “I’d like to make a motion to approve City Council closed session minutes approved for release on March 21st, 2022. First the remaining minutes from January 22nd, 2013. Second the remaining minutes for March 4th, 2013. Third the full minutes from April 22nd, 2013. Fourth the remaining minutes from August 5th, 2013. Fifth the remaining minutes from December 2nd, 2013. Sixth remaining minutes from July 10th, 2017. Seventh the partial minutes from February 12th, 2018. Eighth the minutes from August 26th, 2019. Ninth the minutes of January 19th, 2021, and Tenth and lastly the partial minutes from September 7th, 2021.” The motion passed.

The Feb 10 and Feb 24, 2020, minutes were not released. The agenda item that would “approve” the destruction of the tapes of those meetings mysteriously and improperly just plain disappeared.

Where are those audio recordings of the Special Meeting closed secret sessions of February 10 and 24, 2020 whose destruction was on the agenda? What, exactly, was the “use” for the “purchase of land for the use of the public body” that was cited on Feb 10 and 24, 2020, as the exemption from sunlight, transparency, and the Illinois Open Meetings Act? What else, besides Emma’s Landing, was improperly discussed and became a “comfortable” secret position taken by the City Council?

Obviously, a clandestine “consensus vote” was taken on March 21, 2022, and the destruction of audiotapes motion did not pass or at least was not “comfortable.” But that “action” to dispose of an agenda item must be taken in an open session. If the issue were removed from the agenda, who made the motion to do so, who seconded it, and what was the tally?

Vigilante insurrectionists are still occupying Geneva City Hall. Stockholm’s Syndrome is progressing to its most virulent and corrupting form. If a broken trust were so easy to repair, why are there so many divorces?

What could still be so “tip-top secret” about a contemplated land purchase under consideration more than two years ago that makes it inviolate?

The City of Geneva’s long 20+ year train of abuses and usurpations must stop. Release the tapes and minutes of February 10th and 24th, 2020, or resign from the Geneva City Council.

LIHTC Funds Flowing Down the Drain at Emma’s Landing – Has the City of Geneva Acted Responsibly on Issues More Important than Money?

The left third of the above aerial photo taken March 21, 2022, is the northwest corner of Emma’s Landing. The right portion across the tracks is an industrial area in unincorporated Kane County. The “creek” along the tracks to the right drains to the south at a confluence through a large pipe and then directly into the Sterling Manor retention pond that abuts the Emma’s Landing site to the west. The tip of the pipe can just be seen to the left of the tracks. Precipitation falling on the gravel areas to the right is “undetained” according to a recent City of Geneva hydrological study. Thus, the only “management” of runoff is the limitation created by the pipe under the RR.
Now, please note the dark brown/black staining in the permeable gravel areas that contain apparently non-operative vehicles and trailers. Particularly examine the large dark stain just adjacent to the creek confluence and the tire ruts leading toward, but not past, the confluence. Also, note that the gravel is stained by tire tracks leading away from the large black stain. Stains such as these suggest petroleum-based chemical leaking/dumping.
Please examine this further yourself at:
https://gistech.countyofkane.org/gisims/kanemap/getAddress_Pin_LatLng.asp?txtPin=1208224006

This is what the headwaters of Emma’s Creek looked like in 2013. Please note the black splotches and plumes leading down toward the west branch to the confluence at the pipe. The Emma’s Landing site is an island, not a landing. The site is not walkable to basic goods and services, is surrounded by industrial brownfields, three railroad tracks soon to be even closer to buildings (noise, dust, and sub 2.5 diesel exhaust), retention plus detention ponds, and a wide vacant strip of land. This is “inclusion” under the “Geneva Way.”

Seriously Geneva, Have You No Decency? Illinois Housing Development Authority Board Members, How Did You Let This Happen at Emma’s Landing?

The Northeast Corner Building of Emma’s Landing in March 2022 Abutting a Brownfield Chock Full of Attractive Nuisance Danger. “Drill Down” on this site at the link below. Then consider the third track of the Union Pacific RR will very soon be even closer than it is now. The aerial photo required by IHDA’s QAP application “happens” to have a caption hiding the Brownfield. Does the City of Geneva even have a copy of its own Municipal Code? This is yet another example of the corrupt “Geneva Way.”
https://gistech.countyofkane.org/gisims/kanemap/getAddress_Pin_LatLng.asp?txtPin=1208224006

LIHTC, TIF, Lies, and Chicanery in Geneva: The “Geneva Way”

Democracy is a fragile notion, yet the etymology of the word is straightforward: “Democracy, literally, rule by the people. The term is derived from the Greek dēmokratia, which was coined from dēmos (“people”) and kratos (“rule”) in the middle of the 5th century BCE to denote the political systems then existing in some Greek city-states, notably Athens.” democracy | Definition, History, Meaning, Types, Examples, & Facts | Britannica

“Rule by the People” can mean many things. In the United States, a “republic” according to Article 4 of the U.S. Constitution and to the sworn Pledge of Allegiance often mouthed by our elected officials, the people’s rule is based upon and tempered by the Constitution and the Rule of Law.

The two political parties, Democrats and Republicans, loosely and erratically, both hew to the same small “r” republican doctrines but often come to seemingly diametrically opposed platforms. A republican form of government is distinguished from a direct democracy, which the Founding Fathers had no intentions of entering. As James Madison wrote in Federalist No. 10, “Hence it is that such democracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention; have ever been found incompatible with personal security or the rights of property; and have in general been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths.”

The “great issues” of today capture the most attention, but the small hyper-local issues often almost completely escape notice. In Illinois, the 7000 local governments too often use their near anonymity to make decisions based on what they can get away with while ignoring their written rules. Geneva is a classic example. But the Geneva City Council has gone one step further. The Council simply ignores evidence and rules it does not like, and lies about the facts.

In these posts, I have focused on four specific Geneva instances involving gimmicks, chicanery, and fraud: Emma’s Landing, Malone Funeral Home, Dunkin’ Donuts, and Mill Race Inn. Abuse and violation of the Open Meetings Act have been rampant. “Fact Sheets” containing outright lies have been issued on Emma’s Landing. Malone Funeral Home was expanded illegally twenty years ago and thus lost its “pre-existing, non-conforming” status granted under the 1995 Zoning Ordinance. A Malone’s Funeral Home application in 2012 for a Special Use was denied, but, (in Roe v Wade fashion) approved in 2021 while never mentioning the prior illegal expansion. Malone Funeral Home was not eligible to even apply for a Special Use in 2021 under the Zoning Ordinance. Director of Development Untch testified to the “error” (made by both Plan Commission and City Council) at a formal hearing a decade ago. Dunkin fraudulently “skipped” the Illinois statutory requirement for an IDOT permit and Geneva “winked” and looked the other way. Then the City Council granted a Special Use while “allowing” prohibited encroachments in the ROWs of both Crissey and State Streets in clear violation of Standard 8 of the Special Use Ordinance. The Geneva Code requires all nine standards to be met. The City Council winked and nodded as usual. Genevans footed the entire $300,000 consultant fee for the failed Mill Race Inn “Charette,” and irregularities in the accounting for this expenditure exist. The total bill came due when the developer, who was to pay half, was double-crossed by the City.

Perhaps the most illustrative example of the mayor’s “Geneva Way” came with the Plan Commission actions in the Malone Special Use application a decade ago. The Ordinance requires that all nine Special Use standards “shall” (defined in the Ordinance itself as meaning “must”) be met for a Special Use to be approved. The staff’s “findings of fact” found the application failed to meet over half of the nine. A motion was made to accept the findings of fact and it passed unanimously. Then two of the commissioners voted to approve the Special Use! I vowed never again to attend such a sham proceeding. The “deal” is done under the “Geneva Way” by the time the public first learns of a proposal.

For Malone Funeral Home (featured in the Mayor’s election literature) a Variance was granted simultaneously with the Special Use even though the Geneva Code says that when two rules can apply, the more restrictive provision “shall” prevail. Illiteracy or arrogance can be the only explanation for the Council and Plan Commission actions.

This is a shameful record of the “What can we get away with?” group of “professional” hired minions of the current Mayor and his mostly self-appointed city council, boards, commissions, etc. Checks and balances do not exist. Questions are not answered under Geneva’s McKittrick/Dawkins Doctrine. Aldermen’s questions are anonymous and the hard ones are never answered. The City has no Inspector General. Municipalities in Illinois have lost hundreds of millions of dollars through corruption in spite of hiring big-name auditing firms. No one knows the extent of this because no one is watching.

Individual natural rights are at the heart of our form of government. “Majority rule” has its rightful place, but it is blunted in our republic by checks and balances, and the rule of law. Under the current failed administration, Geneva, as Genevan Walter Stackman once heroically proved, [STACKMAN v. CITY OF GENEVA | FindLaw] became a place where you can have just as much justice as you can afford. In Walter Stackman’s case, his property rights cost him $70,000.

Wake up Geneva. Start asking the hard questions.

The Illinois Housing Development Authority as a LIHTC QAP Umpire and How the City of Geneva Duped Them at Emma’s Landing

Geneva’s Mayor and his minions received a free “preplay” “call” from an industry expert on how Emma’s Landing would score using IHDA’s Qualified Allocation Plan score sheet. They buried this preplay and used various forms of “stick em” (2494) Pitching Trick – Legal Stick Em For Pitchers – YouTube to defraud other applicants and Geneva voters and taxpayers.

From: Hume An
Sent: Monday, July 1, 2019 12:02 PM
To: DeGroot, David; Tymoszenko, Cathleen
Subject: Thank you and follow up
Hi David and Cathleen:
Thank you for taking the time to meet with me on Friday. I found the meeting highly productive. After the meeting, I had a chance to drive the sites you suggested, and I had a chance to score them based on IHDA’s 2019 application. I have strong interest in the two City-owned sites, particularly the site along the river (I believe it’s 306 Crissey). That site scores very well, and I think would be suitable for workforce housing. I also like the City-owned site on Lewis Rd. near
the townhome development. It scores a little lower as it’s a little further from amenities and public transportation, but I think it still scores pretty well. After the two City sites, I really like the site behind the Walgreens. I would love to explore how to advance discussions on the two City sites. What is the best way to do so? Should I send LOIs for the two properties? Would you like to set up a call to discuss further?
Best,
Hume An
Senior Vice President of Development [MVAH]
Upper Midwest Region

“Pretty well” may not have made the cut in an un-rigged process. Remember that IHDA announced Geneva/Burton as a “winner” but believed the site was donated to the Burton Foundation by Geneva’s taxpayers. The Mayor and City Council did nothing to disabuse IHDA of its mistaken belief. Or IHDA employed the “wink and nod” gambit that is deeply embedded in the “Geneva Way.” How long will the “Geneva Way” set the ethical standard for how we “play ball” in Geneva?

Why was the MVAH LIHTC Proposal for the Geneva Emma’s Landing Site Hidden in the City Hall Trash?

The answer lies in the tenets of the “Geneva Way:” ambush, smoke and mirrors, sleight-of-hand, distortions, selective and restricted dissemination of information, cheating, abuse and unlawful usurpation of municipal powers, and outright fraud.

During an illegal secret City Council meeting on August 26, 2019, [Geneva Economic Development Director] DeGroot informed the Council that Geneva had been “approached by two developers regarding affordable housing sites; namely the Lewis Road site. Burton Foundation offered a letter of intent to build 49, 2-story townhome units with an initial offer of $700,000 for the City’s property. An earlier, additional letter of interest from MVAH Partners out of Ohio was also received, for the same property but with I-story units and a more diverse mix of income levels. Discussion centered on what type of development would be more attainable.”

About a week later, Degroot sent this message to a disappointed Hume An, an executive vice president for MVAH Holding, LLC, a large developer of LIHTC housing. An had expressed “surprise” at the turn of events that resulted in a rejection of MVAH’s offer and asked if a counteroffer would be possible. An indicated that flexibility was integral to MVAH’s approach.

From: DeGroot, David>

Sent: Wednesday, September 4, 2019 8:41 AM
To: Hume An >; Tymoszenko, Cathleen >
Subject: RE: ? Re: ? Re: ? Re: ? Re: ? Re: Conference Call on Lewis Road
Good morning Hume,
I understand your surprise. We did not intend to mislead you in any way. We honestly received the other offer as we were preparing the agenda for the Council to discuss your interest in the property. I would be happy to discuss in more detail with you. I am available this morning until about 9:45 am, tomorrow afternoon around 4 pm, or any time Friday afternoon. Please let me know what works for you.
Best,
David DeGroot, AICP
Director of Community Development
City of Geneva, Illinois

Remember the City of Geneva published a “Just the Facts” sheet on Emma’s Landing that stated that only one proposal for the site had been received in 2019. This was a pure canard. Oddly, the minutes of the secret meeting did not include the MVAH proposal. The reader is left to believe that the secret meeting was already set to (illegally) consider the MVAH proposal and that the agenda was being drafted at the very moment the Burton Foundation “honestly” arrived.

The above letter also acknowledges that illegal action was taken in secret to select the Burton application and reject the MVAH proposal. Obviously, MVAH was “surprised” by the ambush, but then they were not familiar with Geneva’s fondness for ambush as a political weapon. MVAH submitted a formal “Letter of Proposal” for the Emma’s site on July 30, 2019 (the reader is re-reminded of Geneva’s public prevarication claiming Burton’s was the only proposal). If any member of the City Council was aware of the MVAH proposal, evidence of this awareness has not yet been found. Call your alderman and inquire about this. Please see the FOIA file below for details. The author apologizes for the snail’s pace of this investigation. Geneva has imposed a 21-business day impoundment for the author’s FOIA requests – yet another example of the “Geneva Way.”

mvah-letter-of-interest-emmas-from-foia-of-may-2022 Download

On June 18, 2019, MVAH wrote this to DeGroot: “Based on initial research, I’ve identified Geneva as a good place in which to develop senior and/or workforce housing. I would really appreciate the opportunity to meet with you in person, provide further information about MVAH and what we do, and learn more about your specific housing needs.” “Senior and/or workforce” LIHTC housing was taken by the woke Geneva mayor and his administration as a dog-whistle phrase for “insufficiently attainable.”

Can there be any serious belief that the mayor and his staff did not inform the Burton Foundation of the MVAH proposal well in advance of the secret illegal closed-session meeting?

Geneva had an opening offer from MVAH of $400,000 cash for the site (at a time when gifting the site to Burton was the hidden plan, and IHDA’s ultimate mistaken belief) and 50 units of LIHTC affordable housing from a large, experienced, multi-state organization that is highly rated. Geneva threw the MVAH opportunity in the trash. Rather, Geneva chose a small Fellhauer husband and wife firm, an outfit with controversial ties to Geneva. Increasing evidence is accumulating that Emma’s Landing is a product of coordinated fraud. However, The “Geneva Way” dovetails perfectly with the “Illinois Way.” Maybe this explains why Illinois has the second-highest property taxes in the country. Growing out of control: Property taxes put increasing burden on Illinois taxpayers | Illinois Policy

A Pictorial Tale of the History of Affordable Housing, Anthropogenic Lead Pollution, and the Need for a Reawakening in Geneva, Illinois

“If I’m a neighbor and I have small children, I’d be pretty concerned,” said Dr. Gabriel Filippelli, a professor, and executive director of Indiana University’s Environmental Resilience Institute. “Once you burn [a] home, the paint degrades and turns into ash. And if there was lead in the bottom layer, for example, that does have the potential then to scatter around and be potentially quite harmful to children.” Bloomington fire exercise believed to have spread lead debris | wthr.com

A Pre-1978 Structure Burning in Bloomington, Indiana, in November 2021. The fire was set by the Bloomington Fire Department for use as a training exercise. Please click on the link: Bloomington fire exercise believed to have spread lead debris | wthr.com

A Pre-1978 two-flat structure burning in downtown at 17-19 Richards Street, Geneva, Illinois, December 16, 2018. 1978 was the year leaded paint manufacture was banned in the U.S. Lead paint was sold until about 1986. The fire was set by the Geneva Fire Department for use as a training exercise. At least one Geneva physician warned about the potential for lead pollution because of this fire, but he was ghosted by the GFD and by City Hall.

The two-flat home was at 17-19 Richards before it was burned by the Geneva City Council and the GFD.

327 North Fourth street Geneva was converted into a two-flat ca1980 by Mayor Richard Lewis and then sold to Rodney Nelson in 1982 for use as affordable housing.

The house at 64 North Peck Road was to be burned to the ground by the Geneva Fire Department over the weekend of June 10-12, 2022. An alarm was raised by a small group of Genevans and a single alderwoman. The home is about 1500 feet upwind from the Heartland Elementary playground. This alarm prevented a repeat of the Bloomington, Indiana, fiasco. Another Alderman said after the “indefinite” postponement: “Fire training has been postponed for now. It is City-owned and we couldn’t find a buyer for $1 if they moved it *[again!]*. I toured the house and there is little left of the interior that would make it historic.” This historic house was moved to Peck Road from the block just south of the 327 North Fourth 2-flat depicted above in about 1982 to make room for a larger playground at Fourth Street School.

A Primer on How to Defraud the Illinois Low Income Housing Tax Credit Program (LIHTC)

Site Control Requirements and Deadlines: The Illinois Housing Development Authority’s Distorted View of the Emma’s Landing Application that Genevans Never Saw

The “bait and switch” gambit is alive and well in Geneva. Provided here is the Illinois Housing Development Authority file concerning the required “Site Control” documents for the LIHTC Application #11831 (Emma’s Landing).

degroot-to-manning-25-feb-2020

Please take special note of the following:

The claim that the City of Geneva would donate the land and waive fees for a fraudulent Planned Unit Development Special Use that was granted via Geneva Ordinance 2021-03. Then the PUD Plan was filed with Kane County with the sworn statement by Joy Nelson certifying herself as the owner. The real owner was the City of Geneva. AFTER the Emma’s Landing LIHTC application was approved, AND after the credits were distributed and sold, Mayor Burns WITHOUT authorization from the City Council filed a “correction” that claimed both the City of Geneva AND Joy Nelson owned the PUD parcel.
The improper letter of DeGroot to Manning (page 22 – the red box is on the IHDA document as it was received) relays the Council’s decision to approve the project and donation. This decision was made in a closed session in violation of the Illinois Open Meetings Act so Genevans were left in the dark.
On page 20 of the document is the message from Quigley (for Burton) to Radovich (for Geneva) that says “On Monday, April 13, 2020, 09:43:35 AM CDT, Peter Quigley pquigley@pcqlaw.com wrote: I realize this is coming at you last minute but the deadline is at 12:00 Is there any way that this can be expedited? Thanks” Mayor Burns and his administrator found “a way” – The “Geneva Way.”
” All of the IAHTCs generated by the City Parcel/ permit fee waivers will be allocated back to the project to obtain equity to fund the projects costs (page 1).” The developer’s fee (and General contractor’s fee) is based on a percentage of the costs. Essentially this is a way of laundering cash equivalents donated by the City to the Burton Foundation, which has one employee, Tracy Manning Fellhauer, and to Deer Creek Construction of which Bryan Fellhauer was one of three controlling managers. The parcel was ultimately sold to Burton for $576,000 but this still put more cash in Fellhauer developer/general contractor pockets since the parcel was valued by IHDA at over $1 mil for purposes of arriving at a project cost total.

Finally, please note that AFTER the successful Emma’s preliminary application, IHDA/Gov. Pritzker announced on July 17, 2020 the LIHTC winners, stating that the City of Geneva donated the Emma’s PUD parcel. IHDA was either duped or resorted to the “wink and nod” tactic embedded in the “Geneva Way.”

“Emma’s Landing (Geneva): A new-construction project by the Burton Foundation will bring 45 units of affordable housing to the western suburbs. The apartments will be spread across 12 townhomes with attached garages built on land donated by the City of Geneva.” 21827-LIHTC_Announcement.pdf (illinois.gov)

In the FOIA’ed papers I have in my possession from IHDA I find nothing that alters the “Site Control” contained in the IHDA document attached above. In other words, the City of Geneva was played like a cheap violin by the Burton Foundation to beat an IHDA deadline. The puppet Plan Commission’s ceremonial but meaningless hearings wasted everyone’s time, and the City Council looks like the Ten Stooges groping in the dark. The villains were the Mayor and his personally appointed administrator, who orchestrated the fraud while usurping authority they did not possess.