Johnsburg SSA case continued until December

From the Saturday, Oct. 5, 2008 edition of the Northwest Herald:

Johnsburg SSA case continued until December
By DIANA SROKA - dsroka@nwherald.com

WOODSTOCK – After four days in court and still no resolution, the trial over a $10 million Johnsburg sewer project has been continued to December.

A member of the McHenry County Treasurer's Office and seven residents who live within the boundaries of the proposed project – including one who is suing the village – were questioned for more than five hours Friday in McHenry County Court until Judge Maureen McIntyre decided that the case needed more time.

"When we set this, we thought we would be able to complete this case in four days," McIntyre said. "Obviously ..."

Six of the residents who testified confirmed their home addresses and that they signed a petition opposing the project, which if approved, is to be paid for through establishment of a special service area. Homeowners living within SSAs pay more on their property taxes for a period of years to pay the costs of infrastructure projects.

After some of those testifying Friday said a resident in their homes had moved, the attorneys repeated the same sequence of questions.

"Did you ever notify the village ... ?" that someone had moved out of the home, asked the village's attorney, Kevin Costello.

The residents all answered, "No." Then the question went back to the attorneys representing opponents of the project.

"Did anyone tell you that you need to notify the village" of a resident moving out of the home, attorneys James Kelly and Maura McKeever asked.

In June 2007, the Johnsburg Village Board proposed funding a sewer system project through an SSA. Residents living within the boundaries of the SSA would pay either $14,800 up front or $21,600 in their property tax bills during the next 20 years.

Two months later, some residents filed a petition to stop the project. The village disputed some of the signatures on the petition, so a group of residents decided to sue the village to keep the project from continuing.

Signatures from 51 percent of residents affected by the SSA were needed to halt the project. The trial will determine whether opponents met that threshold.

One resident, Don Peeples, was questioned for almost four hours about his role in the petition drive and how the members of the coalition against the project did their fact-checking.

At one point during the trial, Costello asked a question implying that an attorney had helped the residents file the petition. Kelly objected and Costello then said to McIntyre that the residents were trying to portray themselves as "lay people" who didn't know how the petition process worked. McIntyre sided with Kelly, and Costello instead redirected his questioning to address whether coalition members knew that there were alleged errors in their petition.

The trial will resume at 10 a.m. Dec. 1.