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VOL. 13 • NO. 23

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THURSDAY, JUNE 1, 2017

Audit panel reviewing state lease deal Some call it an affront to taxpayers

ILLINOIS NEWS NETWORK The Illinois Legislative Audit Commission is now reviewing a warehouse lease agreement that critics call an egregious example of government waste and insider dealings. And one of those critics, Rep. David McSweeney, R-Barrington Hills, is looking at introducing legislation that would require members of the Illinois Policy Procurement Board to recuse themselves from approving leases when they have possible conflicts of interest. McSweeney and state Sen. Tom Cullerton, D-Villa Park, signed a letter to Sen. Jason Barickman, RBloomington, and Rep. Robert Rita, D-Blue Island, who serve as cochairs of the audit panel. The letter calls for an investigation of a $2.4 million lease negotiated with the Illinois Department of Human Services (DHS). The five-year lease allows the department to store documents at the former Barney’s Warehouse store in Springfield. McSweeney and Cullerton say the building could have been purchased outright for $750,000. “This has been a problem for years,” McSweeney told Illinois News Network. “This is why we need to drain the swamp in Springfield.” McSweeney and others find the deal suspicious because the state negotiated it with a company called Climate Controlled Holdings, which has connections to the family of businessman Bill Cellini, who was convicted of a pay-to-play political scheme in 2011. Cellini’s son-in-law is part-owner of the leased building. In addition, the chairman of the

state’s Policy Procurement Board, Frank Vala, is a longtime friend of Cellini’s. The board signed off on the document storage lease. “We’re still trying to figure out the next step here,” Ryan Keith, spokesman for Rita, told Illinois News

Network. “The [audit] commission staff is trying to figure out what the process would be moving forward. It might require a resolution from either the House or Senate to either ask the audit commission … or the auditor general to look at it further.”

But with less than a week left in the legislative session, many lawmakers are focused on the budget and other key state issues, Keith said. “This is something we’ll look at as part of the normal and recurring

Historically good architecture

DHS audit,” Barickman told Illinois News Network. It will be treated like anything else that comes before the audit commission, he said. At a Senate Appropriations Com-

See AUDIT, Page 4

PAUL DELGUIDICE PHOTO Villa Park Independent

This year’s Villa Park Historic Preservation winners gathered at Village Hall on Monday, May 22 to receive their awards for the rehab of their homes and or business buildings. They are (from left): Dan Kufner and Mario Barrales for the 1917 Arts & Crafts bungalow on Summit Ave., the Eigelberner House; Historic Preservation Commission Chairperson Carol Marcus; Tammy and Doc Hensley for their 1923 commercial building on Park Blvd.; Michael Styke for his Sears Catalog house on Princeton; and Kevin and Mariene Wolter with Hadyn and Emily for their 1927 English Tudor ‘Stegath House’ on Cornell. Full story on page 4.

Inside:

Police Reports...........6 Sports �������������������� 19 Viewpoint................8 Classifieds..........23-25

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