Evanstons Secret Deal With Brokerage Violated Open Meetings Act
The Evanston City Council is set to vote publicly Monday on an agreement with a real estate broker that it illegally approved last October.
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EVANSTON, IL — Evanston city officials violated the Illinois Open Meetings Act when they approved an exclusive deal with a real estate broker last year behind closed doors, the attorney general’s office ruled.
The deal made Jones Lang LaSalle Midwest, or JLL, the city’s exclusive real estate broker to handle a potential move from the Morton Civic Center and guarantees the commercial brokerage at least 5 percent of the future sales price of the 2100 Ridge Road property.
City Manager Luke Stowe executed the agreement on Oct. 17, 2023, but city officials kept it secret. The Open Meetings Act, or OMA, allows for public bodies to discuss certain topics in executive session, but it does not allow them to take final action out of view of their constituents.
Evanston resident Mary Rosinski, a longtime real estate agent and former City Council candidate, asked the attorney general’s office to review a possible OMA violation in January. Rosinski argued the decision to sign the agreement with JLL should have been made at a public meeting with an opportunity for residents to weigh in.
Evanston Interim Corporation Counsel Alex Ruggie told the attorney general’s office that City Code allows Stowe to sign deals without City Council approval as long as they do not involve spending more than $25,000. While Ruggie acknowledged the deal would see JLL walk away with a significant payday, the final sale price from which the brokerage would break off a piece would still be approved in open session.
Chief Deputy Attorney General Brent Stratton roundly rejected Ruggie’s argument.
In a March 1 binding opinion, he directed the City Council to “take immediate and appropriate action to comply” by approving the exclusive representation deal in open session.
“The City Council’s closed session authorization of the exclusive representation agreement with JLL was not preliminary or tentative. Behind closed doors, the City Council agreed to bind the City to an agreement with a particular firm that requires, among other things, a potential expenditure of hundreds of thousands of dollars of public funds if the Civic Center is sold,” Stratton said.
“The City Council did not subsequently take final action on the matter in open session,” he added. “The $25,000 threshold the City Council cited in its response to this office is irrelevant to whether the City Council took final action in closed session.”
Councilmembers authorized the city manager to approve a lease agreement for a space to temporarily replace the civic center on Jan. 22.
During that meeting, 1st Ward Ald. Clare Kelly said she believed the city had violated OMA and noted that one councilmember, later identified as 8th Ward Devon Reid, walked out of the meeting due to the violation.
“We gave direction to execute a contract that’s an exclusive contract, where that company stands to gain hundreds of thousands of dollars,” Kelly said.
“So, yes, I think it’s very problematic that we’re moving forward on this as an action item, based on a decision that was taken in closed session,” she said. “I think we’re in clear violation of OMA.”
Reid later confirmed he was the alderperson who walked out of last year’s meeting at which the JLL deal was illegally approved.
“I think we have a duty to make sure that our credibility is maintained with our residents, and, as I’ve stated, I have been uncomfortable with this process and with, particularly, the fact that I feel that some of the discussions that we had in executive session were inappropriate and should have happened in open session,” Reid said last month. “And in fact, I left a meeting because I felt we were violating the spirit and, really, the letter of the Open Meetings Act — the clear letter of the Open Meetings Act.”
Mayor Daniel Biss denied that there was any binding decisions made behind closed doors and suggested anyone who believed there had been was misguided.
“This is not a close call. This is not a gray area. There’ s no adjacency between what occurred and an OMA violation,” Biss said at the January. “It’s not within a million miles of an OMA violation.”
City officials issued a statement following the ruling declaring that they “respectfully disagree” with the deputy attorney general’s opinion.
“The JLL agreement was executed at no cost to the taxpayers,” it said, repeating the argument rejected by the attorney general’s office and ignoring the fact the city was bound to pay a percentage of a potential future sale price. “Maintaining confidentiality in the marketplace was paramount to negotiating the best terms for Evanston community members.”
The statement went on to say that the City Council would vote on the JLL agreement on its agenda for Monday night’s meeting, but it would not revisit the least for 909 Davis St. that it approved last month. City staff may begin moving into the building as soon as June.
Earlier: Evanston City Council Votes To Lease New Civic Center Space Downtown
