Jul 9, 2009 8:41 pm US/Central
Land Sale Would Put County Official In Conflict
ELGIN, Ill. (CBS) ―
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This golf course, Rolling Knolls Country Club near Elgin, may become part of Cook County's forest preserve. The problem: a county commissioner is one of the owners.
CBS
Despite the bad economy, Cook County is apparently flush with cash.
In fact, the county wants to spend millions on a new golf course. The problem? That course is owned by a cook county commissioner who stands to make those millions.
CBS 2's Derrick Blakley reports on this classic conflict.
Cook County wants to make Rolling Knolls Country Club outside Elgin the newest addition to its forest preserve system. It's 18 holes on 56 hilly acres, with lots of native wildlife and poplar creek flowing right through it.
Few object to more green space for the county. It's the windfall of taxpayers' green for the owner that's raising eyebrows.
"I feel that I'm stuck -- that's the position I'm in," Cook County Commissioner Tim Schneider said.
He feels stuck because Schneider, who owns the golf course along with six family members, is a republican county commissioner.
He recused himself from any decisions and asked the Board of Ethics for an opinion. The ethics board ruled Schneider can't willingly sell to the county, but the county can buy it by condemning the property.
That way, the county takes over and Schneider gets paid. But critics see little difference.
"He, as the public official, shouldn't profit from a deal that involves county tax dollars," says Andy Shaw, director of the Better Government Association.
Schneider and his family wanted to develop the golf course for housing. But the housing market nosedived, with the rest of the real estate market.
That's when the forest preserve said they wanted to buy.
With property prices depressed, the county believes it can snag Rolling Knolls at a bargain price and link it up with nearby Poplar Creek woods.
Still, Schneider doesn't deny it looks bad.
"This is Cook County, where everything is considered sinister sometimes, and there are always backroom deals made," he said. "And there was no backroom deal made in this case."
And no back-nine deal, either. But how can taxpayers can be absolutely sure? They can't.
"Tim Schneider has one thing he can do to allay the fears of taint and inside-dealing, and that is, give his profits to charity," Shaw said.
Schneider says no way.
"This is what we intend to retire on," he said. "To give that away, I don't believe would be possible."
Another critic, fellow Republican board member Tony Peraica, went even further.
"The only way to avoid a real and perceived conflict of interest is for him to step away, to resign as commissioner," he said. "You can't represent the taxpayers and your own interest at the same time."
"That is out of the question," Schneider said.
Schneider said he probably would not have run for the county board if he had known there was a possibility the forest preserve would want to acquire his property. He said he didn't know the county wanted to buy Rolling Knolls until after he was elected.
The group Friends of the Parks supports the purchase, calling it a valuable addition, and a court will determine how much Schneider and his family get paid.
But it will surely be millions of your tax dollars, blurring the line between public service and personal profit. Schneider says his family was offered $8 million for the property a few years ago. The county wants to buy it for less.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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