On Jan. 31, 2023, Mahomet-Seymour Board President Max McComb wrote an opinion piece for the News-Gazette in rebuttal to what board member Meghan Hennesy said at the Jan. 17, 2023, regularly scheduled board of education meeting. The following are just excerpts from those pieces. Hennesy’s speech (Jan. 17) can be found here. McComb’s opinion piece (Jan. 31) can be found here.
This project is not an attempt to look at every issue that was brought up in its entirety. This publication has reported on some of these issues before. In those cases, links are provided so that each reader can learn more about the issue. The articles that follow are an attempt to look at the claims each board member brought up. In some cases, one board member named others. In those cases, this publication looked at what happened surrounding those claims. All of the articles can be found on this page. Each article also includes documents and videos referenced.
We understand that this piece comes two months after these events took place. We have taken time to watch discussions of every topic over the last three years, to look at board agendas and minutes from the same time period, to read emails, to send FOIA requests, and to undertake a major project in analyzing TIF data. This work took time, and that is why it took so long to complete.
Hennesy Quotes
“But we do find time to add things like multiple meetings that are focused on giving away assets of the district. We had two, three, maybe even four meetings on giving away 13 Acres, on giving away Middletown Park. We kept being told that we were doing that because we are trading partial use of tennis courts. To date, there are no tennis courts. The district has not seen any benefit from that. And at the time those of us board members who wanted some sense of security about giving those pieces of land away in the form of if what we were told didn’t happen, we would get that land back, we were told you’ve got to just trust them. The tennis courts are going up. Tennis courts are not going up. They aren’t up now. I will believe it when I see it.”
Meghan Hennesy
McComb Quotes
“Her claims about agreements between our school district and the village of Mahomet regarding property transfer and TIF details were just not true.”
Max McComb
Looking Back
For some, the discussion about Mahomet-Seymour assets might begin with the sale of Sangamon Elementary in 2017. The board of education sold the first and second-grade building in 2017 for $750,000 to 1000 Churchill, LLC.
Some community members look at the sale as if the district gave the property away, not only in price but in need, as the district has asked the Mahomet-Seymour community for additional tax dollars through two referendums to address capacity issues throughout the district.
Board members Meghan Hennesy, Ken Keefe and Colleen Schultz voiced similar concerns when the Village of Mahomet and the District presented a plan in Sept. 2019 to sell Mahomet-Seymour Junior High, 13 Acres and the Mahomet-Seymour soccer fields to the Village for $750,000. The district knew that it would need to address capacity issues within the next year or two, and the three board members didn’t believe losing that property without a sustainable plan for land and facilities made sense.
On the other hand, the Village wanted first right to the junior high property to utilize the space, mainly the gymnasiums and athletic fields for community use. They also had plans to put a pool on the property. That element would have come with a referendum, though. With 13 Acres under the Village, officials said that it would update the facilities that were already there.
At the time, the Village offered $250,000 for 13 Acres if the board of education did not want to sell the junior high until there were other plans made.
This conversation was coupled with a 12-year extension of the East Mahomet TIF district. While that extension got from the majority of the Mahomet-Seymour School Board (Hennesy, Schultz and Keefe voting against it), the Village stepped away from the Junior High. They still wanted to purchase 13 Acres for $225,000 in 2020, though. Superintendent Lindsey Hall said the district would be responsible for fixing drainage issues to the tune of $200,000. This was the first time the board of education had been made aware of the investment needed at the park.
Needing a two-thirds majority vote by law, the measure failed with Keefe, Hennesy, and Schultz voting no. They said they were not opposed to the sale of 13 Acres to the Village, but the time wasn’t right for the district because additional facilities planning needed to be done.
The Village went on to explore other options, purchasing 19.6-acres of land near Middletown Prairie Elementary for $650,000. This land may be the future site of the MAARC facility they have envisioned since 2004.
By Oct. 2021, the Village came back to the school district requesting 13 Acres and Middletown Park for tennis courts. The Village had secured the Illinois Department of Commerce & Economic Opportunity Grant for $725,000. Their plans included tennis courts at Middletown Park and upgrades to 13 Acres, after funding was available.
While Schultz and Hennesy returned to their concern about giving away land prior to an established facilities plan or a passed referendum, Keefe, believed the tennis courts would benefit the community. Schultz and Hennesy advocated and got a provision that if the courts weren’t built within a certain period of time, the district would regain access of the property.
Keefe made a motion: “I move the Board of Education approve the resolution approving intergovernmental agreements for the transfer of certain school district property and a facility use agreement related to the property and additional village and school district property subject to a clause being added to the agreement requiring the village to revert the transferred property back to the school district if the village does not complete tennis courts on the transferred property by December 1, 2024, unless an extension has been agreed upon by the parties such provision to be approved by the school district attorney and superintendent.”
To Schultz and Hennesy, proceeding with the property exchange without looking at all of the district’s options; without properly assessing its value and not collecting money for the property equates to giving the property away. Other board members believed the Village’s use of State grant money in building tennis courts was acceptable.
As to why the school district did not pursue the State money for tennis courts, keeping the land for itself is a mystery.
Keefe’s motion passed. Proponents of the measure said that the tennis and pickleball courts would benefit the whole community, making them available to the Mahomet-Seymour High School tennis teams and opening them to residents for programming. It has also been said that both the District and the Village serve the same constituents, although they do not. The Village is a smaller taxing body within the Mahomet-Seymour School District, which serves about 15,000 constituents. The Village serves just under 10,000.
Those who opposed the measure believed that the district gave assets that it may need in the future without exploring options. They hoped the board would look at what the district needs moving forward, try to get a competitive offer for the property if it disposed of it, and understand how losing the land would impact the school district long-term.
By April 2022, the Village of Mahomet went to bid for six tennis courts and lighting. They received two bids that came over budget. Bids came in over budget again in June 2022. The Village board rejected both options.
This was the only movement Hennesy had seen when she made her comments on Jan. 2023. A few weeks after Hennesy’s comments, the Village announced that Petry Kuhne Company’s bid for a 6-court tennis facility for $694,200 with lines for three pickleball courts for $2,710 was submitted. That contract has been approved by the Village board. The Village is looking at other funding options for lighting.
Petry Kuhne bid $780,000 in April 2022.
The courts are expected to be completed in time for the 2023-24 school year.
Materials used in this article
