Clark Co., IL. (ECWd) –
It came out during the Clark County Park District meeting on July 16, 2015 that Larry Yargus has a water well and electricity service located on park property – and it has been there for around 25 years.
Maybe this is one of the reasons he was so hell-bent on winning the election, arranging for leased lots, etc, – so it would continue to go unnoticed.
The Board attempted to vote to lease property to Yargus, but an audience member, Rob Bogue, did a point-of-order and explained to the board that they could not vote to approve the lease because the Park District Code mandated the District to first declare the property no longer needed for park and public recreational purposes.
<span style="font-family: Courier New;">(e) In addition to any other power provided in this Section, any park district owning or holding real estate <b></b><u><b>that the board deems is not required for park or recreational purposes</b></u> may lease such real estate to any individual or entity and may collect rents therefrom. Such lease shall not exceed 2 and one-half times the term of years provided for in Section 8-15 governing installment purchase contracts.</span>
That means that another meeting will have to be held, with the resolution declaring the property no longer needed – then a vote to lease the property to Yargus.
On one piece of property, he thinks that since he wants to put an addition onto his house, the citizens of Clark County, thru the park district, should just lease him whatever property he wants – even though it serves no public purpose to do so. Unfortunately, the Park District Code allows this – I am simply pointing out that he thinks the entire population of Clark County should lose use of public property simply because he bought a lot too small for his current needs.
Yargus does a fine job explaining his well and electric service is on park property in the video below, but the lingering questions are:
– When did Yargus first become aware of this?
– Has he been using the Park District’s water for 25 years without paying for it?
– How long has he owned this property?
– Should the Park District send him a bill for 25 years’ worth of rent payments?
