Tazewell County, Ill. (ECWd) –
We surveyed the various counties purporting to lease county-owned farm ground, which were named in a newspaper article written about the Shelby County Farm. Each county listed in that article received a Freedom of Information Act request from us asking for information on their county-owned farm ground and the leasing of the ground.
As with any public body where you start looking into any given matter, there is always a rabbit hole turning up more problems.
Read the Tazewell County FOIA responses linked below.
Tazewell County farmland leases are unique from others in our research, here is what the public records reveal:
- Lease option for a solar farm on part of one parcel consisting of 15 acres (see a map of the entire parcel) – The leaseholder pays any real estate taxes.
- The Illinois Counties Code does not grant permission for a county to own or operate a solar farm in any capacity. By contrast, Counties are authorized under Section 5-24000 of the county code to operate a Wind Farm under specific conditions.
- We attempted, during the drafting of the House and Senate amendments to the recently passed county farm bill, to insert a provision permitting counties to own and operate Solar Farms (with language similar to the Wind Farm Section), but it was summarily rejected by the house primary sponsor.
- Cash Rent Lease of 26 acres to the Tremont Future Farmers of America (“FFA”) – This is a non-for-profit education organization, youth development – agricultural, whose proceeds are put towards the youth organization for preparing members for leadership and careers in the science, business, and technology of agriculture.
- This is an excellent example of a “public purpose.”
- This 26-acre parcel encompasses the unauthorized 15-acre solar farm lease option mentioned above.
- This lease contains an evergreen clause, which is not authorized under the Illinois Automatic Contract Renewal Act.
We suggest the county board reconsider this solar farm lease option, cancel it, and reimburse any monies received. If the legislature had wanted a county to own and operate a solar farm, it would have granted them the powers to do so similar to the powers granted for a wind farm, but it did not.
