Towns point fingers over airport

Towns point fingers over airport
Originally published Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2007

By Nadia Malik
Daily Herald Staff Writer

Wheeling Village Manager Mark Rooney, attacked by Prospect Heights officials last week, responded Monday by raising questions about hidden appraisals in a land deal that benefited Prospect Heights.
The Prospect Heights City Council sent a letter to Wheeling last week saying Rooney improperly pushed for a Wheeling fire station at Chicago Executive Airport, co-owned by both towns.
At Monday's village board meeting, Rooney -- who denies the accusations made in the letter -- said the issue stems from a meeting Nov. 28 between some officials from both towns.
At that gathering, Rooney said he wanted to ask Prospect Heights about appraisals for airport land that were never presented to the Federal Aviation Administration and Wheeling.
Last year, both Wheeling and Prospect Heights agreed to have the airport purchase 14 acres of land as a runway protection zone to buffer the airport's neighboring residents. An FAA grant made the deal possible.
Rooney said appraisals valued that property at between $10 million and $10.75 million. That report, from July 27, 2006, was given to the airport board and the FAA.
However, previous appraisals conducted on March 10, 2006 -- where the land was valued at $6.5 million -- and on May 16, 2006 -- where the property was given a $5.9 million value -- were never passed along.
Prospect Heights benefited from the higher price, since that land originally was part of a 28-acre tax-increment financing district created to bring an arena to the city. The arena plan fell through, and Prospect Heights was left with debt from the district.
Rooney recently discovered the discrepancy and said he wanted to give Prospect Heights officials a chance to explain.
"I was worried about the village of Wheeling's reputation," Rooney said. "We wanted to stay on good standing with the FAA."
Rooney said he was also worried about relations with the Illinois Department of Transportation, which plays a role in any acquisition of airport property.
"IDOT funds a great number of projects in Wheeling," he said. "We did not want to be held accountable by IDOT for the actions of Prospect Heights, which we knew nothing about."
Prospect Heights never responded to his question, Rooney said; instead, they sent the letter to Wheeling calling Rooney's conduct into question.
Pat Ludvigsen, acting Prospect Heights mayor, said the appraisals were done by the airport, so the city isn't involved in the issue.
"This had been reviewed by the FAA, so I have to make the assumption that everything was fine," he said. "This has been reviewed by so many people already; this is just an attempt by (Rooney) to smear somebody."
The Prospect Heights letter said Rooney threatened airport manager Dennis Rouleau's job if he didn't help push the fire station project.
Rooney said he's never threatened Rouleau's job and that the fire station proposal -- which Prospect Heights was well aware of -- is no longer on the table.
Rouleau said he didn't want to comment on the Prospect Heights letter and Wheeling officials said they wouldn't discuss personnel matters in open session.
"The only thing I will say is that I've had an outstanding career here at Chicago Executive," Rouleau said. "I've always been … professional in conducting my job, and I will continue to do so."