The most recently circulated petition that was suppressed by the Village Board was to ask the voters:
“Shall the Village of Winfield give millions of dollars and public property to the developer of the proposed 147-unit apartment complex (Winfield Reserve) in downtown Winfield?”
This clear, concise question was meant to inform the voters of the Village’s intentions to give over $10 million and the commuter parking lot to a private developer. The commuter parking lot is worth $930,000. The Village would also waive $1.5 million of fees for this project and, over the life of TIF2, return up to $8.3 million to the developer (Synergy). In essence, the Village would be subsidizing the cost of each apartment by $72,000 or 1/5 of the total cost of the project ($50 million)!
As previously stated, the Board did not want this question asked or answered by you — this lack of transparency is a huge breach of public trust. NOW they are oh so interested in having an opportunity to gauge public opinion on three trivial questions on the April ballot. Board members had already agreed they did NOT want a referendum on the chicken issue, but they needed one more question to fill up the ballot so I could not put my question to the voters.
The community should have a say in how its resources are spent especially when it involves millions of dollars and irreplaceable assets!
You, the voters, should decide exactly who has been willing and will continue to fight on your behalf — all of us are absolutely committed to do just that!
