Elmhurst Nursing Home Threatened To Sue City: Official

Elmhurst IL

27 May, 2021

10:54 AM

Description

ELMHURST, IL — The Elmhurst City Council last year closed its doors to discuss a permit for a nursing home project after the facility's lawyer repeatedly threatened to sue the city, an official says. In a letter to the attorney general last week, the city's attorney responded to a complaint that the council improperly closed its doors to discuss the permit last November. The home, Elmhurst Extended Care Center, 200 E. Lake St., had received a permit for a major addition that neighbors opposed. The permit, which had been extended before, expired in November. So the city needed to decide whether to give the nursing home another extension. Behind closed doors, a majority of aldermen agreed the project had met the "substantially underway" standard, according to city emails. As a justification, they cited the amount of money the family-owned nursing home had spent on building drawings, purchase of a building permit and the erection of a construction fence, among other things. Ground was never broken. In his letter, city attorney Donald Storino said the nursing home's attorney, Scott Day, made it clear in his presentations during zoning hearings that he would sue the city if it denied a permit. Day said he would allege violations under the Fair Housing and Americans With Disabilities acts, the letter said. On Nov. 20, 2020, the home's attorney, Scott Day, asked for an extension for the nursing home's permit. Storino said he asked Day in a conversation whether he intended to pursue a lawsuit if the city determined the project was not "substantially underway," meaning the permit was revoked. Day indicated another attorney had been retained by the nursing home for the purposes of litigation, Storino said. Day declined this week to comment on Storino's letter. At its November meeting, the City Council decided to hold a closed session, citing "pending or probable" litigation. That is an allowable exception under the state's open meetings law. In the meeting, the council majority deemed the project "substantially underway," based on Storino's advice, according to city emails obtained through a resident's public records request. Officials' thinking later changed after they said the nursing home failed to return calls and emails about the status of the expansion. In late April, the nursing home said it was abandoning the project for now based on pandemic-caused troubles in the long-term care industry. It requested a two-year extension for its permit, which the city denied. Earlier this month, Edgar Pal, a citizen watchdog, filed a complaint with the attorney, alleging the city violated the Open Meetings Act with the closed session. He said it was unclear whether a lawsuit was threatened. Pal can file a rebuttal to the city's response. Then the attorney general can rule on whether the closed session was legal.