The Illinois Local Government Lawyers Association recently announced its awards at the Association’s Annual Meeting on February 18, 2021. The award for litigation is annually given to attorneys who litigated a case of significance to local governments over the previous year.
The Awards Committee selected attorneys who significantly participated in the case of I-57 LLC v City of Champaign, City of Urbana, Urbana and Champaign Sanitary District, Village of Savoy and Village of Bondville (2020 IL App (4th) 190850). The case was decided in favor of the governmental entities by the trial court and the decision was affirmed by the 4th District Appellate Court in August 2020. Attorneys receiving the award were Jim Martinkus, attorney for the Sanitary District, Jim Simon, Urbana’s City Attorney, as well as Tom Yu and Fred Stavins of the City of Champaign Legal Department.
The case challenged the validity of the intergovernmental agreement which provides for cooperation in the provision of sanitary sewer services and the construction and maintenance of the sanitary sewer system among the Urbana-Champaign Sanitary District and the cities of Champaign, Urbana, Savoy and Bondville. The agreement also set the stage for the improvement of the Boneyard Creek drainage area and the requirement that properties become part of the cities before receiving sanitary sewer service. The decision in the case supports the provisions of the Illinois Constitution and statutes promoting intergovernmental cooperation.