Capitol Fax.com - Your Illinois News Radar

* UPDATED x1 - CMS responds * The plot thickens on former Barney’s Furniture building

Posted in:

Illinois
Updated Posts

* Remember that story from the other day about the old Barney’s Furniture store that was purchased for six-figures and is being leased to the state for $2.4 million over five years? Well, you should watch the video of this WCIA TV story for more interesting stuff, but this is from the text version…

A mostly empty warehouse at 2410 South Grand Avenue East in Springfield now holds neat rows of filing cabinets and pallets of paper records which belong to the Department of Human Services. The lease agreement binds Illinois to fulfill at least the first five years of the deal, which adds up to a minimum of $2.4 million.

Procurement Board Member Ed Bedore, an appointee of House Speaker Michael Madigan, tells WCIA the total cost could clear $11 million before the 10-year deal is over. Bedore estimated Illinois could have purchased the property for $700,000. It’s value is listed at $1.1 million.

The Procurement Policy Board is led by Chairman Frank Vala, a Republican appointee of Governor Bruce Rauner. Vala’s five-member panel had the chance to block the Rauner administration from overspending on an inflexible lease arrangement, but it never held a discussion about the terms of this lease. Rick Morales and former state representative Bill Black are the other two Republican appointees on the board. Larry Ivory was appointed by Senate President John Cullerton, a Democrat. […]

The Illinois Department of Central Management Services provided this statement in an email: “The lease was secured through the open, competitive bidding process and was fully reviewed by the Illinois Procurement Board.” WCIA is only aware of one other bid for this particular lease. Those familiar with the Procurement Policy Board’s discussions say the warehouse lease was never even discussed.

The DHS statement also claims the facility owners, Climate Controlled Holdings, LLC, made “additional enhancements” to the warehouse, upgrades the state could not afford to make without a full budget or a specific appropriation.

According to records kept by the Secretary of State’s office, Climate Controlled Holdings is registered to Mr. Thomas Storniolo at 20 North Clark Street in Chicago. The business appears to be a young entity. It was registered with the state in February of last year.

Storniolo’s LinkedIn page also shows him as the Controller of New Frontier Management.

WCIA reporter Mark Maxwell is new to town, so he apparently didn’t recognize the New Frontier Management name.

Old-timers will recognize it, however. That’s the company which used to be run by Bill Cellini and which leased a whole bunch of buildings to the state over the years.

* From a reader who knows how to do research…

Climate Controlled Holdings (CCH) has 3 members of the LLC and has a registered agent named Thomas Storniolo at 20 Clark Street, Suite 1600. One of the members of CCH is Andiamo Development LLC. The other two LLCs are registered in Springfield. Andiamo has the same registered agent and address. Andiamo is managed by 3GEN Management INC. 3GEN Management has the same registered agent and address and lists Jeffrey Richards, also of the same address as President of 3GEN Management.

On LinkedIn Thomas Storniolo identifies himself as the Controller/Secretary at New Frontier Management, Co. (https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomas-storniolo-3152a564/)…

New Frontier Management lists Thomas Storniolo as the registered agent and is also at 20 Clark Street, Suite 1600. The president is listed as Claudia Cellini. New Frontier Developments has the same registered agent and address and also has Claudia Cellini listed as the president.

In a 2011 article on Bill Cellini, Bernie Schoenburg writes “New Vista’s address is listed as 20 S. Clark St. in Chicago, an address shared by several other firms associated with the Cellini family.” (http://www.sj-r.com/x422405742/Cellini-business-interests-remain-extensive-documents-show) The focus of that article is partly on New Frontier Companies. New Frontier Company, on their website http://www.nfcompanies.com/, lists their address as 20 Clark Street, Suite 1600. The registered agent for New Frontier Company is Thomas Storniolo at 20 Clark Street, Suite 1600. The president for New Frontier Company is listed as William F. Cellini, Jr.

Additionally, you’ll see that the property was obtained January 3, 2017 for $575,000 (http://tax.co.sangamon.il.us/SangamonCountyWeb/app/saleSearchResults.action?pn=22-02.0-201-029&township=&saleClass=&saleYear=&fromDate=&toDate=&fromAcres=&toAcres=) Yet, it is listed on CMS lease inventory going back to October of 2016 for a lease starting February 1, 2017 (https://www.illinois.gov/cms/agency/property/leasing/Documents/October-2016-CMS-Lease-Inventory.pdf) In October, 2016 CMS is listing a lease starting Feb 1,2017 with CCH for a building they don’t even purchase until January 3, 2017.

The lease started before the property was even purchased by the new owners? That ought to raise some eyebrows. But it’s that Cellini family name which could gin this up even more. This may very well be all smoke and no serious fire, but it’s an easy thing to understand for Springfieldians who’ve seen these types of deals for decades.

* You can read more from the Senate Democrats by clicking here. One brief excerpt…

CMS put out for bid three times the need for warehouse space before settling on the Springfield location. Only two landlords responded – apparently a sign of property managers’ reluctance to do business with the state of Illinois, which is more than $12.6 billion behind in paying vendors.

*** UPDATE *** From CMS Acting Director Mike Hoffman with all emphasis in the original…

Hi Rich –

First, this lease was handled in the exact same way as every other lease as required by law, which includes review and approval by the independent Chief Procurement Officer.

It was posted publicly on the Illinois procurement bulletin and reviewed by the Procurement Policy Board.

State and Federal law requires the safe keeping of these documents.

The Quinn administration was inappropriately keeping these documents in dilapidated facilities around the state including Dwight Correctional Facility. These facilities were not designed for storage of sensitive materials and some files were incurring damage from flooding, mildew and mold. In addition, DHS staff was unable to access many of these documents without having to travel and incur further costs.

Some of these storage areas also did not have the proper level of security to store these documents.

Under this administration, DHS made the decision to consolidate these documents in a more appropriate facility in Sangamon County – providing better access to the documents, greater security as well as a climate controlled space that would ensure the integrity of these documents as required by law.

Finally, the consolidation of these documents is an important first step in any future digitization effort. As far as the facilities that were used under the Quinn Administration, the storage of these documents at those sites precluded the sale or disposal of these locations of which the maintenance and upkeep costs taxpayers millions each year.

The initial requirement stated by DHS was 26,000 sq ft.

An RFP was put out twice with no responses.

By the time the third RFP was issued DHS’ space needs had already increased to 37,000 sq ft. and there were more sites scheduled to be consolidated which would increase their need even more.

As such, the option was exercised to take the full building of 60,000 sq ft.

It is important to note: that Climate Control Holdings was the only bidder who put forward two properties – CMS took the lesser of the two bids.

Rich, to your question about leasing before they owned:

The law allows CMS to enter into a lease as long as the party shows site control and/or option to buy – they had shown an option to buy.

posted by Rich Miller
Thursday, Apr 6, 17 @ 10:26 am

Comments

Wow, that’s like opening up the mysterious container in the lunch bag that never made it back to the kitchen but ended up in her room for two weeks.

Smells really bad

Comment by Honeybear Thursday, Apr 6, 17 @ 10:36 am
Is it plausible that the state just couldn’t front the money for the purchase and maintenance? As a relatively new homeowner I definitely get the short-term benefits of leasing even at long-term cost, but that is obviously different from government procurement.

Comment by whetstone Thursday, Apr 6, 17 @ 10:43 am
It reminds me of John Kass’ sole useful insight to state politics, roughly: When we’re in, we’re in. When we’re out, we’re still in.

Comment by Marty Funkhouser Thursday, Apr 6, 17 @ 10:44 am
This is “superstar” management. Congratulations Bruce!

Comment by Precinct Captain Thursday, Apr 6, 17 @ 10:46 am
Shakin’ things up.

An $11 million lease commitment on a building you could buy for $700K? That’s some serious monkey business.

Comment by wordslinger Thursday, Apr 6, 17 @ 10:48 am
With all the empty space the state owns this was the only option? There seems to be two closed DHS developmental centers in Jacksonville and Lincoln owned by the state with large open facilities that are simply standing there. Far cheaper than $11M over 10 years.

Comment by zatoichi Thursday, Apr 6, 17 @ 10:50 am
Why did they leave Dwight which was specifically repurposed for this? Did they reopen the prison?

Comment by Daniel Plainview Thursday, Apr 6, 17 @ 10:56 am
Between past dealings with Stu Levine, and current dealings with the Cellini family, Rauner seems to follow in the Illinois tradition of insider politics. I think Rauner’s preferred description of it is “machine” politics.

Comment by AC Thursday, Apr 6, 17 @ 10:57 am
Why did they want a building that was three times larger than DHS needed?
To make the rent per square foot look reasonable.

Comment by Yeah Thursday, Apr 6, 17 @ 10:57 am
Well since Rauner likes tying people to Madigan, perhaps it time for the Democrats to tie Rauner to Cellini.

In addition to Rauner’s lack of accomplishments, a sweetheart deal with a convicted felon makes his reelection a little less plausible.

Comment by A Jack Thursday, Apr 6, 17 @ 11:01 am
I would have been more interested in what Bill Black had to say on the subject rather than old Daley Chicago machine guy. Bill Black usually wasn’t a big fan of shenanigans.

Comment by OurMagician Thursday, Apr 6, 17 @ 11:07 am
It’s certainly just a coincidence that Frank Vala, chair of the Procurement Policy Board appointed by Rauner, is Bill Cellini’s neighbor.

Definitely just a coincidence that the owner of Barney’s, who has gone Sgt. Schultz on this deal, lives in Bill Cellini’s prior house.

Comment by Another Reseacher Thursday, Apr 6, 17 @ 11:10 am
Prior to CMS stating the Board reviewed the lease, they probably should have checked that the Board has their recent meeting minutes posted on the Board’s websites. Last one is October 2016.

Comment by Swift Thursday, Apr 6, 17 @ 11:12 am
MAP students / Social Service Program advocates / Democratic candidates for governor:

Go to this building. Invite media. Bombs away!

Comment by Oh, Please! Thursday, Apr 6, 17 @ 11:12 am
“Why did they want a building that was three times larger than DHS needed? To make the rent per square foot look reasonable.”

Or perhaps to tailor the bid request fit the unit that the preferred bidder intends to purchase.

Perhaps.

– MrJM

Comment by @misterjayem Thursday, Apr 6, 17 @ 11:22 am
Today is the anniversary of America’s entry into WWI. A conflict which has frequently been used to describe Illinois’ budget impasse. Like that conflict, this action demonstrates the benefits afforded to the money men while the little guys suffer the consequences.

Yes, Rauner has shaken up Springfield to help his buds’ bottom line.

Comment by Norseman Thursday, Apr 6, 17 @ 11:22 am
Deja Vu all over again.

Comment by Skirmisher Thursday, Apr 6, 17 @ 11:24 am
So government as usual as done by both parties. Maybe we need to investigate all of the lease agreements the State have all around the State and see what else comes up smelling fishy. Of course we would probably find that both parties take care of their special friends.

Comment by Stand Tall Thursday, Apr 6, 17 @ 11:26 am
My head is full…can I go home now?

Comment by Commonsense in Illinois Thursday, Apr 6, 17 @ 11:28 am
===The lease started before the property was even purchased by the new owners?===

Perhaps someone with a background in commercial real estate should have been consulted on how such things work Hmmm?

Nothing in the article of the commenter’s research, indicates when the Cellini group started the purchase process for the building. When was it on the market? When did they enter into a purchase contract?

The lease didn’t “start” until February 1. It’s not unusual for commercial space to be leased by incoming owners prior to closing - which in this case was January 3.

Comment by Anonymous Thursday, Apr 6, 17 @ 11:34 am
DoIT is slated to move from the state fairgrounds to the building shared with Harbor Freight in Springfield this year. State owns fairgrounds. Hmm.

Comment by Bo Regard Thursday, Apr 6, 17 @ 11:35 am
Shakin up Springfield. Ending the status quo. Bringin smart business to government. Ending crooked business dealings. Puttin an end to waste fraud and abuse. Did I miss anything?

Comment by don the legend Thursday, Apr 6, 17 @ 11:36 am
Interesting. Thomas Storniolo’s LinkedIn profile now appears to be unavailable.

Comment by Name Withheld Thursday, Apr 6, 17 @ 11:39 am
anon 11:34, perhaps a commercial real estate whiz like yourself could explain an $11M lease commitment for a building that could have been purchased for $700K.

Comment by wordslinger Thursday, Apr 6, 17 @ 11:40 am
This is TOTAL INCOMPETENCE or CORRUPTION on the part of The Rauner Administration.

The more I read about it, the more it STINKS.

There is recourse: OEIG, Legislative Audit Commission, Special Hearings, etc. Good on Andy Manar for shining the light it needed.

Comment by Oh, Please! Thursday, Apr 6, 17 @ 11:43 am
word:

The state leases hundreds of buildings which have probably been paid for multiple times over. This just happens to be one that has been put out there for everyone to see. The state, for whatever reason, has chosen not to be property owners in many cases. I don’t know why that is but that trend has existed for years. We know some of it is to grease friends’ wheels, but some of it is also legitimately due to the fact that funds are simply not appropriated for purchases. When was the last time the state had a comprehensive capital bill? I understand the outrage. There should be outrage. However, the business of the state has to continue and that business involves having offices. Until the state changes it’s philosophy on purchasing buildings there isn’t much that can be done about these things. The issue is much larger than this one lease.

Comment by Demoralized Thursday, Apr 6, 17 @ 11:47 am
wordslinger, perhaps a math whiz like yourself could explain how one gets $11 million out of $2.4 million?

Comment by Anonymous Thursday, Apr 6, 17 @ 11:47 am
Isnt it great to know that tackling waste,fraud,sbuse and procurement reform could save the state the billions we so desperately need. Give this Rauner some time, what with all this consolidation, heck, who needs new revenue.

Comment by Blue dog dem Thursday, Apr 6, 17 @ 11:48 am
Lock him up! Lock him up!

Comment by Anon Thursday, Apr 6, 17 @ 11:48 am
And cue the commercials. This is gonna be a big screen catcher for sure.

Comment by New Slang Thursday, Apr 6, 17 @ 11:48 am
anonymous:

Ask Ed Bedore. He put out that number. Reading is fundamental.

Comment by Demoralized Thursday, Apr 6, 17 @ 11:49 am
Well that is quite a shake-up. Pretty funny that the only real reporting came from the newest member of the State House press corps.

Comment by Annonin' Thursday, Apr 6, 17 @ 11:52 am
Who’s to blame?

“We’re all responsible for it.” - Ed Bedore

Comment by Anonymous Thursday, Apr 6, 17 @ 11:56 am
Gotta like Hoffman trying to blame Quinn for this. Just like another billionaire businessman playing government leader, it’s never their fault.

Comment by Henry Francis Thursday, Apr 6, 17 @ 11:57 am
“The Quinn administration was inappropriately keeping these documents in dilapidated facilities”

Wait, what?

We’re not stupid– Bruce Rauner has been governor for more than 2 years! The effort to shift blame reveals desperation and undermines your credibility.

Comment by Oh, Please! Thursday, Apr 6, 17 @ 11:57 am
Anon 11:47, see Bedore’s comments in the post.

But, please, continue on your explanation on the reasons for a $2.4M, five-year lease on a 700K building,

Your CMS update never got to that part.

Comment by wordslinger Thursday, Apr 6, 17 @ 11:59 am
Key line in the CMS response: “An RFP was put out twice with no responses”

Getting bidders and vendors in the current environment ain’t easy. One has to assume before bidding that the state won’t be able to pay for long stretches. Only those who can afford to float the state can afford to bid. Really narrows your options.

It’s easy to assume “Because…..Cellini!”, but this is really a story about how the ongoing budget crisis creates an unending number of less than ideal options for state administrators.

Comment by ILPundit Thursday, Apr 6, 17 @ 12:00 pm
Blaming Quinn is Rauner’s 2nd favorite pastime (blaming Madigan is his first). See Illinois Times story. http://illinoistimes.com/article-18499-lax-procedures-allow-theft.html

Comment by Thinking Thursday, Apr 6, 17 @ 12:01 pm
Only one bidder — what an astoundingly cosmic stroke of luck.

It’s almost as if the RFP was designed just for them.

Comment by wordslinger Thursday, Apr 6, 17 @ 12:02 pm
Tip of the iceberg. DHS has been moving offices around ALOT the past couple years. Springfield’s fcrc moved. Rockford’s fcrc moved. Skokie’ fcrc not only moved but some of the people were spun off to open up a new fcrc in Rolling Meadows. DuPage county’s fcrc just moved from Villa Park to Naperville. A couple hundred people from 5050 Broadway were moved last year down to Homewood. Person who owns 5050 wants the state gone so he can bulld condos and the person who owns homewood also owns the building the south loop fcrc is in at 1112 south wabash. So he is in it for the long game. Homewood was picked because it’s still in cook county and the geographic transfer language doesn’t kick in if you stay in the county. The thing is the uptown fcrc is still at 5050 so we still have both buildings. Oh yeah cook county wants its property by stroger hospital back so that fcrc is most likely moving to maywood this summer.

Comment by Union proud Thursday, Apr 6, 17 @ 12:05 pm
Rauner makes Quinn look like a Six Sigma budget hawk:

Remember this?

When Quinn took office, he ordered a comprehensive effort to negotiate better lease rates for offices, and to close or consolidate unnecessary space. That effort resulted in $220 million in savings and cleared out 2.5 million square feet of leased space. In addition, state facility closures are saving taxpayers an additional $100 million annually.

Moving offices of the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services (HFS) – from 32 W. Randolph St. in downtown Chicago to significantly less expensive space at 33 S. State St. saved taxpayers more than $4 million and eliminated 142,643 square feet of leased space.

Other lease cost-saving moves include:

The state is vacating two Illinois Department of Human Services (DHS) offices on Chicago’s North Side, consolidating the offices into new space at 5040-5060 N. Broadway to save state taxpayers about $118,000 a year.

The DHS is moving from the Hay Edwards Building into the Harris Building in Springfield, saving taxpayers $1.4 million a year in lease costs.

Five DHS offices in Charleston, Tuscola, Shelbyville, Paris and Effingham are moving into one new office in Charleston, saving state taxpayers $119,000 a year.

Comment by Oh, Please! Thursday, Apr 6, 17 @ 12:05 pm
So it’s Quinn’s fault. Got it.

Comment by Nick Name Thursday, Apr 6, 17 @ 12:09 pm
Director Hoffman, can you address why your agency’s records indicate as of October 2016 that your agency, not DHS, was listed as the “using agency” for this property and that the property’s use was listed in those records as “Office?” See “October 2016 CMS lease inventory.”

Your statement that the lease was reviewed by the CPO and the Procurement Policy Board has been publicly refuted by a member of that Board-to settle that question, which as you note raises issues of State and Federal law, would you make those documents publicly available?

Finally, which DHS record storage facilities will be closed, and if they are in leased space, what is the annual cost of those leases?

Comment by Arthur Andersen Thursday, Apr 6, 17 @ 12:10 pm
Guys, I’ve put ancient DHS casefiles into boxes bound for Dwight. These are ancient files. The sensitive information scam is laughable. Dude these are case files from twenty years ago. I’m sure they were fine at Dwight. It’s not like anyone could retrieve one particular file to use it anyway. Hint: They aren’t alphabetized. It’s a million boxes of worthless paper files. But go ahead and try to justify spending that much.

Comment by Honeybear Thursday, Apr 6, 17 @ 12:15 pm
That’s Bruce and his superstars shakin’up Springfield.

Comment by Flynn's mom Thursday, Apr 6, 17 @ 12:22 pm
This throws a whole new light on those payroll appropriated funds that CMS resisted using for payroll doesn’t it? Because CMS had to keep those funds for “leases” wasn’t that it?

Comment by A Jack Thursday, Apr 6, 17 @ 12:22 pm
== The state, for whatever reason, has chosen not to be property owners in many cases. I don’t know why that is but that trend has existed for years. ==

Not defending it, but the State also gets critized by local governments when it buys a building and it is removed from the local tax roles. And the State rarely has the money to properly maintain buildings.

Comment by RNUG Thursday, Apr 6, 17 @ 12:25 pm
By purposefully throwing large parts of the state of Illinois’ economy into a state of chaos, it’s the big money people, with millions of disposable income that will succeed . Whether it is the folks who can buy up state receivables and wait to be paid, or the folks holding/buying up the state’s (or CPS’) bonds, or folks that can review the procurement bulletin and invest $700k for a 10 year payout of $11m.

Those are the types of people that can succeed in Rauner’s dystopian economy. The investor class.

The rest of us? Hang in there.

Comment by Henry Francis Thursday, Apr 6, 17 @ 12:26 pm
== DHS has been moving offices around A LOT the past couple years. ==

Typical pattern at lots of agencies when control of State government shifts from one party to the other. Sometimes they get better deals, sometimes worse …

Comment by RNUG Thursday, Apr 6, 17 @ 12:28 pm
When Bruce Rauner says he wants to send the message that Illinois is open for business, I guess we now know who, specifically, he was sending that message to.

Comment by Michelle Flaherty Thursday, Apr 6, 17 @ 12:30 pm
Honeybear, you need to watch the video from WCIA if you haven’t already seen it. What about poor Charlie Brown’s file?

Comment by Arthur Andersen Thursday, Apr 6, 17 @ 12:40 pm
what about the IDOT Records center, band new warehouse, leased before it was built, and 2 blocks South of the Barney’s building

Comment by spidad60 Thursday, Apr 6, 17 @ 12:50 pm
It’s not as if this is unusual. It’s why we get so little return on our tax dollars in Illinois. Nothing to do with the workers at all. And it’s not one party. I heard of a number of these things involving the influence of one Roland Burris. Of course it’s only hearsay.

Frank Vala lives across the street from Bill Cellini, not that it’s evidence of wrongdoing.

Comment by Excessively Rabid Thursday, Apr 6, 17 @ 12:54 pm
Couldn’t they store the files in the Lt. Gov’s office so it would finally serve an actual purpose?

Comment by Michelle Flaherty Thursday, Apr 6, 17 @ 12:55 pm
Tip of the iceberg exactly..Take a look at the property at the corner of Carpenter and Jefferson, Harbor Freight is in part of it for now, but the State is moving some employees off the fairgrounds into that building. Spending quite s bit to rehabilitate and furnish the place.
No reason to pay medical bills, no reason to put money toward a backlog of delinquent obligations.
Look at the recent purchase of property compared to interest by the state to lease it. Still business as usual just a different leader.

Comment by Slyjocko Thursday, Apr 6, 17 @ 12:59 pm
Rauner may need to call in another reliever, Hoffman blew the save. Even in state government, you don’t ship records that you will actually need to a distant off-site location, you keep records you’ll need close. How about working with the SOS to change the retention policy. That’s free.

Secondly, if the goal is digitization why the 5 year lease for 2.4 Million? What is the cost to ship the records to a contractor to scan them? Google tells me 7-12 cents per page to scan, so $2.4 million gets you 20 million pages at 12 cents per page.

Records management isn’t complex government work here, when Rauner came into office the one positive I thought would be more efficient business operations, instead we have this.

Comment by Swift Thursday, Apr 6, 17 @ 1:00 pm
Michelle +1!

They could, but they take the risk of Evelyn tripping over one of the boxes.

Comment by Jocko Thursday, Apr 6, 17 @ 1:01 pm
Swift: PPB website minutes are now updated.

No mention of it in any meetings. Looks like they cancelled September and November meetings. PPB only has 30 days to object to lease so if CMS forwarded after the August meeting, it would have been too late to object at the October meeting.

Comment by Thinking Thursday, Apr 6, 17 @ 1:07 pm
Gosh..I really wonder about that filter you have on there, Rich. A bit of underdone potato will set it off.

Comment by Skeptic Thursday, Apr 6, 17 @ 1:22 pm
How about creating temporary jobs for 100 DHS SNAP and TANF Beneficiaries, leasing scanner equipment for a year, digitize the records and call it a win-win. How is it that this procurement passed the “legal” test, but doesn’t pass the “common sense” test? Or, maybe Union rules don’t allow the employment of benefit recipients?

Comment by Oh Really? Thursday, Apr 6, 17 @ 1:33 pm
Just wait til they empty the Thompson Center.

Comment by northsider (the original) Thursday, Apr 6, 17 @ 1:34 pm
Here’s an illustrative example of the State building offices.

The Thompson Center.

(mic drop)

Sorry, couldn’t pass that up. The actual example goes back to the Kerner Administration, when an IFA/CDB predecessor entity, the Illinois Building Authority, built a handful of “Regional Office Buildings” downstate and in most cases adjacent to newly upgraded “Mental Health Zone Centers.” (Champaign, Peoria, Rockford, Marion, Springfield and later E.St. Louis) The Building Authority asserted that the Buildings would satisfy the State’s office space needs in those cities for “the next 20 years.” Well, not exactly. A handful of agencies with Federal funding or client service focus (IDES, Public Aid) never moved in or moved small admin units. Oddly, a U of I/Chicago entity, DSCC, was an “anchor tenant” in most of the buildings. Other agencies like DCFS outgrew their original space and vacated to leased space. The building AA managed as a kid came to be nicknamed “The Jail” because we replaced a couple departing agencies with a DoC parole office and a State Police investigations regional HQ. Generally, though, at best, the buildings slowed the growth of leasing, not eliminated it. They also were built with cheap flat roofs that took years to get fixed through CDB.

My point here is that when the State plays landlord, it plays by State rules, which have not been and still are not “user-friendly” leading most agencies to prefer to occupy leased space.

Comment by Arthur Andersen Thursday, Apr 6, 17 @ 1:37 pm
–“The Quinn administration was inappropriately keeping these documents in dilapidated facilities”–

The compassion and concern this administration shows for old manila folders and fancy-pants IT consultants is truly heartwarming.

Priorities.

Comment by wordslinger Thursday, Apr 6, 17 @ 1:37 pm
why does the we will be around forever state lease anything? we should buy. heck a 5 year bond to purchase and tear down and build a nee bldg would be less then the lease.

the procurment process is so hard to navigate there are few people who are registered and no how to bid. it guarantees insider gouging. The Purchasing officer is never supposed to approve a lease that pays more then the cost of the item.

Shakeing up springfield i guess means paying 5 mil to borrow a 500,000 bldg. for 5 years.

think of the social service providers we could pay.

But that 40+ year lease at concordia is a good deal. property cost a few hundred thousand and we have paid close to 100 mil for it at this point

Comment by Ghost Thursday, Apr 6, 17 @ 1:48 pm
Maybe they can hollow out the shell of the Thompson center and just keep it as the city’s largest EL station.

Comment by Anonymous Thursday, Apr 6, 17 @ 1:48 pm
==leading most agencies to prefer to occupy leased space.==

Want to know the real racket? State agencies have to “lease” those state owned buildings from CMS.

Comment by Demoralized Thursday, Apr 6, 17 @ 1:53 pm
Man, it was only last week that Governor Rauner said this:

“We have made government transformation a priority in order to deliver the best services to taxpayers at the best value,” Governor Rauner said. “We owe it to our citizens to be good stewards of the state’s resources, and these changes will deliver on that promise.”

Lying comes so easy to this guy. It’s creepy.

Comment by 47th Ward Thursday, Apr 6, 17 @ 2:00 pm
https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=zF82qVCJYXs

Comment by Anonymous Thursday, Apr 6, 17 @ 2:15 pm
Demo, in theory, paying “rent” to CMS for State space should provide cash flow to keep the buildings in good condition, establish a capital projects reserve, and cover operating costs. In practice, I dunno.

Comment by Arthur Andersen Thursday, Apr 6, 17 @ 2:17 pm
“Oh Really? - … Or, maybe Union rules don’t allow the employment of benefit recipients?”

It’s a conflict of interest for welfare recipients to be paid employees for the same state agency that provides their benefits.

Comment by Nero's Fiddle Thursday, Apr 6, 17 @ 2:22 pm
Maybe they should ask the Auditor General to look into this potential corruption.

Oh wait, never mind.

Comment by allknowingmasterofracoondom Thursday, Apr 6, 17 @ 2:40 pm
I wonder what kind of priority Comptroller Mendoza will assign to paying these lease payments.

Comment by Biscuit Head Thursday, Apr 6, 17 @ 2:44 pm
Okay, somebody help me out. Reading a few sets of those PPB minutes made my head hurt, for several reasons.

Two questions for the group: Why, in SB8 (Grand Bargain Bill?) would someone be seeking to reduce the PPB’s approval timeframe from 30 days to 14?

Secondly, who owns the old Schnucks/Harbor Freight? My eyes are shot for awhile. I’m guessing it ain’t Schnucks (or DESCO Realty, the family real estate holding company) or Harbor Freight.

Comment by Arthur Andersen Thursday, Apr 6, 17 @ 3:21 pm
AA - reducing the PPBs approval timeframe from 30 days to 14 days is part of Procurement Reform. All the agencies and vendors find the current procurement process to be very long and cumbersome. They’re trying to find ways to do things faster. Reducing PPB review from 30->14 days shaves potentially 16 days off the process.

But….there’s two sides to every coin.

What we’re seeing with this particular situation is the downside of doing things faster.

Comment by Biscuit Head Thursday, Apr 6, 17 @ 4:06 pm
Arthur:
MGM JEFFERSON CORP
1524 E 9TH ST
BROOKLYN, NY 11230-6539

Comment by Cheswick Thursday, Apr 6, 17 @ 4:28 pm
Bruce Rauner has no problem going full on-Facebook camera to riddle off his duct tape talkin’ points and accuse anyone who voted for a Democrat since 1978 - even once - as a Madigan puppet. He’s on it like stink on a skunk. He rolls out press releases and statements about any number of small, political, petty issue. He takes zero responsibility for anything - and blames everything on someone else.

But, when it comes to this issue. He’s nonexistent. He hides behind his staff.

Wondering if Blagojevich left a copy of the user manual in the office.

Comment by Carhartt Union Negotiating Team Thursday, Apr 6, 17 @ 4:33 pm
@Nero’s Fiddle: “It’s a conflict of interest for welfare recipients to be paid employees for the same state agency that provides their benefits.”
- If the beneficiaries have a job that pays them for a year, that’s a year they don’t need to be a beneficiary, right? No conflict of interest then!

Comment by Oh Really? Thursday, Apr 6, 17 @ 4:43 pm
One more thought… Even if the state purchased this building instead of leasing it, the contracts for repairs and maintenance would have been inflated and shady and probably cost as much or more. The issue remains that most of these paper docs should never have been created on paper in the first place. The records should have been digital from day one. No paper means no storage space means no building to lease means no wasteful spending of millions of taxpayer dollars. Duh!

Comment by Oh Really? Thursday, Apr 6, 17 @ 4:48 pm
When I started at IDPA, later IDHS, we had a specific downtown location for employees who received public assistance. Because of low pay, they qualified. Later, this office was dissolved and supervisors kept employee case records at their file cabinets. This case records were called confidential. The supervisor was responsible for the case. It is a conflict of interest to service a case where you personally know the individual/family.

Comment by Emily Booth Thursday, Apr 6, 17 @ 4:55 pm
@ Oh, Really
Some retention records have to be kept for 99 years. Those are child support cases. They are being scanned and imaged but in some instances the actual piece of paper has to be kept. Imaging is changing so fast that sometime the medium they are being scanned to is becoming outdated before cases are fully scanned.

Comment by millikin Thursday, Apr 6, 17 @ 5:11 pm
Biscuit, thanks. Based on reading more PPB minutes than I ever cared to, I wouldn’t argue against the change.

Cheswick, thanks. There’s an MGM Property Management based in NYC that specializes in apartments and lists several complexes managed in the Midwest.

Comment by Arthur Andersen Thursday, Apr 6, 17 @ 5:36 pm
you’re doing a great job Brownie….

Comment by flea Thursday, Apr 6, 17 @ 7:11 pm
First of all, OurMagician read some of Ed Bedore’s comments in the PPB minutes, they are enlightening of his attitudes towards situations like this and he’s been that way for years. Next, digitizing records is hardly a panacea. There’s the IT costs, the security issues (1 breach could potentially make these lease costs look like a bargain) and the rapidly changing mediums. Honestly speaking to a certain degree the best method for saving records/getting rid of paper is still microfilm. Worst case scenario all you need to view the records is a magnifying glass and a light source.

Comment by MyTwoCents Thursday, Apr 6, 17 @ 7:19 pm
http://extras.sj-r.com/data/state-leases/

Comment by Liberty Thursday, Apr 6, 17 @ 8:03 pm
You know you’re in Illinois when you hear about a crony landlord who scammed the taxpayers into a sweetheart lease deal, and you don’t know whether to be outraged at the corruption or feel sorry for the guy because he’s probably gonna get stiffed.

Comment by CEA Thursday, Apr 6, 17 @ 11:25 pm
- CEA - Thursday, Apr 6, 17 @ 11:25 pm: -

Your analogy takes the cake. LOL!

Comment by Anonymous Friday, Apr 7, 17 @ 8:43 am
Good post. I learn something new and challenging on websites I stumbleupon everyday. It’s always interesting to read through articles from other authors and practice a little something from their sites. |

Comment by Kurt Rhodie Wednesday, Apr 19, 17 @ 7:00 am