Attorney says county wants city to take jurisdiction of 48th and State; Rein says $2.6 million should be part of deal

QUINCY — Corporation Counsel Bruce Alford told the Finance Committee during its Monday meeting at the Quincy Public Library that Adams County wants the City of Quincy to take jurisdiction of the intersection of 48^thand State after aldermen voted on April 1 not to contribute $2.6 million to build a roundabout at the intersection.

“That’s going to be an ordinance that needs to be passed with three readings,” Alford said.

Mike Rein, chairman of the Finance Committee, shot back, “The ordinance that needs to be passed … who said that besides you?”

Rein later said he has suggested to the city leaders that the county must give the city $2.6 million for the city to entertain the jurisdictional transfer.

“Without that, I don’t see the point,” Rein said.

Adams County Board members voted on April 11 in favor of a jurisdictional transfer of the land surrounding the intersection to the city.

The County Board’s action interpreted the City Council’s decision as a failure to abide by a 1973 intergovernmental agreement signed by then-Mayor Don Nicholson calling for the transfer of the roads to the city. The agreement reads that the county would maintain the 48^th Street project from Broadway to south of State until 50 percent or more of the road was within city limits. The proposed project would go along 48^th Street from Broadway to 1,200 feet south of State, and along State Street from about 600 feet west of 48^th Street to 200 feet east of 48^th Street.

When voting not to contribute money to the construction of the roundabout, aldermen also took no action on acknowledging the 1973 document and any transfer of the land, tabling it indefinitely at that April 1 meeting.

The Quincy City Council approved a joint agreement between Quincy and Adams County in March 2022 that led to the purchase of land, construction and utilities needed to accommodate building the roundabout. The total cost of the project was estimated at that time to be $4 million. The city would pay 60 percent and the county pay 40 percent.

The streets to the north and west of the intersection are considered “city” streets, while the streets to the east and south are in the county’s jurisdiction.

Alford explained that the county has paperwork asking for the city to honor the 1973 agreement. He explained an ordinance will be forwarded to the City Council next week,

“We don’t want to do that,” Rein said of the proposed ordinance.

“You don’t have to pass the ordinance,” Alford replied. “I’m saying we’re going to present it. It’ll be up to the council what to do with it. (The City Council) voted down the roundabout project and taking jurisdiction after that, and that’s fine, but the county is saying, ‘Here’s the 1973 deal that the city and county entered into.’”

Alford said the part of the city’s problem is that the law has changed greatly since 1973.

“I can’t tell you where this will go for sure,” he said. “But I don’t know if that makes the agreement invalid. I mean, there are leases that run 99, 100 years, and they’re perfectly valid. It’s going to take a lot of legal time and a lot of legal work.”

Alford said the city could still negotiate with the county, but the ordinance will be on next week’s agenda.

“Who is in charge of putting that ordinance on our agenda?” Rein said.

Alford said he was.

“We think we need to bring the ordinance,” he said. “The county brought us a jurisdictional transfer and said, ‘You need to take care of this.’”

“Is the county in charge of our budget now?” Rein said. 

“If you don’t want to put the ordinance (on the agenda) next week, we can do that,” Alford said. “But when we do that, the county is probably going to take some kind of action. I don’t know what that will be. They’re pushing the issue.”

Quincy Mayor Mike Troup said the county intends to transfer the property.

“They were clear up front,” he said. “If you reject it, you’re going to get the transfer. You’re going to have to do it yourself. They were clear in various meetings.”

“That’s so contrary to (Illinois Department of Transportation) guidance on jurisdictional transfers,” Rein said. “That kind of an attitude is not consistent with IDOT.”

Troup said he had no problem going with members of the city’s engineering staff to try to negotiate with the county.

“We need to get some guidance from the aldermen,” he said.

“That’s what we’re trying to do right here,” Rein said.

Aldermen Eric Entrup (R-1) and Dave Bauer (D-2) asked if the county had failed to maintain its portion of the intersection and if the city could get money for that.

“It’s an argument potentially we can make,” Alford said. “We’ve discussed that with Steve (Bange, engineering director) and Jeffrey (Conte, director of public works). There are certain things we think we can do. I don’t know that it’s the $2.6 million they had on the table when they were doing this project, but I think there are some things we can address with that.”

Alford said he hopes both sides can settle the dispute.

“I don’t want to end up in a court case or something with this,” he said.

“It’s supposed to be both parties usually agree,” Rein said. “There is not supposed to be any threats and antagonism and stuff like that.”

“(The county wants) to honor the agreement now. ’You said one-half of this was in the city, then you’re taking it over. Well, half of it’s in the city. Take it over,’” Alford said. “I don’t know that we have a lot of great arguments that half of it isn’t in the city. Now, we can say it’s not up to standards. I don’t know how much of that argument we’re going to win.”

“Are you saying the Adams County Board has threatened to take the City of Quincy to court?” Rein asked.

“I haven’t said that,” Alford said. “I said that’s the place we could get to with this. I don’t know where it will go. … I’m just telling you I think the county is trying to enforce the 1973 agreement. I don’t know see where that 1973 agreement is invalid in any way. I understand it’s old, but just being old doesn’t mean it’s not valid.”

Troup said he would reach out to members of the County Board this week and come back with information to the next Finance Committee meeting.

In other business, the Finance Committee:

• Learned that the city could create its own grocery tax after Gov. JB Pritzker signed a newly enacted law eliminating Illinois’ grocery tax in 2026. Comptroller Sheri Ray said the city has approximately one year to decide to keep the tax.
• Heard from Quincy Park Board President Mark Philpot, who asked how the city’s budget would be affected by recent changes to U.S. Department of Labor laws that previously exempt government employees who earn less than $43,888 per year eligible for overtime pay and Fair Labor Standards Act minimum wage rates. Troup said the city’s human resources department will have a report “in the next couple of weeks.”