Anyone knowledgeable in municipal law?

If so, I have a question I'd like to get some general direction on - in private.

I'm a trustee on our town board, and just discovered some "bad news", but unfortunately there are some personal connections involved that run very deep through the local legal/political community, so I'm hesitant to reach out to anyone nearby.

Thanks.

the answer to your question would depend on the municipality, no?

if you don't want to ask anyone involved in the local gov't to know you're looking into something, ask a lawyer practicing in your state or county for advice on the local verbiage in question.

You're probably going to have to at least ask your question in general terms to see if anyone has that specific knowledge.

Municipal law varies by the municipality.

Hmm... Well, I'll try to give some info.

There was a person formerly associated with our village staff, who also happened to be the only realtor in town, and thus handled all realestate transactions for the village. I've just confirmed a suspicion I've had for some time: this person screwed up the sale of a village-owned property by not following the steps listed in the agreement.

This mistake is not only going to cause * very bad problems*, there are also correlating facts that this might have been malicious/sabotage.

I'd like to get some general advice regarding whether a.) There's any legal recourse to pursue, and B.) Is it worth stirring up a whole lotta' hornets nests to try and see this through.

carguy123 - do you mind if I PM you? I know you have plenty of realestate experience.

I was just going to suggest that.

It sounds like you have more of a real estate issue than a municipality issue.

Of course once you embark up on the real estate side several civil issues might arise that you could take advantage of

In reply to carguy123:

Thanks! I have all the paperwork at home, so ill send you a message tonight.

Only thing worse than bringing up conflict-of-interest situations is having to explain why you DIDN'T bring up the conflict-of-interest situation when somebody else finds out about it.

Bring it up, and let the chips fall where they may, although in a small town, the whistleblower may wind up with a couple of slashed tires.

With no disrespect intended, reading between the lines you need law enforcement engaged, not the advice of your car message board buddies. If you are a trustee on the town board, you are not an innocent bystander - you have a fiduciary responsibility.

If it is a false alarm, they will figure it out.

But first you have to figure out which law enforcement and then ensure they aren't buds with the malefactor. Now that's small town politics, or is it small town law enforcment.

Pete I'll get back to you later.

Thanks, it truly is a sticky situation locally, and I have no problem bringing this all to light - if there's even any reason to do so.

Sounds like an issue for the state auditor to me.

bgkast wrote: Sounds like an issue for the state auditor to me.

Ditto. Time to take it to the next higher level to avoid the "conflict" in interests. Your state auditor is nobody's friend, even if you know them.

Just for clarification,

In most state, what office would the state auditor be in? Do they audit municipal policy? Do they have real-estate lawyers on staff who can answer these types of questions?

Drop a dime on them. At the very least it will be entertaining.

In reply to PHeller:

I am not familiar with other states, but in my state they have their own office. They audit municipal policies for purchasing, bidding and procurement among other things.

State Attorney General would be my first contact. You'll be re-directed if that's not the right contact.

put it in rants and raves local Craigslist let it ride

Don49 wrote: State Attorney General would be my first contact. You'll be re-directed if that's not the right contact.

Unfortunately, he's a close acquaintance of the person at fault.

Then I'm sure someone will "suggest" that he recuse himself (if he doesn't do so automatically on his own.) In any event, it sounds like somebody has to start moving this train down the track, and – as others have said – in this type of situation, delaying usually makes things worse.

You guys are only like 90 miles from Chicago so this doesn't surprise me.

Will be interested to hear how this turns out. Like to think these sorts of improper dealings don'r occur but then I remember I live in Illinois so things on the up and up are the rare ones.