Municipal Law

The attorneys at Hodges, Loizzi, Eisenhammer, Rodick & Kohn LLP provide comprehensive legal services to municipalities while serving as general counsel, labor counsel, and special counsel for zoning and economic development. With more than 30 years of experience representing numerous cities, villages, towns, fire and park districts, our attorneys are experienced in all aspects of municipal law. We have and will work closely with the mayor or village president, the council or board, and village manager to help them achieve the goals for their community.

Our experience in municipal law extends to such diverse matters as annexation and disconnection, governance issues, zoning and land use planning, economic development, taxation, financial and commercial transactions, labor and personnel, and code enforcement.

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Corporate & Finance

We provide corporate legal services to ensure that our municipal clients are operating in compliance with the law from the Illinois Municipal Code to the Open Meetings Act. We work closely with our clients to make sure that their meetings are run properly, that they respond in a timely fashion for requests for documents from the public, that they provide the state and the county with the information they require, and that they meet all of their other legal obligations.

In the area of municipal finance, we work with our clients to ensure that all of the annual financial activities are performed properly and their financial resources are never in jeopardy. We ensure that their budget or appropriations ordinances are properly prepared and adopted and that their property tax levies comply with the Truth in Taxation Act and the tax cap laws. We also help our clients to understand what options they have to meet their financial obligations.

Labor & Personnel

We are keenly aware of the challenges faced by cities and villages in their labor relations matters. In the collective bargaining process, we coordinate the negotiations with the client’s overall employment policies, objectives, and budget restraints. We analyze the existing labor contract, current employment policies, compensation structures, review recent developments in the law, and develop general recommendations for a bargaining strategy.

We also recognize that an effective labor relations program does not end with the signing of a collective bargaining agreement. We provide our clients with day-to-day advice on personnel matters, compliance with employment laws, and the administration of collective bargaining agreements. We also provide a complete package of services that includes policy and handbook development and training as needed. Although we strive to prevent unnecessary grievances, when necessary, we represent our clients at grievance meetings and arbitrations and in hearings on unfair labor practice charges.

Economic Development

Many cities and villages look to economic development as a way to improve the community. New businesses provide jobs and services for residents and new property and sales tax revenue for local government. As many municipalities face increasing financial pressure, the need and desire for economic development has increased. We work with our clients to attract new businesses to their communities by structuring financial incentives that benefit everyone.

We assist our clients in creating tax increment financing (TIF) districts, business development districts, special service areas, sales tax sharing agreements, and other tools that create a public-private partnership and facilitate the development and redevelopment of their communities. We work closely with our clients to develop these strategies and to negotiate redevelopment agreements with private developers and businesses that will result in new businesses in town. We also assist our clients in implementing these strategies through various forms of financing, including various types of bond issues and developer notes.

Zoning & Land Use Planning

Few areas of municipal government are as important or as complex as zoning and planning. We have extensive experience in these areas and work with our clients to help them create the plans, codes, and ordinances that will produce the community they envision. We work with cities and villages to draft comprehensive plans and zoning ordinances where none exist and assist them in revising and updating existing plans and ordinances. We have also helped clients on special projects, such as the development of a planned unit development ordinance or an adult use ordinance. Through our long representation of the Village of Riverside, a National Landmark District, we have developed expertise in the area of historic preservation.

We also assist our clients in the day-to-day work of administering their zoning and subdivision ordinances. We work with plan commissions and zoning boards of appeals as they evaluate and process applications for variations, special use permits, and zoning amendments. We provide advice and opinions on the proper interpretation and application of those ordinances. When necessary, we have successfully defended zoning ordinances and zoning decisions in court.

Litigation

Litigation is time consuming, expensive, and a drain on resources. But sometimes it can’t be avoided. When it comes to representing our clients in court or before an administrative tribunal, we don’t like to lose, and we seldom do. Our experienced team of litigators has successfully represented municipalities at trial and on appeal in both the state and federal courts.

We have defended or prosecuted cases on behalf of our clients in cases involving zoning, code enforcement, annexation agreements, labor and personnel issues, civil rights, special service areas, adult uses, eminent domain, and a myriad of other subjects important to cities and villages. We have also represented our clients in contested matters before boards of fire and police commissioners, pension boards, the Illinois Liquor Control Commission, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the Illinois Department of Human Rights, and other administrative agencies. In any contested matter, we are committed to doing everything that is necessary to win the case or achieve a favorable settlement.