Municipal & Local Government Law
Representation of Local Governmental Entities
Petrarca, Gleason, Boyle & Izzo, LLC has extensive local government practice areas that include a wide variety of matters, including personnel matters such as employee discipline, non-renewals, reductions-in-force, and dismissals; board policy and procedures; ethics and open meetings; construction contracts and litigation; municipal finance and debt issuance; risk management, liability avoidance, and insurance defense; property acquisition and leasing, sale, and eminent domain; collective bargaining and labor relations; and civil rights litigation
Our attorneys routinely deal with governing board procedures, such as Open Meetings Act issues, voting requirements and parliamentary procedures. We regularly review board agenda, prepare notices, and attend countless meetings.
We are regularly called upon to craft and implement intergovernmental agreements for the sharing of public resources, the division of revenue and costs, joint defense against tax protests, the cooperation or exchange of services, and the development or use of facilities.
Our attorneys advise our local government clients on borrowing, fund management, and revenue matters. We represent their interests in property tax disputes, including tax rate objections and assessment appeals in circuit court and the Illinois Property Tax Appeal Board. We recommend advantageous approaches to development incentives such as tax increment financing and tax abatements.
All of our governmental clients face legal issues regarding public records. For that reason, we are well-versed in such laws as the Freedom of Information Act, the Local Records Act, and the Personnel Record Review Act. We are often called upon to assist in drafting responses to FOIA requests, appeals to the Public Access Counselor of the Attorney General’s Office, subpoenas, and discovery in litigation.
Petrarca, Gleason, Boyle & Izzo, LLC has extensive experience representing our clients in both State and Federal courts, and before administrative agencies; with a full practice area devoted to ensuring successful litigation.
We have extensive experience in construction law, both transactional and litigation. We routinely review and revise contracts dealing with all aspects of construction, including contracts for architects, contractors, subcontractors, and construction managers. We have worked with virtually every type of delivery system in the construction industry. Those systems are general contractor, multiple prime contractors, and design build. As construction projects often employ construction managers, we have worked with construction managers acting solely as advisors and construction managers acting both as advisors and constructors. Most construction projects utilize the American Institute of Architects (AIA) construction documents and we are well versed in all AIA documents and have developed detailed modification recommendations.
Petrarca, Gleason, Boyle & Izzo, LLC has significant experience and entire practice area devoted to defending and counseling both private and public clients in labor and employment law matters.