Board Meeting: Is Your March Madness Bracket Technically Illegal?

Lyons Township High School and St. John of the Cross, two of the largest organizations in Western Springs, are planning fundraising raffles. And nobody really has any problem with this.

But the tricky issue before the Village Board on Monday was that under Illinois state law, all “games of chance” must have a local municipality’s license, requiring an alteration in the Village code—the current code has no process for obtaining a raffle license.

And the real thorniness starts when, if residents must obtain a license for “games of chance,” and that includes a school raffle—does it also include a $20 March Madness pool with your buddies?

“Where do you draw the line?” asked Village President William Rodeghier. “That’s the problem. I don’t want office pools and things of that nature [regulated.] You’re talking about making that illegal if they don’t comply with the ordinance.”

In other words, college-basketball brackets with money on the line would be—and perhaps already are—violations, unless residents go through the laborious process of obtaining a license.

As Village Attorney Michael Jurusik explained, though, without some type of regulations written into the Village code, LTHS and SJC’s raffles would technically be illegal as well. And the issue is pressing, as the public school is beginning their raffle immediately.

“We don’t want to cause grave consequences for people who are trying to do the right thing,” said Trustee Janet Dahl. But she added that such laws were necessary to prevent frauds, like contests without actual prizes or a raffle that pretends to be for charity.

“We have to do this to legitimize [these raffles,]” Rodeghier eventually admitted. “If it’s the only way for it to be done, then it’s the only way it can be done.”

Trustees were universally adamant, however, that if the ordinance is approved, they will not begin to force small pool-bets among friends to obtain official licenses—and they would waive license fees for anyone who did.

Other board-meeting business included the fate of the empty building on 47th Street near the entrance of Commonwealth—the former Vaughn’s Garden Center.

Members of the Western Springs Medical Center Partners, LLC were on hand to finalize their plan to convert the three-story building into a medical office building. They would also construct a new one-story building in the empty lot directly south of the current structure, add new parking spaces and complete site improvements for storm drainage.

There have been no objections at any meetings to this plan; a special short session of the Board is scheduled to meet at 7:00 p.m. on March 23 to finalize the approval.

Also seemingly on the smooth track:

• A request to replace two police vehicles with 60,000-70,000 miles on them with new Chevy Tahoes. While the mileage appears low, the Police Department says it takes a deceptively large toll on law-enforcement vehicles (which do a lot of stopping, starting and idling.) The larger Tahoes would also allow for officers to carry more safety equipment on patrol with them.
• A temporary use permit to allow the restaurant 800 West to allow outdoor dining, including with a permanent outdoor gas fireplace for atmosphere. The dining would otherwise be similar to that offered by the restaurant’s predecessor, La Dolce Vita.
• A $43,320 landscaping contract renewal for various Village projects to Lupfer Landscaping of Lyons.
• A proposition to the move earliest times when liquor is able to be sold one hour back.