Hoffman Estates officials hopeful Senate will pass Sears bill
Hoffman Estates officials, while extremely pleased the Illinois House approved major tax breaks for Sears Monday, said they can only remain hopeful that the Senate will continue to push the bill forward Tuesday.
“We had some good news today,” said Mayor William McLeod via phone from Springfield during Monday's village board meeting. “Tomorrow the bill goes before a Senate committee and then to the full Senate, and hopefully that goes well ... I want to thank everybody for all the hard work they put into it.”
Trustee Gary Pilafas said to McLeod, “Good luck tomorrow, and hopefully you can have the same success in the Senate as you had today in the House,” to which the mayor thanked him and replied, “We hope so.”
McLeod specifically thanked Representative Fred Crespo (D) and Representative John Bradley (D) for “the good job they did” regarding Sears
Village manager Jim Norris is with McLeod in Springfield this week to help support the bill.
Village attorney Arthur Janura said while it looks like the bill has a good chance today in the Senate, he is staying “cautiously optimistic.” Trustee Karen Mills agreed, saying, “Don't count your chickens before they hatch.”