Critic of Metra's Crystal Lake plan drops lawsuit over records access

Attorneys for a critic of Metra's plans to construct a new commuter station near Crystal Lake dropped their lawsuit Monday claiming the agency was unlawfully denying access to public records.

Jamie Wombacher, a partner of the law firm of Gummerson Rausch Wand Gray Wombacher, confirmed the suit's dismissal, saying Metra turned over records it had been seeking shortly after the firm filed suit in February.

The firm kept the suit alive since then while their client, onetime McHenry County Board candidate Craig Steagall, contemplated whether to ask a judge to award him attorney fees. He ultimately decided to drop the matter, Wombacher said.

The suit claimed Metra violated the state's Freedom of Information Act by being more than three weeks late on turning over documents related to its proposed station in Ridgefield, just west of Crystal Lake near the McHenry County College campus.

The records Steagall requested included all concept plans for the station and a copy of an appraisal Metra conducted for his land near the proposed site.

Steagall, who unsuccessfully ran for a county board seat in this year's Republican primary, has been a critic of the Metra plan since the agency chose not to buy his property in Ridgefield, and instead paid $1.54 million for a nearby 17 acres partly owned by McHenry County Board Chairman Ken Koehler.

Metra officials say they paid fair price for the property best suited for the project, but Steagall claimed Koehler's political standing influenced the choice.