Danville, Vermilion County Swap Properties

A dispute between the city of Danville and Vermilion County has been settled, with funds and properties split between each government. 

Vermilion County Board chair Gary Weinard says in 2005, a rebate was paid to both the county and city from the Public Building Commission account.   

He said the county sued the city to stop that distribution, saying it should be entitled to more.  

Weinard said the two sides started working to resolve this last year before he became county board chair– with Danville and the county each getting about $112,000.  

"it was kind of a multi-faceted agreement, but it was all one agreement" he said.  "But the the thing that drove it, or the thing that started was the resolution of conflict between the money that had been held, and we're moving forward with other cooperative events that the city and county need to work on."

The funds came from annual rental payments made to the city and county for operating the public safety building.

The exchange of property will include land for Danville that connects to the Danville Mass Transit Zone.   The county will get two properties already used for parking next to the Vermilion County Courthouse.

Danville City attorney David Wesner said the agreement took a while given all the money and property involved, and best serves the interests of taxpayers. 

But he denied that politics played a role in getting this matter resolved. 

"I think as with any particular issue that potentially involves opposite ideas of thoughts about certain language, it really boils down to one to make sure we could talk through a resolution for this that makes sense," he said.

In December, Chairman Weinard became the first Republican Vermilion County Board chair in more than 20 years.