At this time many Associations that have swimming facilities on their premises have closed them down for the season. However, it is important for the Associations to make sure that the swimming pool licenses for the next season are properly renewed with the Illinois Department of Public Health (“IDPH”) before May of next year, prior to reopening the facilities.

The penalties that IDPH can seek to impose for failure to renew licenses can be severe, especially in light of the fact that IDPH does not notify Associations immediately.In many cases, IDPH allows the Associations to operate for the entire season without a license and then files an administrative complaint seeking to assess daily fines retroactively (i.e. $100.00 for each day that a swimming facility was operated without a renewed license).Often, the licenses are not properly renewed due to simple oversight or confusion. For instance, the swimming facilities in Cook County are inspected by the Cook County inspectors who report to IDPH. The Cook County Ordinance allows the inspectors to charge hourly fees for their inspections to the Associations that are located in unincorporated areas of Cook County. Some Associations mistakenly sent their renewal fees to the County instead of the IDPH, when they received invoices for the inspections. Accordingly, it is important that a proper renewal application is submitted and that the fees are properly paid to IDPH. All of the necessary information regarding renewal of the swimming facility licenses can be found on the following link:

http://www.idph.state.il.us/envhealth/swimmingpools.htmFinally, if you do receive a “Notice of Intent to Assess Civil Penalty And Notice of Opportunity for Hearing” from IDPH, it is important that you notify your attorney immediately. Failure to request a hearing within 15 days and file a proper answer within 20 days of the Notice will result in automatic entry of a civil penalty against the Association, for the full amount sought by IDPH. Such civil penalty could be in the tens of thousands of dollars and may be irreversible.

By KSN Attorney Boris Samovalov

 

Since 1983, KSN has been a legal resource for condominium, homeowner, and townhome associations. Additionally, we represent clients in real estate transactions, collections, landlord/tenant issues, and property tax appeals. We represent thousands of clients and community associations throughout the US with offices in several states including Florida, Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin.

 

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