Kane County Reporter

A heated debate over the zoning and development process for the former Duke and Lee’s site dominated the Geneva City Council's meeting on March 3, with resident Mark Porter alleging that Mayor Kevin Burns is engaged in corruption with the high-profile developer behind the historic district project. 

Porter, a former police officer turned tech CEO, said he has never had an interest in local politics until he turned his attention to the Burton Foundation, which owns the land at the corner of 3rd Street and South Batavia Avenue that is slated for a mixed-income housing development. 

In part, Porter’s accusations point to the mayor’s relationships with the developers and his attempts to secure projects that benefit a select few at the expense of the broader community and its taxpayers.

Burton Foundation President Tracey Manning | YouTube / Illinois Council on Developmental Disabilities

"I made a public statement last Monday at our City Council meeting," Porter told the Kane County Reporter. "It's all on the record now. Then I created a website to post everything out there for the world to see, which essentially just spread it around town."

Porter’s opposition is a call to action that he felt necessary given the circumstances he believes are unfolding in the city.

"Corruption comes in many forms, and it has a real cost," he said. 

Accusations of close relationships between Mayor Burns and developer 

"So we apparently only have the Burton Foundation interested in this project in Geneva," Porter said. “And the husband of the president of the Burton Foundation is a high school friend of the mayor. His father was a lifelong city employee."

According to Porter, the mayor and developer have been scheming to push through the questionable development in Geneva’s historic district without following proper procedures.

“The corruption is that the mayor is tilting the scales for a developer,'" Porter said.

What was supposed to be a project aimed at affordable housing raised red flags for Porter.

He also said the Burton Foundation’s nonprofit status is deceiving. 

“They’re doing good for humanity, except they’re not," he said. "The (president) makes $200,000 a year and contracts all her construction work to her husband’s for-profit company, Door Creek Construction. She has a 2 out of 4 on Charity Navigator because she has zero disclosures on conflicts of interest."

The Burton Foundation reported over $2 million in income in 2023 and $13.4 million in assets.

Tracey Manning, President of the Burton Foundation, has an annual salary of $190,000. Her husband Bryan Fellhauer is the President of Door Creek Construction of Illinois.

Felhauer and Door Creek Construction of Illinois pocketed $1.34 million for construction services provided to Emma's Landing, a controversial Burton Foundation development in Geneva which was similarly assisted by Burns.

According to GenevaNotes, entities connected to Manning and Fellhauer took in several millions of dollars through the Emma's Landing development. 

"A total of roughly $3.4 mil will go to small entities controlled by Tracey and Bryan Fellhauer," GenevaNotes wrote in 2022.

Porter alleges the Burton Foundation has a "checkered past" with Emma's Landing in Geneva and problematic projects other towns, which he said has been "conveniently overlooked."

Development set for $1 million property tax break

More concerning to Porter was the way the mayor and planning officials attempted to sidestep public scrutiny by pushing through the 3rd Street development.

"The corruption part that people don’t get is the toll this causes on the city," Porter said. "If this development were to proceed based on the developer’s own numbers, they would have paid around $90,000 in property taxes per year for this development in one of the prime spots in downtown Geneva.” 

Porter claims the city stands to lose over $1 million in property tax revenue over 50 years, a figure that could harm local schools and services.

“A comparable development of market-rate housing or retail would pay somewhere between $350,000 and $500,000 in property taxes,” he said. “Even though the city only gets five percent of the property tax, that means the schools are being ripped off, and the rest of the taxpayers will bear the burden."

According to Porter, the scheme isn’t just about cutting corners—it’s about exploiting government programs meant to provide affordable housing, such as the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC).

He argues that the program, while well-intended, is often abused, allowing developers to make millions off taxpayer dollars, all while claiming to help those in need.

"I know people who make millions doing it. It’s perfectly legal," Porter said.

Porter said he has uncovered a web of secretive emails and meetings that reveal lies regarding the mayor's complicity in covering up key details about the project.

He said the timeline of events and communications points to deliberate efforts to push the project forward without full transparency or proper procedure.

Deception alleged on behalf of Mayor Burns 

On the website Porter created to share the details of his investigation, he notes that a letter was sent on behalf of the Burton Foundation to the Illinois Housing Development Authority in March. Porter alleges the letter was misleading. 

He noted a series of emails and documents revealing that Burns, City Administrator Stephanie Dawkins and Community Development Director David DeGroot withheld key information from the Geneva City Council regarding the development of the former Duke and Lee’s site, potentially violating the Open Meetings Act—an accusation currently under investigation by the Illinois Attorney General’s Office. 

Porter posits that despite knowing the Burton Foundation did not qualify for state financing and lacked necessary funding, they allowed the developer’s representative to present misleading information to the Council, with Burns making false statements about the Council’s unanimous consent. 

Emails further reveal Burns and other officials also took actions to help the Burton Foundation, including drafting letters that circumvented public comment and approval processes. 

Despite public statements to the contrary, Porter claims that the mayor knew full well that the project wasn’t legitimate and worked to deceive the public and City Council. 

"He acted outside his authority and lied," Porter said. "The mayor has had a letter from the attorney general for 24 hours and hasn’t shared it with the city council. I shared it with half of them, and that’s how I know he doesn’t have it. He’s concealing information."

Porter also alleges that city officials misled the council during a public meeting, allowing a developer's representative to present a fake narrative about the project's progress.

The mayor and other officials allegedly knew the developer lacked the necessary funding but allowed the presentation to continue without revealing the truth to the council or the public.

“It was a sham,” Porter said. “They lied to the council, deceived them. When I read that email to them this week, you can imagine how upset half of them were—those who aren’t idiots—when they found out they had been lied to.”

What Porter has described is similar to claims regarding how Emma's Landing came about in Geneva. 

"'The Geneva Way' is a two-decade-old system whereby the Geneva municipal authorities only let an issue reach the public’s notice or the City’s posted public agenda until if and when the issue is already secretly decided. By the time a citizen hears about it, it is a done deal," Rodney Nelson wrote in a piece on Burton Foundation development Emma's Landing posted to GenevaNotes. "The process that led to Emma’s Landing was a typical example of a favorite 'Geneva Way' tactic: the ambush. An item is placed on an agenda late in the afternoon on a Friday and then is approved without discussion by 9pm on Monday. The last-minute and unscheduled 'Special Meeting' ruse is also a Geneva City Council favorite form of treachery and was deployed more than once in this example."

Attorney General investigation underway 

Through public records requests, Porter has rallied local residents and brought attention to the project with his website. 

His persistence has also led to an investigation by the Illinois Attorney General’s office, which has demanded phone records from the mayor and Council to investigate potential violations of the Open Meetings Act.

“We just got a notice from the IHDA (Illinois Housing Development Authority) on Monday because I got about 100 people to write to them,” Porter said. "I allege that there is collaboration between the builder and the city that amounts to fraud, and the mayor wrote this letter without the consent of the council.”

Tragic murders at Burton Foundation property 

Porter’s involvement in city politics began with a personal tragedy—the murder of a young boy—that snowballed into a passionate campaign against what he perceives as deep-rooted corruption in the local government at the hands of Burns.

"I’ve never voted in a city election before," Porter said. "I lived in an unincorporated area for the last 20 years and watched from afar. When I moved into town, I had a lot going on in my personal life. My son was extremely ill. I never even voted before. I only got interested in this after a 13-year-old boy was murdered. His mother and he were murdered."

In late December, a mother and son were killed at the Burton Foundation development Emma’s Landing. Alejandro Cota, 50, an illegal alien staying at the development, was charged with the killing and faces four counts of first-degree murder.  

The incident left 13-year-old Damien Chavira and his mother, Christina Chavira, dead from stab wounds.

The tragedy of the boy’s death sparked Porter’s interest in the Burton Foundation, which owns and operates the affordable housing development similar to the one proposed for the Duke and Lee’s site.

"We found that there were seven felons in this 45-door complex," Porter said. "It's one and a half square blocks, one and a half blocks. 45 units, seven of which are reserved for the disabled. So you're down to 38 units, right? There's a felon in every fifth door. It's nuts. It's absolutely batshit crazy. Then I start seeing, through FOIAs, we start FOIAing, and there's 111 relatively serious calls for police services in 18 months. The only other apartment complex in town, which has more units than this, had two in the same period of time."

Local commentator Jeff Ward blamed Burns and Burton Foundation President Tracey Manning for the crime at Emma's Landing.

"That child’s death lies squarely at the feet of Mayor Burns, Tracey Manning of the Burton Foundation, and every single city council member who voted for this poorly conceived project," Ward wrote on The First Ward.

Porter claims the pattern of neglect and corruption could have been avoided.

"It’s all about making a living without considering the consequences when that developer—who has projects in Collinsville, South Elgin, and other towns where people have complained—gets into town," he said.

Porter said that with each new revelation in his investigation, he becomes more convinced that exposing corruption in Geneva’s government is the only way to ensure the city’s future—and to prevent future tragedies like the one that inspired him to act.

“You’re only going to get worse residents in this place,” Porter said about the 3rd Street development. “And when they’re moldy, falling apart and shitty? What happens then?”