Attorney says city treating Rockford nonprofit like a 'high-end east side restaurant'

At the core of a dispute between Miss Carly's and the city of Rockford is the former Ellida Lodge, a building next door to the Rockford charity to used to house a Swedish fraternal organization called the International Order of Vikings.

When the Fifth Avenue building came on the market about two years ago, Carly Rice, executive director of the non-profit that bears her name, jumped at what she thought was the solution to Miss Carly's on-going dispute with the city of Rockford over building code and special use permit violations at the charity's current location.

The Ellida Lodge is larger than the former Buddhist temple building that serves as Miss Carly's headquarters and the home Rice shares with building's owner and her partner, Jacob Rush. It was Rice's belief that the lodge wouldn't have the same kind of code violations the city was hounding her over at her home and the dispute could come to end.

Unfortunately, it has not worked out that way and the building which the charity bought for $175,000 in 2021 has remained vacant.

Rockford building and legal officials are insisting the charity make repairs to correct an alleged 37 violations that could cost more than $200,000 to repair at its current location before they will consider backing a special use permit at the new place, said George Hampilos, a lawyer for Miss Carly's.

Hampilos said Miss Carly's is on the frontlines of a fight against a heroin and fentanyl crisis while the city is throwing regulations at it as if it is a "high-end restaurant on the east side of town."

He said investing that kind of money into a building the charity intends to leave would be a waste of resources, leaving the charity and Rockford at an impasse for months.

"We've been pleading with the city to allow us to devote our resources into the building that we purchased, which would better suit the needs of the organization," Hampilos said. "And then not use the house at 1125 for Miss Carly's operations at all and return it to residential use."

Rockford officials have taken Rush and Miss Carly's Inc. to court saying the charity has never lived up to its obligations under the special use permit that allowed it to operate from its current location. The city is asking Winnebago County Judge Lisa Fabiano to order the charity to pay a $27,500 fine and come into compliance with all city regulations.

Legal Director Nicholas Meyer said the city is asking Miss Carly's to follow the rules and live up to promises it made when it sought a special use permit in 2018.

"Paying a fine wouldn't get rid of the requirement to comply with our codes and special use permit," Meyer said. "At the end of the day, that's what we want. What is your plan? What is your reasonable timeline to do it? Start doing it. Right now, when we talk, all we get is 'How can we avoid having to do anything?'"

Jeff Kolkey writes about government, economic development and other issues for the Rockford Register Star. He can be reached at  (815) 987-1374, via email at jkolkey@rrstar.com and on Twitter @jeffkolkey .

This article originally appeared on Rockford Register Star: Attorney says city treating Rockford nonprofit like a 'high-end east side restaurant'