A new private corporation being formed by the city to benefit Quincy’s hydropower project will not be subject to the Open Meetings Act or the Freedom of Information Act.

However, in the interest of open government, the city will probably act as if those laws apply, according to Mayor John Spring.

“I feel strongly that those should still apply,” Spring said in an interview Tuesday — a day after the City Council’s Finance Committee learned about the proposal to form a private “C” corporation as a means to qualify for a federal grant reimbursing 30 percent of the $100 million hydropower project at Lock and Dam 21.

A fact sheet distributed to Finance Committee members contained the following paragraph:

“A private corporation will not be directly subject to the numerous Illinois ‘sunshine’ laws like the Open Meetings Act, Freedom of Information Act, Local Records Act, etc. Nevertheless, there could be a significant benefit in terms of public confidence in the project (while also avoiding nuisance lawsuits) by acting as if these Acts did apply to the corporation to the fullest extent possible.”

Spring said he will push to make sure the sunshine laws apply to the corporation whenever possible.

“The idea of going to the ‘C’ corporation is not an attempt, by any means, to hold meetings where people don’t know what we’re doing,” Spring said. “The idea is so we can qualify for the 30 percent” reimbursement from the federal government.

In recent months the Finance Committee has held some hydropower discussions behind close doors because of an allowable exception to the Illinois Open Meetings Act involving the establishment of a public utility.

However, Spring said his hope is for the city to be as open as it can be in its dealings involving the hydropower project. He said some meetings may need to be closed to discuss certain matters, such as personnel or the acquisition of property. But “that wasn’t our intent” in forming the private corporation.

He said forming the corporation simply gives Quincy “a wonderful opportunity” to secure a major portion of the financing needed to carry out the project.

Adams County Board member Mark Peter says a consultant updating a 2003 “facility needs assessment” for the county jail will focus on seven specific areas to make sure the county is ready to move forward quickly if a major source of funding becomes available to build a new facility.

In a report to the County Board Tuesday night, Peter said the consultant — Glen Hodgson of Springfield — will be updating the jail study he conducted for the county in 2003 when the county made an unsuccessful attempt to win a $10 million state grant to construct a new jail.

Peter said Hodgson, who is being paid $50,000 this year for his efforts, is focusing on the following areas:

• “Cost modeling” for three proposed sites being considered for a new jail. One is an undeveloped “remote site,” presumably the county-owned land near the former Adams County youth home around 54th Street, between Broadway and Maine, which several other county officials say is being looked at closely. Another is an unidentified remote site with buildings that would have to be demolished. The third site being considered in on the Adams County Courthouse square, where the current 58-year-old jail is located.

• “Determine program areas and capacities for new facilities” at the three locations.

• Review issues with the existing facility.

• Review demographic and prisoner history records and projections provided by the sheriff’s department and other governmental sources and update that data from the 2003 study.

• Develop current and projected jail bed requirements for various prisoner classifications updated from the 2003 study.

• Review law enforcement issues with sheriff’s staff, probation employees and judicial system officials and develop a conceptual operational plan for a new facility.

• Develop models for operating costs comparing the Courthouse site with the remote sites.

Peter said he’s hoping the jail study update will be completed and presented to the full County Board “early in 2010.”

County officials say a new jail could cost anywhere from $20 million to $25 million. Whether any funding for a new jail ever materializes remains to be seen.