Thomas W. Kelty

Mr. Kelty has appeared and actively represented clients in the 7th, 8th, 9th, and 11th Circuit U. S. Courts of Appeals, the United States District Court for the Northern, Central and Southern Districts of Illinois; circuit courts in approximately 60 counties in Illinois; each of the five Appellate Court Districts in Illinois, and before the Illinois Supreme Court. He has likewise represented clients in regulatory matters before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, U.S. Treasury Department, the United States Tax Court of Appeals, the Illinois Commerce Commission, the Illinois Securities Department, the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, the Illinois Department of Public Health, the Illinois Department of Commerce and Community Affairs, the Illinois Office of Real Estate and Banks, and numerous others. Other relevant background experiences include: General counsel to the Illinois Municipal League Risk Management Association (1980- 1991) and the Gas Utilities Alliance (Risk Management Association) (1978-1989). Vice Chair of Self-Insurers and Risk Managers Committee of Tort and Insurance Practice Section, American Bar Association (1986-1990) - a Committee comprised of general counsel to private and public (municipal) insurers engaged in self-insurance enterprises throughout the United States. Illinois Municipal League Home Rule Attorneys Committee - Counsel to this Committee of 65 attorneys representing 106 Illinois municipalities over 25,000 population, including Chicago and Springfield, charged with the monitoring and analysis of legislation, ordinances and litigation implementing and testing the parameters of the constitutionally created home rule powers contained in the 1970 Illinois Constitution. The work included participation in litigation, oral argument and filing of numerous briefs in home rule test cases brought throughout the State of Illinois, including numerous cases argued before the Illinois Supreme Court. Involved the analysis of constitutional home rule provisions in other States for a comparative analysis of their constitutional home rule provisions. Illinois Bell/Illinois municipalities franchise negotiations - lead counsel to a group of 456 Illinois municipalities in the successful negotiation in 1984 and the renegotiation in 1988 of a comprehensive utility franchise agreement allowing the continued contractual franchise fee arrangement between Illinois Bell Telephone Company and these municipalities comprising a population of over 7,000,000 persons. The renegotiation was necessitated by the divestiture of the Bell operating companies nationally by federal court order. Illinois Municipal Tort Immunity - lead counsel in 1986 in the negotiation and lobbying of the first major revisions of the Illinois Tort Immunity Act in over 20 years. Negotiations were conducted directly with the Speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives, Representative Michael Madigan, on behalf of over 1,300 cities and villages and over 2,000 townships, school districts, and park districts. Sangamac (Illinois) Ambulance District - legal counsel in the creation of the first constitutional intergovernmental cooperation multi-municipality public service ambulance district in the State of Illinois coordinating the efforts of five municipalities located in multi-counties serving a population in excess of 100,000 people. Illinois Air Rights Law - successfully negotiated the first public lease of air rights in the State of Illinois combining the creation and construction of a 300-car multi-level parking ramp with the construction of a major chain 300-room hotel in air rights above the parking ramp under the terms of a 99-year lease arrangement. American Legal Publishing Company - Illinois and Missouri counsel to this major publisher of municipal ordinance codes. Review, analyze and edit ordinance recodifications prepared by American Legal Publishing. Requires current working knowledge of applicable case law and statutory provisions. Awards and Honors Honors Recipient, Distinguished Service Award for Lifetime Achievement, Illinois Institute for Local Government Law, 2007

• Presenter, American Bar Association, Palm Beach, Florida, 1987
• Presenter, Illinois Municipal League 80th Annual Conference, Chicago, Illinois, 1993
• Lecturer, IML Annual Conference, 1972 - 1990
• Lecturer, Biennial Municipal Attorneys Seminar, 1973 - 1989
• Lecturer, Emerging Tenth Amendment Federalism Issues: Preserving Basic Local Constitutional Authority, IMLA Annual Conference, San Diego, California, 1990
• Lecturer, Statewide Attorneys Seminar, Illinois Institute for Local Government for Law (Springfield), 1992
• Lecturer, Statewide Attorneys Seminar, Illinois Institute for Local Government for Law (Champaign and Skokie), 1993
• Lecturer, Federalism: On the Brink of Revival, ILGL 1st Annual Conference, Springfield, Illinois
• Lecturer, Constitutional Federalism, ILGL 2nd Annual Conference, Joliet, Illinois, 1995
• Lecturer, Report of the IMLA Standing Committee on Federalism, ABA Section of State and Local Government Law, Chicago, Illinois, 1995
• Lecturer, Introduction to and Current Thoughts on Federalism: Does the Tenth Amendment Still Live?, IMLA Sixth Circuit Regional Seminar, Cincinnati, Ohio, 1995
• Lecturer, Case Report., ILGL 3rd Annual Conference, Joliet, Illinois, 1996
• Lecturer, Legislative Update, ILGL 4th Annual Conference, Bloomington, Illinois, 1997
• Guest Lecturer, TIF Planning is Not Mere Words, Illinois Tax Increment Association, Spring Conference, Effingham, Illinois, 1999
• Guest Lecturer, Expulsion Procedure: How to Avoid a Constitutional Challenge, School Law Conference for Administrators, Teachers & Board Members, Western Illinois University, Macomb, Illinois, 2000
• Lecturer, Student Expulsion: The Decatur Experience, ILGL 7th Annual Conference, Joliet, Illinois
• Guest Lecturer, Recap of the Attorney General Opinions Affecting Schools and Local Government, School Law Conference for Administrators, Teachers & Board Members, Holiday Inn, Moline, Illinois, 2001
• Lecturer, Home Rule: Survey of Popular Uses 1986-2000, ILGL 9th Annual Conference, Joliet, Illinois, 2002
• Lecturer, Zoning Hearings Post-Klaeren, ILGL 10th Annual Conference, Chicago, Illinois, 2003
• Guest Lecturer, Illinois Constitutional

• City of Springfield v. Allphin
• Citation: 384 N.E.2d 310
• Court: S.Ct.
• Year: 1979
• Citation: 413 N.E.2d 394
• Year: 1980
• SMEAA v. Castle
• Citation: 427 N.E.2d 144
• Year: 1981
• Village of Pawnee v. Johnson
• Citation: 469 N.E.2d 1365
• Year: 1984
• People ex rel Bernardi v. City of Highland Park
• Citation: 520 N.E.2d 316
• Year: 1988
• Arkansas v. Oklahoma
• Court: United States Supreme Court
• Year: 1992
• People of the State of Illinois, ex rel Paul A. Logli, State's Attorney for Winnebago County, Illinois v. The City of Loves Park
• Citation: No. 93-MR-133
• Year: 1993
• Leonard Keeven, as Trustee of Leonard Keeven Trust, et al., etc. v. City of Highland
• Citation: No. 94-MR-331
• Year: 1997
• Roosevelt Fuller, by his parents, Gretta Fuller and Roosevelt Harris, et al. v. Decatur Public School Board of Education School District 61, et al.,
• Citation: No. 99-2277, Ctl. District in IL, Urbana Division
• Year: 1999
• Gregory Howell, by his parent, Cynthia Howell, et al. v. Decatur Public School Board of Education School District 61, et al.
• Citation: No. 99-CH-245
• Court: Circuit Court of the Sixth Judicial Circuit Macon County, Illinois
• Decatur Public School District 61 v. Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, et al.
• Citation: No. 99-2288
• Court: Circuit Court for the Sixth Judicial Circuit in Illinois
• Libbra v. Livingston, et al.
• Citation: No. 03-MR-723, 03-MR-753
• Court: Circuit Court for the Third Judicial Circuit in Illinois
• Year: 2004

• Illinois, 1971
• Missouri, 1985
• U.S. Court of Appeals 7th Circuit, 1985
• U.S. Supreme Court, 1982
• U.S. Tax Court, 1985

• Sangamon County Bar Association (Member)
• Illinois State Bar Association (Member)
• American Bar Association (Member)
• National Association of Bond Lawyers (Member)
• Illinois State Bar Association, Local Government Law Section Council, 1980 - 1982 (Chair)
• Illinois State Bar Association, Local Government Law Section Council, 1978 - 1986 (Member)
• Illinois State Bar Association, Local Government Law Section Council, 1993 - Present (Member)
• International Municipal Lawyers Association (Member, Board of Directors)
• International Municipal Lawyers Association, 2008 (Elected Third Vice President)
• International Municipal Lawyers Association, 1987 - 1993 (Illinois State Chairman)
• International Municipal Lawyers Association, 1989 - 1993 (Chair, Committee of State Municipal League Counsel)
• International Municipal Lawyers Association, 1993 - 2008 (Member and Chair, Standing Committee on Federalism)
• International Municipal Lawyers Association, 2000 - 2003 (Chair, Standing Committee on Federalism)
• Illinois Development Council, 1995 - 2002 (Member)
• Illinois Association of Defense Trial Counsel, 1992 - 1998 (Member)
• Illinois Tax Increment Association, 1990 - Present (Member)
• University of Illinois - Springfield Foundation, 1982 - 1984 (President)
• Illinois Institute for Local Government Law, 1991 - Present (General Counsel and Executive Director)
• Illinois Municipal League, 1972 - 1991 (Chief Counsel)
• Springfield Metropolitan Exposition and Auditorium Authority, 1972 - 1982 (General Counsel)
• Illinois Municipal League Risk Management Association, 1980 - 1991 (General Counsel)
• Gas Utilities Alliance (Risk Management Association), 1978 - 1989 (General Counsel)
• American Bar Association, Insurance Practice Section, 1986 - 1990 (Vice Chair, Self-Insurers and Risk Managers Committee)
• Illinois Municipal League, 1971 - 1991 (Counsel, Home Rule Attorneys Committee)
• International Municipal Lawyers Association, 1986 (State Municipal League Attorneys Committee)
• American Legal Publishing Company (Illinois and Missouri Counsel)
• International Municipal Lawyers Association, 1995 (Chair, International Committee)
• World Jurist Association (Member)