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March 28, 2024

DuPage Township’s Illegal General Assistance Expenditures –

By John Kraft & Kirk Allen

On June 29, 2018

DuPage Township, IL. (ECWd) –

We have been fielding tips on DuPage Township’s illegal expenditures out of their General Assistance fund for “Home Relief” some of which are below:

  • Dec 2017: Sponsor of Black History Month – $1,000.00
  • Dec 2017: Bolingbrook Cricket League – $3,000.00
  • Dec 2017: Leroy Brown Scholarship Fund – $2,000.00
  • Dec 2017: Community Outreach Pastor – $57.76
  • Dec 2017: Job Fair Donuts – $52.82
  • Feb 2018: Bolingbrook Rotary Club, Mac and Cheese Sponsor – $500.00

None of these expenditures out of the General Assistance Fund are authorized under Illinois law.

DuPage Township Supervisor, William M. Mayer, is the person responsible for administering the General Assistance Fund.

General Assistance is designed for “basic maintenance requirements, and either necessary treatment, care and supplies required because of illness or injury, or acute medical treatment, care and supplies only.”

The Public Aid Code does not say they can spend public funds on History Months, Cricket Leagues, Scholarship Funds, Pastors, Donuts, or Rotary Club Mac and Cheese dinners. These expenditures violate Illinois law and must be discontinued.

More articles on DuPage Township are forthcoming.

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42 Comments
  • Randy
    Posted at 23:43h, 29 June

    Such Crap.. I have seen what Dupage Township has done in the community first hand. What I have seen lately at these meetings is a crying shame. You have one person that wants to further her career in politics and thinks the best way is to burn this great organization to the ground. There are other political powers in this community that wants them to go away. Who then would run the food bank and help the poor and elderly? Don’t be fooled by the sheer politics of this. Come out and see what these people do for you.

    • jmkraft
      Posted at 07:07h, 30 June

      “Great organizations” do not violate the law, bad ones do.

      • Real News Believer
        Posted at 15:42h, 02 July

        Your correct, great organizations do not violate the law, however in this case there were 3 trustees that violated the law, not the entire organization.

        • Trudy
          Posted at 22:00h, 02 July

          Defection…. William Mayer is in charge of General Assistance!!!!

    • Trudy
      Posted at 10:12h, 01 July

      Deflection is what William does best. Board members should ask questions, that is their job. An independent organization is telling us that the actions of William Mayer are illegal. That is what this topic is about and no one else.

      • Real News Believer
        Posted at 23:30h, 09 July

        Defection is the desertion of one’s country or cause in favor of an opposing one. “Defection…..William Mayer is in charge of General Assistance!!!!” What are you trying to imply?

        Also, “Deflection is what William does best”. First, I find it hard to believe you even know him, if you did, you wouldn’t be calling him William, you would know that he goes by Bill. Now, if you do know him and still chose to call him William, that obviously shows disrespect and clearly shows which side you have already taken.

        Let’s try to see if you can see a different view point in regards to deflection. Would you think deflection is someone that is trying to find everything possible to pin on the supervisor so she can deflect away from the fact that she has her daughters doing data entry for a financial software program without board knowledge, has violated the open meetings act, demands access to a terminated employees email and now has missing emails and also demands access to the website? Now that is deflection, plain and simple, can’t argue with that.

  • Steve Zerkis
    Posted at 08:28h, 30 June

    This has become a “bad” and wasteful organization. In a state with the largest number of separate governmental entities in the country, Townships are relics left over from the days when our counties were mostly rural with few if any towns and cities to provide services. You ask “who would run the food bank and help the poor and elderly”. Look around, we now have cities! Try Bolingbrook, Romeoville, Naperville. All are very capable and can provide services at lower cost to the taxpayers. Townships are paid for with taxpayor’s money, yours and mine. Illinois and New Jersey already have the highest property taxes in the country. Why not look at getting rid of wasteful organization’s like this.

    • Real News Believer
      Posted at 15:29h, 02 July

      Yet I don’t see Bolingbrook, Romeoville or Naperville running any food banks?? Why is that? Oh maybe because they like the Townships doing it. DuPage Township has won an incredible amount of awards in the past, I can’t speak to any other township besides this one, they collect the lowest in taxes compared to other townships and do the most with the funds they receive compared to other townships. What DuPage Township events have you been too? You obviously do not like townships for whatever reason so really don’t think you have ever been to one DuPage Township event. And by the way, you do realize how stupid it sounds when you are pushing to get rid of townships and using your argument as high taxes, knowing that townships are the least taxing body in our tax bills?

      • Steve Zerkis
        Posted at 22:07h, 02 July

        You seem to be missing the point. Illinois and New Jersey have the highest taxes in the US. Illinois also has over 7,000 government entities, the highest number in the country. Each entity requires our taxes to support it. The work this township does in the way of services to its residents is good but it can be absorbed into other current government units, and you eliminate the cost of its overhead. What’s overhead? The salaries of the various commissioners, the costs of buildings, trucks, utilities etc. it’s the way businesses work, they try to be more efficient. This township has a assessors department and the counties have Assessors departments. Why can’t they be combined, at a lower cost? Just because a township may be a small part of our tax bill doesn’t mean we keep them around. If they are not pulling their weight, get rid of them. If you walk into the office of the CEO of any major company saying please keep my useless department because we don’t cost very much, you will be laughed out of his or her office. Believe me I’ve seen it happen. Stupidity is wasting tax resources on useless government entities. I don’t like inefficient and wasteful governments and Illinois is full of them. We can provide even more services only if we make the process more efficient.

      • Jim Kadlec
        Posted at 20:30h, 07 August

        Naperville has had a food pantry since 1984 that is a non-government run organization; it’s called Loaves and Fishes. Please access their website to learn of the many social services that they offer.

  • Cindy
    Posted at 07:06h, 01 July

    There must be a handbook with the rule that states Townships must get gay with the people’s money. Otherwise, none of this makes much sense.

  • Trudy
    Posted at 10:10h, 01 July

    I heard he spent $12,000 to provide food and gifts for a group of less than 500 residents at a tent at the village picnic last year and hid the true cost from the board. The village provides the tent and tables and chairs, so what did he spend $12,000 on? One trustee asked at a budget workshop recently about how much the tent actually cost us in the past. The accountant said $12,000 to $12,500. This year he cancelled it, didn’t notify the board and blamed it on the cost of the forensic audit. We all know why he canceled it, because the board and others in the community are asking questions about how he is spending our tax dollars based on some recent activity. Once again, he didn’t tell the board it was cancelled until they inquired about it. Some residents have blamed the Mayor… But this was all on William Mayer, no one else. Thank God the truth is coming out. And thank you to the board that is asking the questions the public needs to know about.

    • Karen Thancker
      Posted at 12:33h, 02 July

      Hmmmmm….. I’m not sure that’s quite how it went…. The whole “I heard” is clearly hearsay and invalidates anything you say further. If you were to say… “This is what happened and it’s in black and white”. Lady… we know who you are and what your agenda is. Why not just be honest and say what you mean?! 4 meetings ago it was said that there would be no tent for the Seniors… it was no big surprise. Also, why would you spend money when you don’t know how much will be there for this audit? HELLO??? If you know you have to pay $10,000 for a roof on your house, but take $8,000 to spend on a vacation from that roof fund…. How ill you pay for the roof? SAME SITUATION HERE!!! I think you need to sit down, REALLY pay attention to what is happeneing, and open your mind to others who do not wish to control you!!!

    • Real News Believer
      Posted at 15:19h, 02 July

      Trudy, do you not think that as trustees, elected by the people to do their jobs that they should have researched expenses when they happen or appear on the agenda? To blame everything on William Mayer just doesn’t seem right. Now I know that Alyssia Benford, Sheldon Watts and several other Republicans have a political reason to take out William Mayer, however Alyssia Benford needs to fess up that she has been riding Mr. Mayer’s coat-tails, which is the only reason she was elected to begin with. She has not ever had any problems with programs, events, donations or sponsorships up until she decided to run for State Rep. Alyssia herself admitted to not looking at payables in the past and admitted that she never questioned anything that was on the agenda before, so tell me….why then is this on Mr. Mayer? Shouldn’t this be blamed on Alyssia Benford? To now only question things because she has a political motive? Seems as an act of someone that shouldn’t be elected to begin with.

      • Trudy
        Posted at 21:56h, 02 July

        Word of the day is defection! General Assistance is William’s responsibility. If this article is wrong, then where is the man named in the article? He should be saying how wrong this article is…

        This article has nothing to do with Alyssia or Sheldon, but thanks for recognizing them as not being “ followers”. They have both been asked to do other things, while Willam is “stuck at Supervisor” and everyone else is moving on. So who is riding coat-tails? To even bring their name up says “jealousy and envy” . William’s arrogance is doing a good job of taking him out. His arrogance doesn’t need anyone’s help. Stop deflecting! A real leader admits when they are wrong, real leaders don’t blame others.

        So if the General Assistance activity was legal, call out this article as “fake news”. If not then go help William learn the Public Aid code and everything else he needs to learn about his job. I heard the recording from the first budget workshop. He admits some things you may not want me to share. It will prove his ignorance.

      • Trudy
        Posted at 22:12h, 02 July

        One more thing… Isn’t William a long time Republican and former Chair of the local Republican Organization? This post makes no sense.. Well Republican or Democrat, he is still in charge of General Assistance and still hasn’t said this article is fake news.

  • Real News Believer
    Posted at 18:23h, 02 July

    Where can I find a copy of the law that states: “None of these expenditures out of the General Assistance Fund are authorized under Illinois law.”?

    • jmkraft
      Posted at 18:24h, 02 July

      Public Aid Code – there is even a hotlink to it in the article.

  • Real News Believer
    Posted at 21:15h, 02 July

    Regarding the comment on Public Aid Code….how does a Public Aid Code have anything to do with a township? In our township, I have found no rules against helping the people in our township by using General Assistance Funds…I would think the term “General Assistance” is pretty self explanatory. Again, ALL the trustees, including Benford, Raga and Oliver approved these and others like these, they were all paid under the subaccount Social Services according to the budget which is under General Assistance.

    • jmkraft
      Posted at 21:24h, 02 July

      The Illinois Public Aid Code applies to General Assistance provided by Townships.
      “ARTICLE VI. GENERAL ASSISTANCE”

    • jmkraft
      Posted at 21:42h, 02 July

      Additionally, since Illinois is a Dillon’s Rule state, and a township can never be “Home Rule” you must look for enabling language (something that says you CAN do it) rather than limiting language. So you should look for rules/laws/statutes that say the township CAN do x, y, or z, not language saying they cannot do x, y, or z.

  • Steve Zerkis
    Posted at 22:10h, 02 July

    Three of the trustees of the DuPage Township apparently violated the state “open meeting” act. What criminal charges can they face and who is responsible for their prosecution?

    • jmkraft
      Posted at 22:13h, 02 July

      Class C Misdemeanor. State’s Attorney.

    • Trudy
      Posted at 22:12h, 11 July

      Steve, you mean the case that was dismissed and closed? You should read all the facts before making false, misleading statements. Now the public aid fraud is real and serious and an “apology and lie” doesn’t make it go away.

      • Steve Zerkis
        Posted at 22:42h, 11 July

        Trudy, you don’t know what you are talking about. I simply asked a question. I did not make “false, misleading statements”.

      • Real News Believer
        Posted at 00:12h, 12 July

        Wow, Trudy you are good at deflection. Interesting how you continue to do that. Steve is making an excellent point that the 3 trustees clearly violated the Open Meetings Act, otherwise the board would not have had to hire back the terminated employee and pay the attorney that represented her. Sure sounds like guilt to me. Plus from what I heard one of the trustees admitted to calling the police.

        • Trudy
          Posted at 01:47h, 16 July

          Aren’t Court cases public record? The term “Matter Settled- Dismissed”. What does that mean? The term “Dismissed with prejudice” what does that mean? This article is about Public Aid Fraud committed for years apparently by Mayer’s confession last week. How long has he been a Supervisor? Isn’t this one of HIS primary responsibilities? How long was he committing public aid fraud? Stay focused on those facts.

      • Real News Believer
        Posted at 00:40h, 12 July

        So at 9:44pm you said he doesn’t own his own actions, yet at 10:12pm you state he apologized, which is it? Deflection again. OMA Violation did occur, plain and simple.

  • Steve Zerkis
    Posted at 22:28h, 02 July

    Is there a specific State’s Attorney’s office responsible for this area, that you know of?

    • jmkraft
      Posted at 22:31h, 02 July

      Will County is where the township’s main office is, so that would be the State’s Attorney to see.

  • Steve Zerkis
    Posted at 08:21h, 03 July

    Thank you. I’ll see if they are interested

  • Truth Seeker
    Posted at 11:14h, 08 July

    I have been following this thread and find myself frustrated with the vague comments and “I heard” statements. So before I weighed in, I decided to do a little fact checking on my own as the township posts minutes and payables information on their website. From what I can see, the original statement is somewhat correct in that these payments were made out of the General Assistance fund, however, categorizing them as “illegal” without knowing the actual purpose of the payments seems irresponsible and inflammatory. I would encourage the interested parties to research before revving up the community against the Supervisor. This does make it look like it’s retaliatory and to use a phrase we see often these days, a witch hunt.

    I would further encourage interested parties to look further than the information they’ve been given. Even my most cursory look found other expenditures from the General Assistance fund that may be inappropriate – most notably to Spirited Pearls, Heart Haven Outreach, Bolingbrook Lions and Operation Christmas. I had never heard of Spirited Pearls so decided to look a little further at that one. Their website shows that they provide scholarships to local high school students, a cause worthy of community support. However, if you look at their tax filings, it shows that the books are kept by Trustee Benford who, on a different forum, is positioning herself as the champion of the people by questioning the payments noted in the original article above. But curiously, neglects to mention that she, along with the other trustees, approved all of the payments out of General Assistance, albeit she did abstain from voting once.

    Even my limited knowledge of township government tells me that it is the responsibility of each trustee to review each payment prior to a board meeting and is given the opportunity to question the payments during the meetings. A review of the minutes showed that no one questioned these payments at the time. We need to ask ourselves why they were not questioned then but are being questioned now. I don’t for a minute believe that this watchdog group just happened upon this issue. It is more likely that someone with a grudge sought them out and fed limited information, all designed to stir the pot. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for truth seeking and making sure that public funds are appropriately spent but there’s something fishy going on here.

    It is truly sad that our community is being dragged through this just to further someone’s agenda.

  • Jackie Traynere
    Posted at 16:50h, 11 July

    He admitted to spending GA funds inappropriately last night at another meeting. Claimed ignorance of the law and said was just doing what his predecessor did.

    • Trudy
      Posted at 21:44h, 11 July

      Don’t forget he blamed the attorney and the auditor also. God forbid he owns his own actions. He fired the attorney in the middle of a meeting in April. He attempted to hire a new attorney in May and the board did not approve the motion. So he “appointed” the attorney to represent him as the supervisor and said the township WILL pay his legal bills. He was probably planning on doing that out of General Assistance until his Illegal activity was exposed with this article. So he was still committing the same public aid fraud with the new attorney.

      • Real News Believer
        Posted at 00:37h, 12 July

        Trudy, you must not have been at the meeting last night or your not getting the right information. You mentioned he blamed the attorney and the auditor yet didn’t own his mistake. How is that possible when he clearly said he apologized. It was very heartfelt and humble. In regards to the attorney, your right, he did fire the attorney (his right) and he did try to appoint a new attorney (his right) and yes the infamous 3 trustees voted no (their right) so he appointed the attorney for his position (his right). Nothing he did was wrong or against election code. You making an assumption….well that’s just wrong. You commenting “he was still committing the same public aid fraud with the new attorney” – makes no sense – do your research before commenting.

        • Trudy
          Posted at 01:23h, 16 July

          What date did he hire “his” new attorney? Were there illegal payments made after the new attorney was hired? Yep! Check their website and your facts and “stop lying to taxpayers”. He was using the General assistance as his piggy bank, for years to avoid allowing the board to control the taxpayer funds. Was he going to pay “his” new attorney out of General Assistance? Probably, that looks to be his pattern based on their website. He even lied on former trustees and supervisors, saying he followed what they had done in the past. One former 20 year trustee shared this article, wonder why? Because Mayer and his gang is lying on everyone. Why lie and blame everyone else? Did he come up with this piggy bank idea when new trustees were elected? He only commented because of this article and the truthfulness of it. His pattern of “saying he stopped and apologized” every time he gets caught, is getting old. Ignorance and arrogance are not a defense. Thank you Edgar County Watchdogs for uncovering this public aid fraud, money meant for those in need. I hope Edgar County Watchdogs figure the dollar amount of fraud committed and how long Mayer has been doing this.

          • Real News Believer
            Posted at 21:06h, 17 July

            I’m not sure if I’m able to follow your entire rant. However, going to take a stab at it. First, not sure why your quoting “stop lying to taxpayers”, I don’t remember saying anything so not sure what you are quoting. You sure are making a lot of accusations and opinions which have no merit. You must not have ever worked for a corporation before, maybe you have only worked for yourself and wouldn’t understand that it is normal business that when you take over someone’s job, they train you, whether its correct or not, that’s the way it is. Yes I’ve said that what he did was wrong and have gone on record that training should be happening for both the Trustees and the Supervisor when they take over an elected position.

            And you mentioned “new trustees” what new trustees are you speaking of? The trustees that are currently on the board (besides Raga) have been on the board for 5-7 years, what has been their excuse over the last 5-7 years?

            Let’s not forget the Trustee role in all this, I know that you are trying to deflect away from that, however trustees are required to do a review and audit of bills plus major part of their duties would be to approve the General Assistance budget.

            Funny though how you say “Thank you Edgar County Watchdogs for uncovering the public aid fraud”, you and I both know that Edgar County didn’t uncover anything and Trustee Benford shared that information to Edgar County to deflect against her own illegal activity.

    • Real News Believer
      Posted at 00:24h, 12 July

      Disappointing Jackie that you only shared this from the meeting. I’m sure that JMKraft would like to know that he was the reason Supervisor Mayer even knew to question these expenditures. He said during the meeting that he read an article from Edgar County Watchdogs and immediately called his new attorney to see if what they said was true and the attorney said that he should not be taking those expenditures out of GA and that he was surprised counsel has never told him that. Supervisor Mayer went on to apology for himself AND the board, said they will not take those types of expenditures out of GA. He also shared knowledge that he received from the Township Accountant that the same types of expenditures were found in budgets dating back to 1998. He also shared that one of the auditors they had in the past even told the Township Accountant instead of having an expense come out of GA Administration it should be coming out of GA Home Relief, how then should a Supervisor know he was doing wrong. Once he found that the board was in the wrong by doing this, he has immediately said it will be fixed going forward. I do think that TOI should do some training and certifications with elected officials when they get voted in. There is no requirements for these elected positions, yet responsible for so much.

      • Trudy
        Posted at 22:45h, 16 July

        Jackie did a good job of pointing out that Supervisor Mayer has never taken advantage of the training offered at TOI, nor the manuals that TOI publishes annually regarding general assistance. To use the excuse that it was always done that way and go on a long story about the auditors and the attorney, is how he always deflects everything. Again, he was still paying out illegal expenses with his new attorney. He just paid a $4,000 bill to an IT company he forced on the board, while he had a new attorney. The auditors should come to a meeting and respond given that they are now being blamed. The board will probably learn that Mayer never listened to the auditors either. SECTION 15-55 of the township code states “The township supervisor shall be, ex officio, supervisor of general assistance.” He argues with the board, refuses to takes direction from the board, but then blames the board when he is caught doing something illegal. Didn’t he just pass a budget with food pantry costs listed in general assistance. Illegal again. HE WAS IN THE WRONG, not the board. This was one of his primary responsibilities. He didn’t think he should go and get trained and he held this position since 2005? TOI offers training and manuals year round. When was the last time he attended the General Assistance Training? It doesn’t sound like he has ever attended the training, because he said “it’s the first time he was learning of this”. Is that also the board fault, that he didn’t take the initiative to make sure he was properly trained? Jackie was right, ignorance is not a defense and the law said “he was solely responsible”, not the board. I am disappointed that funds meant for those in need were not used properly. I will be attending a meeting and urging the board to report Supervisor Mayer and anyone else that assisted him with his fraudulent activities over to the proper authorities. Public assistance fraud is a serious matter. Didn’t someone comment at the last meeting, that DuPage Township was fined in the past for public aid fraud. Wasn’t Mayer on the board back then and the only one of the current board members on the board back then. Public Aid fraud is a felony, right? Something that serious means, he should have taken in upon himself to be properly trained. So to answer your question, he should have known he was doing wrong by “knowing the law and making sure he was properly trained to carry out his duties.” He knew exactly what he was doing, he just didn’t plan on getting caught.

    • Trudy
      Posted at 01:25h, 16 July

      Edgar County Watchdogs…. what is the penalty for public aid fraud? Is this considered a federal and state crime?

  • testing2
    Posted at 20:48h, 30 July

    testing 345

  • REAL NEWS BELIEVER
    Posted at 20:58h, 07 August

    I’m very familiar with rhat organization, my comment was only geared towards municipalities running a food pantry.

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