EFFINGHAM, IL. (ECWd) –

In an update to our article on more free driveways in West Township, Effingham County, the Illinois Department of Transportation has issued its final report. This is similar to the report issued in Edgar County that included confirmation that Chris Patrick and others were involved in the same type of actions.

It confirms that Motor Fuel Tax Funds were used to provide free, or reduced price, work to private property owners. These property owners were: Darrell Runge and Jason Runge and the work was performed on August 6, 2012.

The report states the following:

-County and Township Officials were unaware they could not use public funds in this manner

-West Township Motor Fuel Tax Funds were not use in accordance with law

-The amount billed to the property owners (after the complaint was filed) did not include the actual cost including materials, overhead, equipment costs, etc

-The funds that were recovered were not deposited back into the MFT account.

In addition to this, since IDOT is not in the position to determine if other laws were not followed, I will add that this is a violation of Article VIII of the Illinois Constitution and can be used as a predicate offense to charge a person with official misconduct. Although this is unlikely to happen, it still needed to be said.

Read the report here.
[gview file=”https://edgarcountywatchdogs.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/IDOT-West-Township-Report.pdf”]