Edgar County Sheriff Wood cannot serve on ETSB (911) Board –

Edgar Co., IL. (ECWd) –
Conflict of Interest – More news you heard here first, and most likely nowhere else –
Edgar County Sheriff Jeff Wood cannot serve on the Edgar County Emergency Telephone System Board (“ETSB”) or (“911 Board”) due to a conflict of interest between that board position and the Sheriff Department he was elected to oversee.
The issue comes with how our systems were set-up. In Edgar County, the ETSB pays public funds to the Sheriff Dept for their portion of the 911 dispatch services. The dispatchers work for the Sheriff, and by the Sheriff sitting on the board, it creates the conflict of interest by having the opportunity to discuss, negotiate, and vote on the level or reimbursement the ETSB will send to the Edgar County Sheriff Dept.
This became more evident in the recent passage of an agreement in August for ETSB to pay $100,000 per year to the Sheriff’s Dept for dispatching services each year.
This issue was discussed at the County Board Study Session this morning and there is an AG Opinion on the subject.