Newly Appointed Shelbyville Township Supervisor not qualified to begin 14 day term

Shelby Co. (ECWd) –

In yet another example of poor legal input, the Township Board appointed a replacement Supervisor to serve the remainder of Steve Shoaff’s term, which is a whopping 14 days, and it went downhill from there.

In order for a person to enter upon the duties of the office of Supervisor, they must first give bond to the township as outlined by law. A fact that should have been shared by their legal counsel.

(60 ILCS 1/70-5)  Sec. 70-5. Supervisor; bond.
    (a) The supervisor, before entering upon the duties of the office, shall give bond to the township, with one or more sureties, (i) in at least double the amount of money that may come into the supervisor’s hands, if individuals act as sureties, or (ii) only in the amount of money that may come into the supervisor’s hands, if a surety company authorized to do business in this State acts as surety. The bond shall be conditioned on the faithful discharge of his or her duties as supervisor and require that he or she safely keep and pay over all money entrusted to his or her keeping as supervisor. The bond shall be approved by the township clerk and filed in the clerk’s office with the clerk’s approval indorsed on it.

Deer in the headlights

When this requirement was brought to the attention of the appointed Supervisor, it was clear he had no clue of the requirement. He was asked if he had the appropriate Bond, and after turning to the now resigned attorney for the board, he responded with a YES, indicating he had the Bond.  Upon further questioning, it became clear he did not have a bond and then changed his position to “the Attorney will post the Bond in the morning,” which then got clarified that he would post the bond.

Even though he finally acknowledged he had no Bond posted, acknowledged he must have said Bond in order to perform the duties as Supervisor, he went ahead and continued to run the remainder of the meeting as the Supervisor.  Only time (13 days) will tell if other laws matter once exposed to them, as in this case the law was ignored.

We understand an application for Bond has been submitted to the Township Officials of Illinois Risk Managment Association (TOIRMA),  however we have not been able to confirm any such Bond has been issued by TOIRMA based on that application.  Until such Bond is issued, this person can not perform the duties of Supervisor.

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