Atlanta Public Library - Secret loans exposed

Logan Co. (ECWd) -

The evidence of malfeasance and secret deals keep piling up for William Thomas and the Atlanta Public Library Board. You can review all the previous articles at this link and rest assured, there are plenty more to come.

In response to our most recent Freedom of Information Act request for minutes and agendas where bank loans were approved, we now know the loans were kept secret from the public prior to any public meeting.

The initial response to our request provided the minutes were two loans were approved. However, no agendas were provided.  Upon further inquiry, the Library did provide the agendas claiming it was an "oversite" not giving them to us initially.

A review of the agenda at this link, or viewed below, confirms the public was never made aware of any loans to be taken out.  That means the loans approved by the board during those two meetings were done in direct violation of the law, specifically the Open Meetings Act.  Such action, if prosecuted, is considered a Class C Misdemeanor.

We have also confirmed that it was, in fact, William Thomas who submitted the 2015 and 2016 Annual Financial reports with the Illinois Comptroller, of which the 2015 filing kept these loans secret from the State as well.

There is plenty more to come, and we suspect at least one resignation will be coming soon, if not several, before our reporting is finished on this small public library operation.

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