Morgan County Regional Planning Commission: 22 Years – still no plan…

MORGAN CO., IL. (ECWd) –

Morgan County has a population of around 35,500 people, with its County Seat located in Jacksonville, IL. It is managed by an elected  three-person Board of Commissioners.

In 1996, it established the Morgan County Regional Planning Commission (“MCRPC”), who’s sole statutory duty was to develop a regional plan for Morgan County.

This MCRPC was established under authority of the Counties Code, Sections 5-14001 thru 5-14007.

As such, the Regional Planning Commission can be established by the county “for the making of a regional plan” for such region establish by the county board. Additionally, it is a fact-finding body to make investigations and gather statistics necessary for the planning and development of the region.

A recent request for the “Regional Plan” came up empty, with the Regional Planning Director,  Dusty Douglas, stating that nobody possesses any such documents – or, in other words, there is no plan. Douglas has an $86,000 per year salary as of 2017.

Residents should expect that a 22 1/2 year-old Regional Planning Commission should have established some sort of written and approved regional plan in its 22+ year existence – unless establishing a plan, according to state law, was never intended?

Does this mean the millions of dollars spent with this commission (based on a budget of over $100K per year) were never used to perform the one statutory duty it actually has?

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