Plainfield Township – Apparent admission of guilt letter submitted to the Township Supervisor

Will Co. (ECWd) –

The Plainfield Township Administrator Andi Fench submitted her resignation letter along with another letter that appears to be an admission of guilt.

As we outlined in this article, we understood the free storage of private property by Ms. French had gone on for years, but we were unable to validate that fact until now.

In her letter to the Township, she has acknowledged this free storage has been going on since 2015.  That acknowledgment appears to be an admission of guilt that includes an offer to pay the township $1,300.00, claiming the going rate for such storage is $100 a month. She offered to pay for the month of October 2018 and makes no mention of the fact the property was not removed until we started asking key questions in November.

A quick search for climate controlled storage of a boat this size and jet skis resulted in rents well over the $100 a month range, however, outdoor storage was found in the range French claimed as the going rate.

We suggest the Township officials take the letter to the appropriate authorities and file a criminal complaint about the use of public property for personal gain.  The letter is an admission of her storing her private toys for free.  We also suggest they not accept the money as the Township has no authority to rent the property in this fashion.

Thank you, Ms. French, for issuing the letter confirming you in fact stored your private property at the expense of the taxpayers in 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018.

This is not much different than the Mayor of Le Harp who issued a check for use of the Village backhoe.  That check was evidence used in his conviction for attempted Official Misconduct.

As part of our investigation, we sent the following questions to Ms. French and to date have not had any response.  We will provide future articles on each of the issues raised in those questions.

1. Has anyone in the Township provided you or your husband permission to store your private recreational vehicles inside Township buildings?  If so please provide the name of that person.   If not, can you tell us under what authority you can store your private property in a public building?
2. Has the subject of you or your husband stored these vehicles inside the Township buildings been brought to the Township Board or Supervisors attention in the past?  If so, how was it addressed at that time?
3. Can you tell us why the payroll posting obligations for those participating in IMRF has not been complied with?
4. Have you ever used any Township Credit Card to make purchases that were for personal use such as meals, gas, etc?  If so, can you confirm such purchase amounts were reimbursed to the Township?
5. As the Administrator for the township, can you explain why there is no record as to who receives Gift Card from the Township?  Who issues those gift cards and what is the process for being able to receive them? 
6. Have you provided any such gift cards to yourself or family members or those related to your family?

A copy of the rent letter can be downloaded here or viewed below.

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