DuPage Township – Former Supervisor Bill Mayer – “…payroll advance by an elected official constitutes a possible felony offense”

Will Co. (ECWd) –

Bill Mayer, former DuPage Township Supervisor was plagued from exposure of his actions in numerous articles and public comments during meetings prior to his resignation.

While many of his defenders chose to insist we were wrong on our information, or that certain things Mayer did were not illegal, it now appears the Township’s legal representatives have confirmed and validated some of the very issues we raised.

• Pay Advances

During public comment, we made it clear pay advances were not legal and the law confirming that was shared directly with the former Township attorney, John Spina.  Spina made excuses and downplayed it in his attempts to defend Mayer’s actions.

Our opinion was that advance pay taken by Mayer was in contradiction to township law as well as the criminal code.

The current law firm for the township appears to have taken the exact position we did on the matter.

“..the law in Illinois is particularly strict when it comes to elected officials whose conduct amounts to obtaining a personal advantage as a result of official action. As discussed herein, the Supreme Court of Illinois has upheld felony convictions for similar conduct.

As of July 3, 2012, Section 65-5 of the Illinois Township Code, 60 ILCS 1/1-1, et seq., specifically provides that “[c]ompensation shall be for the time served, and no township officer may receive compensation for any future or anticipated days of duty.” 60 ILCS 1/65-5; see P.A. 97-736 (eff. July 3, 2012). This provision stems from Article VII, Section 9(b) of the Illinois Constitution that states:”

“Obviously, a pay advance that is paid back through future payroll deductions can be classified as payment for “future or anticipated days of duty,” in violation of Section 65-5 of the Illinois Township Code. Nevertheless, the issue remaining even after the advances were paid back in full is that the action of taking a payroll advance by an elected official constitutes a possible felony offense.”

• Health Insurance 

We covered Mayer’s health insurance problems in a couple of articles, here and here. Much like the pushback over advance pay from his blinded supporters, numerous people insisted we were wrong and did not know the facts, even though we published all the applicable documents to support our opinion that his taking of health care was contrary to applicable law.

The current law firm chimed in on this matter as well.

“Therefore, even if the Former Supervisor was paying the full premium cost of the health insurance, it would likely be found that his ability to participate on the Township’s health insurance plan, and to do so on a pre-tax basis, is a benefit that was not conferred upon his office prior to the start of his term and, therefore, would be illegal.”

Of interest in the report is what they did with the information.

“With respect to the specific case of the Former Supervisor, the Township has conducted its due diligence and has provided any information required to the proper agencies who have discretion and authority to take any further action, but we are unable to comment on any specific statuses or provide any further details at this time. “

For those that have not figured out what the above paragraph means, let us keep it simple.  An allegation of criminal wrongdoing has most likely been presented to the appropriate law enforcement entities by the lawyers.

When much of this was exposed, Mayer and others tried to point the finger at the current administration and imply certain contributions to local organizations were not legal.  Nevermind the numerous organizations Mayer was directly tied to while he was Supervisor.  Stay tuned for numerous publications on those donations to include the paper trail leading back to Mayer.

The current law firm investigated claims of “Political Payback”, their findings matched ours.

As to the more serious type of issues, namely claims about “political payback” or any type of nefarious, political-based pressure surrounding the awarding of Township social service agreements and Township funds are, at least regarding the current administration, baseless. Beyond the complainants’ own personal agendas, and despite our requests for evidence, there has been absolutely no valid, truthful allegation of malfeasance made against the current Township administration.

• Bill Mayer – Treasurer of Township funds!

“To be clear, these allegations are extremely troubling, and our review has shown accounting and financial practices that were, at best, incompetent.”

It’s refreshing to have our work validated by a well-established law firm while at the same time sad to see the local State’s Attorney has not moved forward to hold anyone accountable……yet.

You can read the full report by downloading it at this link or view below.

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