Shelby Co. (ECWd) –
In Illinois, a state where some would argue is the most corrupt in the country, one need only look at the local level to understand why.
Our laws are crystal clear regarding using public resources for private purposes. In short, its a crime. Specifically, Article VIII Section 1(a) states, “Public funds, property or credit shall be used only for public purpose.”
Operating a private engineering business out of the county facilities is not legal, period. According to the County Chairman Bruce Cannon, as if to justify the actions of the current highway engineer operating his private company from the county facility, he defaults to past practice.
A recent Freedom of Information request resulted in the production of a letter to Alan Spesard from Rich Mochel, the prior Shelby County Engineer and also the owner of K&M Engineering as well as the former City of Shelbyville Engineer.
Two paragraphs in that letter jumped out at me. The first being an admission by Mochel that he performed a variety of design projects for the city over the past five years and that those were in addition to his duties as the city engineer.
“K & M Engineering has performed a variety of design projects for the City of Shelbyville over the past five years. These were design jobs that were done in addition to my duties as the City Engineer.”
According to the Illinois Secretary of State database, there is no registered K&M Engineering listed as an Illinois Corporation or LLC.
The second part of the letter that raised red flags is found in the second to last paragraph.
“Since my retirement from the Shelby County Highway Department, I have established a permanent office here in downtown Shelbyville in a building that I own, and I plan to perform engineering work from that office for local developers and local governments.”
Based on the letter, Mochel had done jobs over the last five years but only after his retirement did he establish a permanent office in Shelbyville. Such a statement appears to confirm what Chairman Cannon thinks is perfectly legal, doing business from the county facilities. While the letter does not admit as much, both the current Engineer Alan Spesard and the County Chairman confirmed that is how it has always been done in Shelby County. The letter also points to the same problem the current County Engineer has found himself in, being a County Employee, City Engineer, as well as proving engineering services to the city of which he was the engineer.
I guess for laws to matter they must first be read and understood. All indications are the current State’s Attorney is basically retired on active duty as she has done nothing to date to correct a single illegal act by public officials in Shelby County dating clear back to early 2017 exposure of the Shelbyville Township official’s illegal acts.
A copy of the letter can be downloaded at this link or viewed below.
3 - Letter from Rich Mochel
7 Comments
PK
Posted at 16:47h, 21 AugustA brand new kind of Shelby County, Illinois civil engineering performed by ECWd’s own; Mr. Kirk Allen and Mr. John Kraft! Hip Hip Hooray!
Tracey Baker
Posted at 16:38h, 21 AugustAs I have stated many times, there is no punishment for public officials who break laws or statutes.
AG’s in most of not all just ignore the law.
Happens in little Stark County all the time.
jannie
Posted at 13:59h, 21 AugustIt seems like J. Madison was confused about what your article was about. But, it sounds like there was conflicts of interest and a whole lot of other problems with the county engineer.
J. Madison
Posted at 14:32h, 21 AugustNo confusion. The article was specifically about ingrained, inbred and infinite lawlessness in Illinois performed by an appointed, so-called, professional engineer.
My comment was specifically about ingrained, inbred and infinite lawlessness in Illinois performed by elected, so-called, professional attorneys acting in their capacities as high level state officials.
The confusion referenced may have come about because engineers (in Illinois) may not want to be associated with Illinois attorneys and their their distinctive reputation.
J. Madison
Posted at 13:19h, 21 AugustC’mon, man! What do you expect when you have a governor who speaks, acts and attempts to administer a state in the manner Gov.. Pritzker does?
And when you have an attorney general whose fealty is to the governor and the Democratic Party instead of to the U.S. and Illinois constitutions, the People of Illinois and his oath of office?
TK
Posted at 09:44h, 24 AugustAre you ignoring the fact that Pritzker’s term started in 2019? and these crimes have been going on for many, many years before them?
What do you expect when you have a President who speaks, acts and attempts to administer a nation in the manner President Trump does?
In his defense, Spesard would have his adult children and in-laws working on the tax-payer dime if he were as corrupt as Trump.
PK
Posted at 21:25h, 24 AugustI’ll interpret “many many years” to be more than the last 42 months. Gotta be more than a few, anyway.
Curiously, is the Illinois Governor’s ARDC registry and memebership with the Illinois and Chicago bar associations current through the same timeframe of many many years?