Madison Co., IL. (ECWd) –
We previously wrote about Madison County Board Member Mike Walters’ alleged financial conflict of interest with his “consulting” contract with Madison County Transit (MCT) (here).
Now we have learned that Walters was also appointed to the East-West Gateway Council (EWGC) of Governments.
The EWGC’s bylaws have conflicting sections. In Section 2(7) where is lists members of the Board of Directors, it states “Regional Citizen or elected county or municipal official from the County of Madison” – but in Section 3. Appointment of Regional Citizens, Subparagraph “A. Eligibility”, it clearly states that “Regional Citizens shall not be elected officials.”
As part of his appointed job as a Director of the EWGC, Walters votes on grant funding for Madison County Transit – the very government he has a $5000 per month consulting contract with, and the government with which he was placed in the position of voting for one of its Directors, who in turn, votes to pay Walters (and actually signs the checks).
Here is what we have so far:
- Walters is a county board member
- Waters is also appointed to the East-West Gateway Council of Governments (EWGC)
- EWCG votes to approve millions of dollars in federal and state grants to Madison County Transit
- Walters may be called upon to vote for appointing a board member to the Madison County Transit
- Walters enters into a contract with Madison County Transit
- Madison County Transit (which includes the appointed board members) vote and approve the Walters contract
- Walters uses his county email for his private contract work
Wrapping it up: Walters votes to appoint his boss at MCT (from his position as Madison County Board Member), votes to pay his bosses at MCT (from his position on EWGC), all while his bosses at MCT vote to approve his consulting contract every month.
We would hope that any effort to seek an opinion from the Attorney General’s Opinions Bureau would also include this tidbit of information for their consideration.
More on this in future articles.
