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March 28, 2024

Two Commissioners Resign from Crawford County Airport Authority –

By John Kraft & Kirk Allen

On January 15, 2022

Crawford Co., IL. (ECWd) –

We were notified yesterday of two Crawford County Airport Authority Commissioner resignations.

One commissioner, Robert Quick, still remains unqualified to serve on that airport authority board, and we suspect he will resign shortly, although he doesn’t see any conflict (yet).

Greg Nye submitted his resignation on January 11, 2022 (below).

Tyler Devonshire submitted his resignation on January 11, 2022 (below).

Robert Quick has not resigned (yet) – he is also an appointed Director of the Crawford County Hospital District and is statutorily disqualified from serving as an Airport Authority Commissioner (See Section 5 of the Airport Authorities Act).

We sent this explanation to him and to the airport authority attorney:

The issue with Mr., Quick is that he is appointed to the hospital board, which is a “unit of local government” and as a board member, he is “a member of the governing body or an officer of a […] unit of local government” – it does not matter if the position is elected or appointed, compensated or uncompensated.

This is a prohibition as spelled out in the Airport Authorities Act, Section 5 (70 ILCS 5/5):

Sec. 5. Qualifications of commissioners and removal from office. No person shall be appointed to the Board of Commissioners of any Airport Authority who has any financial interest in the establishment or continued existence thereof or who is a member of the governing body or an officer or employee of a municipality, a county, or any other unit of local government, or an elected official of State or federal government, except when the authority is wholly located within a single county with a population of less than 40,000, an individual employed by a local school district may serve as a commissioner.

The Crawford County Hospital is actually a Hospital District (see pages 45 and 46) and subject to the Hospital District Law, which is a unit of local government according to Article VII, Section 1 of the Illinois Constitution, Section 1.28 and 1.29 of the Statute on Statutes, and according to their annual filings with the Illinois Comptroller’s Office.

As a member of the board of directors of the hospital district they carry out specific statutory duties, have the power to levy taxes, can sue and be sued, are subject to the Public Officer Prohibited Activities Act (Sec 13(a) of the Hospital District Law), have legislative and executive powers (Sec 14), are a municipal corporation (Sec 15), borrow money, have police powers, can exercise eminent domain, direct expenditures of district funds, must file a Statement of Economic Interest, and more.

Mr. Quick is a member of the governing body of a unit of local government and cannot simultaneously serve as a commissioner of the airport authority.

Previous article explaining disqualifications (here).

Crawford County Airport Authroity Resignations 2

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1 Comment
  • Robert O Bogue
    Posted at 18:15h, 17 January

    Well that seems pretty straight forward. The law says no.

    Robert Quick now demonstrates why Illinois taxpayers don’t trust government. Sure he may not of known before, but now, after two board members have left, he certainly does. So what’s he waiting for?
    My concern is also with the Crawford County Hospital. Do they want Robert’s violation of the law and his flawed style of leadership to exemplify the Hospital? Perhaps that Hospital Board needs to take a closer look at Robert’s credentials, performance and the baggage he brings to the Hospital.

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