IDOT Sent Crawford County Airport Authority Letter re: Commissioner Disqualification –

Crawford Co., IL. (ECWd) –

The Illinois Department of Transportation, Division of Aeronautics sent a letter to the Crawford County Airport Authority on March 23, 2022, alleging that Airport Authority Commissioner Robert Quick may be disqualified to serve on the airport board, because he was also a member of the Crawford County Memorial Hospital Board.

This disqualification is found in Section 5 of the Airport Authorities’ Act:

• § 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.
• Should it appear to the Department of Transportation that any member of the Board of Commissioners of an airport authority may be disqualified, or guilty of misconduct or malfeasance in office or unwilling or unable to act, it shall notify the Board of Commissioners of that fact in writing and it shall then be the duty of the Board of Commissioners to require such board member to show cause why he should not be removed from office. Any such person shall be given a hearing by the
  Board of Commissioners and, after such hearing, if the Board of Commissioners finds such a charge should be sustained, it shall remove the person so charged from office, and a vacancy shall thereupon exist for the unexpired term of such office. (70 ILCS 5/5)

Why it took more than a month for Robert Quick to resign from the board is unknown – he should have resigned in January when it was brought to his attention.