Sangamon Valley Public Water District, Mahomet, Ill. (ECWd) –
What we consider a routine request for public records under the Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA), Kerry Gifford, the General Manager of the Sangamon Valley Public Water District (“SVPWD”) claimed providing names of the district employees and their compensation was a violation of his “civil liberties.”
He could not have been further from the truth, as public payroll and names of public employees are subject to the FOIA and disclosure does not infringe on any civil rights.
We are not the first to be denied these basic public records from this water district.
Incidentally, the water district board will become elected, instead of appointed, once today’s election is over. None of the current board members are on the ballot.
Below is the list of their six employees and their compensation packages which range from $26.00 – $30.00 per hour for hourly workers to a $120,000 annual salary for the General Manager. It should have been provided without us having to resort to threatening a FOIA lawsuit.
This is the same water district who thought it was OK to gift away thousands of public dollars to residents using gift cards. and used public resources for alleged electioneering purposes.
03-27-23_2 FOIA Request_Response
16 Comments
Anonymous
Posted at 21:28h, 10 AprilJohn, the Bud Parkhill boards of the past set up their own retirement plan with the use of public funds. Bud Parkhill walked out with $108,000 in 2021. Mike melton left with over $200,000 and Bob Buchanan had at least $40,000 in a 457b retirement savings plan intended for public employees not trustees. There were many other board members who participated in this 457b plan of the entitled few.
These are terrible human beings! I was reading in the district minutes how the board had their retirement before the regular employees had health insurance. The District full time employees did not have health insurance until one of the full time employees needed cancer treatments!
Anonymous
Posted at 20:53h, 10 AprilWhat is so important about the salary of my uncle and his employees? I would think that reporting on the behavior of Bud parkhill threatening people and using the water district for financial gain would be of greater interest as he is the one that has truly been using the public’s money for financial gain.
Kerry Gifford
Posted at 19:01h, 10 AprilBud Parkhill played you the fool!
John Kraft & Kirk Allen
Posted at 19:57h, 10 AprilNever talked to any Bud Parkhill until after the meeting we attended. Then it was only for a minute or two outside the building. He had nothing to do with any FOIA request or articles we wrote.
Kerry Gifford
Posted at 18:58h, 10 AprilYou are the fool! Anyone reads this garbage and believes it are fools! Tabloid news John , good job!
John Kraft & Kirk Allen
Posted at 19:56h, 10 AprilWhat, exactly, in this article is false?
Kerry Gifford
Posted at 00:00h, 10 AprilFake News! Nothing more than hired guns for Bud Parkhill.
John Kraft & Kirk Allen
Posted at 08:37h, 10 AprilKerry Gifford, you should probably quit these comments. You are making a fool of yourself.
Anonymous
Posted at 17:06h, 10 AprilI can’t wait until ignorant boomers are gone like yourself. This article has no context, why did they want access to everyday employees wages? Why aren’t they looking into bud parkhill and every other bird meme bees finances… you know the people in power that are doing dirty under handed shit to make more money and like their pockets such as Bud parkhill trying to get the water district to purchase land from him for 1.5 million dollars… big conflict of interest and I wound doubt that transaction will be happening. My uncle is the one that put the water district ahead financially has he made the budget and helped keep the water districts consumers rates down. You are ignorant once again as this article has no context, and is attacking somebody they have no business attacking when most of these board trustees don’t even have a clue on how water infrastructure works. Boomer.
John Kraft & Kirk Allen
Posted at 20:12h, 10 AprilYou should try reading comprehension. I find it sad that you wish ill will on people and hope they are “gone” – probably the same age as your parents and younger than your grandparents. I’m sure they would be proud of you wishing “boomers” would be “gone.”
Anonymous
Posted at 20:18h, 10 AprilAgain what is the context of this article? Who randomly requests the everyday wages of city water workers and for what purpose? Then proceeds to write an article with little to no context as to why, a very short article in fact. There are bigger things to report on than the wages of city water workers. So I find it interesting that whomever wrote this article would focus in on the simple wages of city workers and not the board members known to do under handed and shady business dealings.
John Kraft & Kirk Allen
Posted at 20:48h, 10 AprilThe article was focused on the wrongful refusal of the now-former employee to comply with the Freedom of Information Act – especially when he gave me the payroll information last December without argument). Payroll of employees and officers of a public body, such as a Public Water District, are public records subject to the FOIA. People need to know where their dollars are being spent.
Dave
Posted at 19:05h, 04 AprilDidn’t know your “civil liberties.” allowed a person above the law, elitist privileges’ …. LoL
Anonymous
Posted at 20:40h, 05 AprilHey Dave, since you want to make comments about people you don’t know. My uncle has worked his ass off for that community while under impossible work conditions working day and night to make sure there is safe water for the community. Do you know shit about the high tech water treatment facility he built? You know it’s one of maybe only three in the whole country right? He has never misappropriated funds for personal financial gain unlike Bud parkhill and his other little henchmen on the board. He is the furthest thing from being an elitist asshole. He fought to get him and his employees in on the IMRF retirement system as that is the very last water district in the entirety of Illinois to join. Now the board is voting on hiring a contract company to come in and treat your water so as to avoid paying future employees a decent retirement. Does that sound elitist to you?
John Kraft & Kirk Allen
Posted at 07:54h, 06 AprilNothing in the water district act permits contracting that service out to a private company.
Anonymous
Posted at 08:51h, 06 AprilYou think that isn’t going to stop them from trying? Again you don’t know what is going on behind closed doors. I highly encourage more people to look into the background of Bud parkhill. Thought you were allowed to serve on the board there as well if you claimed residency in another state?