Caseyville, Ill. (ECWd) –
This is a clear example of the pitfalls of a public body only being required to provide public records under the Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”) and not being required to answer questions.
Answering a simple question like: “Who owns the 1996 F Super Duty the village paid more than $3057 to replace a transmission in, according to the invoice and village check?” would have prevented the village from spending many hours answering various FOIA requests and prevented paying the village attorney many hours to deflect any attempt at finding the answer through public records requests.
To the story:
Public records show that an invoice to replace the transmission on a 1996 F Super Duty from Marshall’s Automatic Transmission Service was sent to the Village of Caseyville. The invoice amount was $3057.09 and dated July 18, 2022.
Public records also show a check from Caseyville for that exact amount was tendered to pay the invoice.
Our databases of local government vehicles for 2022 and 2023 do not show the village of Caseyville as the owner of a 1996 F Super Duty, and neither does the FOIA response from the village.
The Illinois State Police did conduct a cursory investigation but did not locate the 1996 F Super Duty and the vendor insisted it was a village vehicle but could not provide any evidence. The investigator didn’t even demand the city produce the vehicle in question and made no attempt to verify the vehicle belonged to the village. The investigator only attempted to find out if it did not belong to the village and concluded the investigation by not finding anything.
Who owns the vehicle?
6 Comments
Michael & Doris Hubner
Posted at 21:38h, 05 DecemberNice to see you guys are still at it doing a great job…..Doris H
(Non-Gendered) Cousin It
Posted at 21:59h, 05 DecemberWell, I was told by a someone within the state police recently that they all now have to undergo “Inclusivity” training; road troopers must mark an “X” – and I can’t recall if that is in place of ANY gender or only if the stopped person claims binary – on their racial profiling stop cards; and…they can be disciplined for “misgendering” or using the incorrect pronouns so…does the fact that a purported state police investigator didn’t do or didn’t know how to do his/her – ooops, I mean “their” (or is that even acceptable) – job surprise anyone? It’s gotten down right ridiculous and dangerous.
Robert O. Bogue
Posted at 13:05h, 06 DecemberThis type of investigation from the State Police (Secretary of State) undermines any trust one might have in Illinois law enforcement and in Illinois government. And, law enforcement wonders why the public doesn’t support them as much as they should. Shoddy work.
Kathiann
Posted at 06:41h, 08 DecemberProbably a close relative of the mayor, or whoever is in charge owns the vehicle with the new transmission.
JohnThomas
Posted at 20:32h, 08 DecemberJohnThomas says:
If the paperwork for the repair and/or payment for the repair lists a VIN for the truck, it should be easy to FOIA the Sec of State for ownership information…. especially if the truck actually is a taxpayer funded vehicle.
Philip L horner
Posted at 15:32h, 10 DecemberThat’s pretty cheap for a transmission on a newer truck. Something is definitely wrong. Examine the books for other out of kilter expenses.