Coles County Corrects Minutes To Reflect Truth: Compensation Ordinance Did Not Pass –

Coles Co., Ill. (ECWd) –

Last night, the Coles County Board voted to amend the minutes of its May 10, 2022, board meeting, again, to finally have the minutes reflect what actually happened on the failed vote to approve the compensation of elected county board members. This was based on a directive from the Illinois Attorney General’s office. See agenda (here).

The original vote on May 10, 2022, failed to gain a majority vote of the board, leaving the elected board members without legal authority to accept any compensation for the elected positions taking office after the November 2022 election, and the county lacked any legal authority to tender such payments. This also includes those who will take office after the November 2024 election.

Timeline of this county board compensation issue:

• May 10, 2022:  The county board voted on an ordinance setting compensation for elected county board members being elected in the November 2022 election. The Motion failed because it resulted in a tie vote. Watch the May 10, 2022, vote here, and afterwards you can hear Kraft ask if the motion failed or passed, and the chairman replied, stating it was a tie vote and was a failed motion.
• December 2, 2022:  We published an article detailing the board’s lack of any compensation-setting ordinance, which included the previous ordinances having set expiration dates – which means they could not have been extended into future terms of office without a board vote.
• December 13, 2022:  The board voted to amend the May 10, 2022, meeting minutes to reflect the passage of something that was never voted on. See the December 13, 2022, meeting minutes (here). Watch this portion of the meeting (here). See Kirk Allen’s public comment on this issue (here).
• December 13, 2022:  Kirk Allen filed an Open Meetings Act (“OMA”) Request for Review with the Attorney General’s (“AG”) Public Access Counselor (“PAC”) alleging the Coles County Board violated the OMA at its December 13, 2022, meeting when it voted to amend the May 10, 2022, meeting minutes to reflect a vote on (an alternative version) the Compensation Setting Ordinance passed (even though they knew we had the failed vote on video, and no alternative version was ever voted on). This vote was AFTER the election, and after the new terms of office started for newly elected board members – state law requires compensation for county board members to be set at least 180 days prior to the start of their terms of office.
• August 23, 2024: The AG’s PAC office issued its determination on the alleged OMA violation and directed the board to amend its May 10, 2022, meeting minutes to reflect the vote failed, and to strike the vote from its December 13, 2022, minutes.
• October 8, 2022:  The board voted to amend the May 10, 2022, meeting minutes to reflect the vote on compensation of county board members failed, as the original minutes and video recording reflected.

It is our understanding that the Coles County State’s Attorney is reviewing this situation to determine which course of action to take next.

They all understand that there is no required compensation setting ordinance and that the previous ordinance expired based on the language contained within that previous ordinance.

Our position is that there should have been no compensation paid to any elected county board members taking office starting in December of 2022, and thereafter, since there was no authorization for their compensation.