Shelby County – Who Needs Laws?

Shelby Co. (ECWd) –

Once again, Shelby County was given a chance to be a leader, but instead, excuses appear to be the preferred path rather than simply fixing a simple issue.

During some research on an unrelated project, I read two interesting provisions in the Counties Code.

(55 ILCS 5/3-6008) (from Ch. 34, par. 3-6008)
Sec. 3-6008. Deputies. Each sheriff may appoint one or more deputies, not exceeding the number allowed by the county board of his or her county. No person who has ever been classified as a conscientious objector by a local selective service draft board may be appointed as a deputy sheriff. (Source: P.A. 86-962; 87-738.)

 (55 ILCS 5/3-6012.1)
    Sec. 3-6012.1. Court security officers. The sheriff of any county in Illinois with less than 3,000,000 inhabitants may hire court security officers in such number as the county board shall from time to time deem necessary.

The question that came to mind is, I wonder how many county boards have identified a number of deputies they allow in the county, and how many court security officers they deem necessary.

I sent a Freedom of Information Act request to Shelby County.  Why Shelby County?  Because of a past similar issue we exposed back in July of 2022, in this article, which provided hope that Shelby County could lead the charge in fixing things not done properly in the past.

I asked the Sheriff how many deputies and court security officers he had on April 12, 2025.  About an hour later, Sheriff McReynolds forwarded the question to Erica Bailey.  Five days later, at 4:59 pm I received an email with an answer.  Not sure why something this simple took 5 days but it is what it is.

• 1- Undersheriff
• 10 – Deputies
• 8- Part-time Courthouse Security Officers

I explained to the Sheriff why I asked for the above numbers.

“Brian,
The reason I wanted the numbers for deputies and courthouse security is because of the laws applicable for those positions and the County board in those matters. “

A request for applicable board minutes and agenda that may have addressed and set the above numbers resulted in no records.   That being the case, I asked the Sheriff two questions:

1. “With no established numbers from the County Board, how do you determine the number of deputies and courthouse security officers you are going to have? “
2. “Do you agree this is something that needs to be addressed by the county board?”

Sheriff Response:

“Yes this should be cleaned up by being addressed in Board meeting and the minutes. (emphasis added)
However, an argument could be made the county board has an allowed headcount by approving my budget, which is figured on 12 Deputies and an Undersheriff.
Also in a May 3rd, 2024 MOU between FOP and Shelby County where it states “The County shall make all reasonable efforts to maintain twelve (12) Road Deputies.”.
Thank you for bringing this to my attention.
Thank You,
Sheriff Brian McReynolds  “

We were pleased to see the response and agreement that the matter needed to be cleaned up by the board.

However, the next county board meeting had nothing on the agenda on the matter.  I reached out to the Sheriff and asked if he had raised the issue with the county board or the county chairman of the board.  He confirmed he did.

The relayed message is yet another example of the Shelby County Chairman’s inability to follow even the most basic of our laws.

“Yes I have discussed this with the Chairman.  I got that he felt that the MOU and Budget process were sufficient for now. This might be addressed at a later date as we prepare for the next FY budget.”

While I understand the attempt to say the MOU outlines the number of deputies, we did not see any response related to the number of court security officers.

If there is a current FOP contract, past MOU’s do not resolve the issue.  We do not believe an MOU resolves it unless it specifies an actual number of deputies and court security officers.  As far as the budget being some form of setting the number for deputies and court security officers, we welcome anyone to show us what that number is for those positions by looking at the budget.  One big number does not tell the public how many deputies or court security officers have been set by the county board.

I asked Chairman Mayhall two very simple questions.

1. When a specific statute outlines the board SHALL do a specific thing, is that a subject of interest to you if no board had ever complied with the specific mandate? 
2. When such requirements that have not been complied with are brought to your attention by a County Official and then never acted on to ensure compliance with the mandate, is that an acceptable practice?

As of publication, Mayhall has not responded, which has become the norm with him.

Is it really that hard to place on the agenda two items and vote on them?

1. Discuss and set the number of deputies for the Sheriff’s Office
2. Discuss and set the number of Court Security Officers

For all the other counties that might read this, would it make sense to look into your records to see if the number of deputies and court security officers has been established as the law outlines?