Is Anyone In East Oakland and Morgan Townships Paying Attention To Illinois Law?

Coles Co. (ECWd) –

After fielding numerous complaints regarding property tax increases in the East Oakland-Morgan Townships, we submitted a Freedom of Information Act request to obtain key records.

Shirley Willison is the elected Multi- Township Assessor.  This is the mother of the convicted felon, Kyley Willison, who stole from the Oakland Fire Protection District, and the wife of Jerry Willison, another former Oakland FPD trustee who is awaiting trial for his alleged involvement in the crimes committed.

We confirmed that Shirley Willison, according to the Illinois Department of Revenue, has met the educational requirements to hold the office of Assessor since at least December of 2011, as proven with the documents at this link.

We believe the fact that she has the educational requirements to hold this office is significant in light of the response to our records request.

For example, when we asked the Multi-Township Board for the budget submitted by the Multi-Township Assessor, we received a Multi-Township budget but no budget submitted by the Assessor as required by law.

We followed up with a FOIA request directly to the elected Assessor, Shirley Willison, and asked for the following.

1. A copy of the “calendar book” used by the Assessor for the years 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025. This record was referenced in the expense reports.
2. A copy of the ASSESSOR SUBMITTED budget.  I am not seeking the Multi-Township Budget.  State law requires the Assessor to submit a budget to the Multi-township Board. I am seeking that budget.  

The response is shocking to say the least.  Let’s begin with the response to item number 2.

“Unfortunately, I was unaware that it is a State Law for assessors to submit annual budgets to their multi-township boards.  No one ever informed me that I was required to submit one, therefore I did not submit any. I will submit one going forward.”

Does anyone not understand this law?

(35 ILCS 200/2-30)
    Sec. 2-30. Budget Making. At least 60 days prior to the beginning of each fiscal year, the assessor for each multi-township assessment district or township shall prepare and present on forms provided or approved by the Department an office budget for the ensuing fiscal year. The multi-township or township board of trustees shall adopt a budget and appropriation ordinance in accordance with the Illinois Municipal Budget Law.

The fact that she responded that no one ever informed her of her duty shows the level of incompetence of this elected official, in our opinion.  When an official runs for elected office, they have a duty to read the very law that applies to the position they are holding.  The fact that she was not aware of the law after all these years indicates she has never read the very laws that apply to the position she holds.

In regard to item number 1, she provided copies of her “calendar book” with redactions for her personal information that was not relevant to the request.  The copy of this information can be viewed at this link. We find it very odd that these copies, which indicate the year 2024 on every page except two, which reflect 2025, have information for mileage for 2022 and 2023 written on them. Why would a person using a 2024 calendar be documenting mileage from 2022 and 2023, one and two years after the fact?  Were these entries created to support the mileage she claimed in her expense reimbursements we requested?  Considering I asked for the calendar book from 2022 forward and did not receive anything for 2022 and 2023, it appears the paper trail raises some questions.

In September of 2022, Willison turned in this mileage reimbursement form.  Having grown up in Springfield, Illinois, the mileage reimbursement request jumped out at me.  It claimed it was for “driving to sprinfield” and totaled 1,685 miles, resulting in a payment of $985.73.  The reimbursement was signed off by all 4 of the multi-township board members as can be seen in the document.  Note that it does not say it was for any other mileage like other reports, just “driving to springfield”.

The document provided along with the expense claim is an email dated June 26, 2025, from Shirley Willison.

“I have looked all over for the mileage sheet for September, 2022 (3rd Quarter) & I can’t find it anywhere.  I was able to go back to my old calendar book and I had recorded a total of 1685 miles. 497 regular miles & 1188 miles to & from classes in Springfield.  The mileage round trip from my house to Springfield class is 198 miles to the Fairgrounds. 

I’m printing this email off and he will have to use this.

Thanks

Shirley”

What old calendar book?  I asked for those records and was only provided copies from a 2024 and 2025 calendar book, which mysteriously have entries for 2022 and 2023 and can be downloaded at this link.  Again, why on earth would a 2024 calendar have entries from years before such a calendar was ever created? Note that the entries have no dates for the alleged mileage claimed, just a year and the total number of miles.

In the 2022-2023 assessment years, Willison claimed a total of 4,197 miles for reimbursement. Using her numbers, she was paid for 9 trips to Springfield in 2022, a total of 1,782 miles, leaving 2,415 miles for actual assessment related miles claimed for reimbursement in a Multi-Township Assessment district that only has 106.06 actual road miles (Oakland Township – 61.49 road miles / Morgan Township – 44.57 miles), according to IDOT motor fuel tax records at this link. May we suggest an investment in a “best route” mapping program to reduce the number of miles being driven in such a small district, assuming the records are true and accurate.

In 2023-2024, she was reimbursed for 2,336 miles for assessment work.

In the 2024-2025 assessment period, she was reimbursed 1,012 miles for assessment work, which represents about 55% fewer miles than prior years.

Considering assessments are only supposed to be done every four years, there sure seems to be a lot of assessment miles being paid for every year.

We asked Willison a simple question. Can you explain why miles would be documented in a 2024 calendar book for 1 and 2 years before such a calendar was even created?  

Her response makes total sense………….

“It’s called “Carrying over information” or rewriting previous/ past information in a “future” calendar book such as, Birthdays, Anniversaries, HIPPA/ Doctor’s appointments, etc. – ( Sometimes Doctor’s say ” Come back in a year”, so I write that date down, even though it might be a year or 2 later.)  Or anything else that I want to write down in my own personal calendar book.  My current personal calendar planner book is for 2025-2027.  I already have things recorded in the future year of 2027.  Am I not allowed to do that?  Even if it is my own personal calendar book.”

We are not sure what all those personal examples have to do with miles driven in 2022 and 2023 showing up in a 2024 calendar, but her answer is what it is.

We also asked if she could explain the reduction of miles from prior years.

“That would be because 2023 was the deadline for the Quadrennial year. More miles were driven in the prior 2 years than in 2024-2025.”

Yep, just as we pointed out, more miles driven in the prior two years, but 2023 was the year the actual assessments were to be done, so why all the extra miles in the prior year?

We have asked for additional records from the Department of Revenue to follow up on a few claims made in expense reports, and depending on what is produced, we will update with another article.