Coles Co. (ECWd) –
The Hutton Township Board of Trustees held its regular monthly meeting on Monday the 7th of October with a packed house of citizens. We attended after numerous complaints about the board not posting their meetings.
Upon showing up we located an agenda inside the office on the bulletin board, however, that is not compliant with the Open Meetings Act because it’s not visible from the outside to the general public. We addressed this during public comment, and they indicated it would be posted on the door in the future.
Prior to the meeting starting, we noticed a citizen pick up a stack of papers from the Supervisor. She advised she would go get him a check for the records she picked up. After speaking with her it was clear the Township had no clue what the Freedom of Information Act provides for charging people for public records. She had 54 pages of records and they were going to charge her $.20 a page. The law outlines the first 50 pages are free and every page after that cannot exceed $.15 cents a page as outlined in the law at this link. After advising the Supervisor of that, they indicated they are not worried about the 4 pages that could be charged for. That being the case, the citizen saved $10.80.
The board discussed what they called “bids” for the construction of a new Township building. The township received $180,000.00 in ARPA funds donated by the County specifically for this purpose.
Expenditures for construction over $30,000.00 require notification in the paper requesting sealed bids. It was clear from the discussion that the “bids” they kept referring to were not bids but rather quotes. We pointed out that the expenditure of Federal ARPA funds requires compliance with all laws and the failure to bid out the construction project could result in them having to pay back the money. We urged them to put it out for bid. The requirement in the Township code can be viewed at this link.
A lengthy discussion took place regarding a bridge replacement in the Township. It turns out the Supervisor lives (edited) “owns property” on the road with the bridge out and allegations were made that he does not want the bridge replaced because he does not want the traffic past his house. The Supervisor did complain about meth labs and traffic at the bridge when it was open in the past. It was confirmed during the meeting that there is no cost to the Township Road District for the bridge due to the available grant programs secured by the Coles County Highway Engineer. A few citizens did not want the “free” bridge for some reason, yet numerous other citizens were in attendance in support of the free bridge. We note “free” is not exactly accurate. The Township and Township Road District are not going to be billed for it, the grant money being provided from the government is not free. That is money already taken from the taxpayers through numerous government taxes.
Edited to add comment from resident: “. ..Also the real concern with the bridge is not the cost of the bridge. It is the minimum of $110,000 to be spent on the road to put the bridge on when our accounts only have a maximum of $300,000 that can go for all of the roads across the township over a hundred miles. They need to be taken care of that. They already cannot keep up with that is the concern. “
We contacted the Coles County Highway Engineer and confirmed the entire township board signed a petition seeking aid in the replacement of the bridge in July of 2023 as can be seen in the document at this link. The costs outlined are being covered completely through numerous grants as referenced above.
Can you believe we are discussing whether or not to accept a new bridge at no cost to the Township?
The Township Road District Commissioner wants the bridge, and that decision is his to make.
As that discussion heated up the Supervisor announced his resignation and advised at the end of the meeting he was done.
The clerk also said she was going to resign but agreed to stay on until they can get the bills paid and appointment of new supervisor which sounded like it was going to happen pretty quick. They posted an agenda to address those matters, but we don’t know the outcome of that meeting at this time.
One other board member indicated he might as well resign but did not make an official notice of resignation.
The video of the meeting can be viewed at this link or below.
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