Shelby County Board’s Alleged Felonious Farm Lease –

Shelby Co., Ill. (ECWd) –

After months of emails and several Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests seeking the appropriate public records while attempting to point the chairman in the right direction, we are left with writing this article instead of an article favorable to the board for correcting what they failed to do.

The issue:  When any public body in the state of Illinois leases, rents, or sells public property, the public has a statutory right to know the identity of each and every person, business, corporation, or trust that will have any beneficiary interest in that public property. The identities of those interested parties, in this Shelby County farm case, are the farmer and anyone else financially interested with the farmer who leased the property from the county.

The identities of those interested persons must be in writing and subscribed under oath prior to the execution of any contract (lease).

Any lease or other contract violating the above is void and subjects the public officers involved to stiff criminal penalties, including being removed from office. Filing a false disclosure subjects them to criminal penalties for false verification and perjury.

Timeline:

• Feb 22, 2025:  We sent a FOIA request for the mandatory written disclosure (email chain here).
• Feb 26, 2025: County responds by stating there is no record responsive to the FOIA request.
• Feb 26, 2025: We sent an email to Chairman Mayhall entitled: “Please give me something good to write about.” We asked him to rectify the lack of written disclosure and provided him with examples from Naperville, Vermilion County, and Kane County.
• Feb 27, 2025: Chairman Mayhall responded, stating it would be looked into, and any necessary action would be taken.
• Apr 29, 2025: We emailed Mayhall again, asking if any action had been taken on this issue, and also asked if it had been looked into.
• Apr 29, 2025: We sent the same FOIA from February seeking the written disclosure.
• May 6, 2025: County responded by stating there is no record responsive to the FOIA request.
• May 6, 2025: County responded again, this time providing a written disclosure signed by Chairman Mayhall indicating that Shelby County had 100% beneficial interest in this lease. An additional page signed by Mayhall and the Tenant indicated the written disclosure would be incorporated as part of the lease agreement dated February 19, 2025.
  • This written disclosure cannot be factual as it does not indicate, in writing and subscribed under oath, the name and signature of the person farming this property – the person with an actual beneficiary interest of this public property that the statute demands the identification of. The provided written disclosure indicates Shelby County is the only person with a financial interest in this lease, which is false.
• May 7, 2025: We sent another email to Chairman Mayhall asking him to consider asking the farmer to complete and sign the required disclosure.
• May 13, 2025: We sent another email to Mayhall asking if there was any feedback on the disclosure yet (email chain here).
• May 15, 2025: After hearing no response from our previous two emails, we sent another FOIA request seeking the written disclosure.
• May 20, 2025: Shelby County State’s Attorney responds to the FOIA request by stating there are no responsive documents in her (State’s Attorney’s) office.
• May 21, 2025: County Clerk responded, indicating there were no documents responsive to my request.

Apparently, from the county’s lack of action and the State’s Attorney’s turning a blind eye to statutory obligations by county board members, they will continue to lease out the county farmland without the mandatory sworn disclosure required under the Public Officer Prohibited Activities Act.

Something as simple as complying with state law by providing a sworn disclosure is just too difficult for these people.

State law, in this case the Public Officer Prohibited Activities Act, Section 3.1 states, in part (emphasis ours):

“Sec. 3.1. Before any contract relating to the ownership or use of real property is entered into by and between the State or any local governmental unit or any agency of either the identity of every owner and beneficiary having any interest, real or personal, in such property, and every member, shareholder, limited partner, or general partner entitled to receive more than 7 1/2% of the total distributable income of any limited liability company, corporation, or limited partnership having any interest, real or personal, in such property must be disclosed. The disclosure shall be in writing and shall be subscribed by a member, owner, authorized trustee, corporate official, general partner, or managing agent, or his or her authorized attorney, under oath . . . This Section shall be liberally construed to accomplish the purpose of requiring the identification of the actual parties benefiting from any transaction with a governmental unit or agency involving the procurement of the ownership or use of real property thereby”

Section 4 of the Act offers up the penalty for violations:

“Sec. 4. Any alderperson, member of a board of trustees, supervisor or county commissioner, or other person holding any office, either by election or appointment under the laws or constitution of this state, who violates any provision of the preceding sections, is guilty of a Class 4 felony and in addition thereto, any office or official position held by any person so convicted shall become vacant, and shall be so declared as part of the judgment of court. This Section does not apply to a violation of subsection (b) of Section 2a.”

Section 4.5 of the Act lays out penalties for false verification and perjury specifically related to the mandatory written disclosure from Section 3.1.