Wabash Co., Ill. (ECWd) –
The Village of Bellmont, Illinois has placed a referendum on the ballot asking its residents if the village should be dissolved (unincorporated).
There has been a long-running dispute between residents and elected/appointed officials on how the village operates. With the current officials apparently refusing to appoint anyone who doesn’t align with their vision of managing the village to any of the vacant positions after mass resignations a month or two ago.
The last public meeting saw two more resignations.
Earlier this year, the Mayor hired a registered sex offender shortly after his release from IDOC. He was hired to perform various maintenance and other manual labor work around the village. After considerable outrage from residents, he was terminated from his employment.
There has been a history of Open Meetings Act violations, a threat to a Trustee, a Mayor who admitted in court to lying for the fun of it to obtain a restraining order against a resident, locking trustees out of village hall, using the village tractor on private property, the mayor threatening a reporter, flipping people off during public meetings, and now the newest mayor can’t figure out how run a proper public meeting.
Small town personality conflicts between the current village officials and members of the public is what has placed this referendum on the ballot.
We have seen complaints of people removing “vote no” signs from yards of residents.
Residents are even questioning if the placing of this referendum on the ballot complied with state law.
