Community News
Gillespie Council approves dump truck purchase, eyes wage increase for part-time/seasonal employees
Gillespie City Council members voted Monday night to approve the purchase of a new dump truck at a cost not to exceed $100,000. Council members also referred to committee a proposal to raise wages for part-time and seasonal employees, approved purchasing a lot on which the burned remains of a house are located, and renewed a lease for a postage machine in the City Clerk’s Office.
City aldermen also green-lit plans for the city’s annual Holiday Sparkle event in downtown Gillespie, and tentatively approved a Halloween event at Gillespie Lake, contingent upon the sponsors providing proof of insurance.
No action followed a 20-minute executive during which the council reportedly discussed possible litigation in connection with one of the city’s water plant substations. Sitting in for City Attorney Rick Verticchio, Jono Verticchio reportedly advised the council against filing a lawsuit.
The dump truck purchase followed a lengthy and sometimes convoluted discussion that included not only pricing but also details about how the city will pay for the vehicle. Ald. Bob Fritz raised the issue, agreeing to secure pricing to be considered at next month’s council meeting. Ald. Wendy Rolando, however, noted that Ald. Landon Pettit had already researched pricing and had presented the numbers three months earlier.
“We need to do something,” Pettit told the council. “We’re going to be down to junk (with the existing truck).”
Referring to pricing he had presented in August, Pettit said the city could purchase a Ford F-150 diesel truck equipped with a dump bed, along with a snow plow, spreader and other equipment, for $95,261 from Victory Lane Ford. He said the price quote is a so-called “state bid” affirmed by the State of Illinois, which enables the city to buy the truck without a formal bidding process.
City Treasurer Dan Fisher noted that the city’s decision to buy a neighboring building to relocate the Police Department instead of remodeling a portion of the Civic Center vacated by the Gillespie Fire Department has freed up some money for major purchases. Additionally, the city has 350,000 in available Tax Increment Financing funds, and $360,000 in American Recovery Plan Act (ARPA) funds. He recommended paying for the truck with ARPA funds.
Pettit noted that the pricing he obtained was several months old and may have increased in the meantime. On a motion by Fritz, seconded by Pettit, the council authorized the expenditure of up to $100,000 to purchase a truck. The vehicle will be used by the Street Department, Lake Department, and Water Department, as needed.
In a somewhat related matter, the council approved a resolution that formally authorizes the city to finalize an agreement to purchase real estate at 124 North Macoupin Street. The city agreed earlier to purchase the building for $67,000 to house the city’s Police Department. Monday night’s action was a formality to authorize the expenditure. Ald. Dave Link cast the sole dissenting vote.
On Mayor John Hicks’ recommendation, the council tabled a proposal to purchase two new 60-inch zero-turn mowers at a cost of $32,598. Hick’s noted the mowing season is coming to an end and the council has time to research pricing and features with an eye toward purchasing the mowers before next spring.
PAY INCREASES FOR PART-TIMERS
A recommendation from Police Chief Jared DePoppe asking the council to consider raising hourly wages for part-time dispatchers and police officers led to a larger discussion about whether or not to increase wages for all city part-timers and seasonal workers. Ultimately, the issue was referred to committee, which may return to the full council at a later date with a resolution to address the issue.
DePoppe said the police department relies heavily on part-time officers and part-time dispatchers, but it is difficult to recruit those workers because the city’s wages are so low. The part-time employees are not covered by the union contract, he said, so the council can opt to increase wages without violating the contract.
He recommended raising part-time police officer wages from $17.77 per hour to $19 per hour, and raising part-time dispatchers from $14.36 per hour to $16 per hour.
“That’s still below the full-time rate,” DePoppe said. “It is difficult to recruit people when wages are so low, and we do depend on part-time people a lot.”
Ald. Pettit questioned whether or not wages should be raised for all part-time and seasonal workers, suggesting it would be unfair to raise wages for police part-timers without raising wages for part-time employees in other departments.
HOLIDAY SPARKLE, HALLOWEEN EVENT
The council voted unanimously to approve plans for this year’s Holiday Sparkle and provide sponsors of the event with $500 to pay for bands and musicians. However, the council deferred action on approving a Halloween event at Gillespie Lake pending the sponsors being able to provide proof of insurance.
Tammy Beecher, one of the Holiday Sparkle planners, said the event has been scheduled for Dec. 21, with more than 30 vendors already signed to offer crafts and gift items. Because the Sparkle date is close to Christmas Day, Beecher said the traditional Christmas parade and tree lighting will be on Dec.1, which is the first Sunday after Thanksgiving. The parade will step-off at 4:30 and end at the community Christmas tree, where a lighting ceremony will take place.
The Dec. 21 Holiday Sparkle will take place from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Beecher said the committee is contacting downtown business owners to host vendors. If there is an overflow, Beecher said the committee has the use of tents from the Macoupin County Public Health Department that can be erected on Chestnut Street just off Macoupin Street on the east and west sides.
The group plans to decorate planters located on the sidewalk, but Beecher was told the group could not string lights over the street.
“We can’t do that anymore,” Ald. Rolando commented. “I checked last year to find out why we didn’t put up our lighted swags above the street.”
Fisher reported that the restriction on hanging banners or lights above the street is a federal, not state, rule, resulting from Illinois Route 4 being part of the federal scenic highways program. It is possible to hang banners or lights above the roadway, if the group or city secures permission from the Scenic Highways administrators.
The council gave tentative approval for a Halloween event at Gillespie Lake, provided the sponsors can provide proof of insurance. Lake Manager Gary Thornhill appeared with event coordinator Carrie Ronde to seek permission to hold an event on Oct. 25 at the lake. If it is held, the event will include a haunted hayride, a haunted trail and other attractions for youths.
The event reportedly is in jeopardy, however, because of an exorbitant increase in insurance costs. Last year, the event was insured for $411 for the two-day event. This year’s quote is about $8,000 for coverage. Both Thornhill and Ronde said the event will be canceled if the insurance issues can’t be resolved.
Thornhill said the group donated proceeds from last year’s event to Community Unit School District 7 but retained enough to cover start-up expenses for this year’s event.
“We didn’t keep back nearly enough to pay for insurance at that rate,” Thornhill noted. He asked if there was any possibility of piggy-backing on the city’s liability policy.
“The problem is our insurance will cover us but it won’t cover you,” Fisher said. “If anything happened, even though it’s on city property, any lawyer will tell you that you’re going to get sued. It’s in your best interest to have your own insurance.”
Runde said the dramatic increase in the insurance premium apparently is not unusual, and said their insurance agent told them the increases are a nationwide phenomenon. “State Farm will no longer write a policy for a one-day event,” she said. “Two days is even worse.”
She said the group is scrambling to find affordable coverage but plans to cancel the event if insurance can’t be found.
“I can tell you this,” said Ald. Pettit, who also serves on the Black Diamond Days committee, “If Black Diamond Days’ insurance goes up like that, Black Diamond Days will be done. This is a bad thing for our town.”
LIQUOR LICENSE CONSIDERATION
Local realtor Ruth Loveless introduced John Patel of O’Fallon, who is seeking a liquor license to open a liquor/tobacco/convenience store in the former location of the Dollar General Store on Macoupin Street. The building has been the focus of an ongoing public nuisance complaint.
Fisher said issuing the license could be complicated because Patel is not a resident of the city. Depending on how the business is organized—sole proprietorship, limited liability, etc.—can affect whether or not state law requires the license holder to be a resident. Patel said he ran into that issue with a store he opened in Belleville and was able to satisfy the requirement by hiring a manager who was a resident of the city.
Mayor Hicks told Patel the City Attorney would research the law to see if a license can be issued for a non-resident.
“If there’s no rule against it, chances are we’ll approve it,” Hicks told Patel.
In a related matter, Hicks presented a standardized liquor application form for council members to review. Among the changes the new form requires is a $16 fee to cover the cost of background checks, and requires posting a $2,000 surety bond.
Once the new form is approved, Hicks suggested it should be completed not only by new applicants but by current license holders as well so the city will have their information on file.
IMRF COMPLICATIONS
A proposal from City Treasurer Fisher to “find a way” to help employees “buy back” years of service to ensure they are fully vested to collect IMRF benefits when they retire was referred to committee. City employees voted earlier this year to participate in Illinois Municipal Retire Fund (IMRF).
Under IMRF rules, “Tier I” employees are vested in the system after eight years, while “Tier II” employees have to work 10 years to be able to retire with benefits.
“We all thought our most senior employees were Tier I employees,” Fisher said. IMRF, however, said the start date for determining whether or not an employee is Tier I or Tier II is calculated from the month the employee joined the IMRF system. For Gillespie city workers, that date is March of this year.
Because of the discrepancy, senior employees, some of whom are nearing retirement, have to buy back 10 years of service to be vested in the system. Further complicating the issue, the buy-back rate will increase after January 1.
Fisher said part of the confusion resulted from a computer glitch at IMRF at the time the city was switching over to the IMRF system. Consequently, city employees were not fully informed of their options regarding buy-backs at the time.
When the city switched pension systems, it paid current employees the amount each employee had accrued in their retirement accounts. Most employees, especially those who had worked several years, chose to reinvest those funds in interest-bearing or dividend-bearing accounts. Most are unable to “buy back” years in the IMRF system now without paying a penalty to withdraw funds from their private retirement accounts.
“We need to find some way to help them buy back their years up to 10 years,” Fisher said. “I would like to come up with something before the end of the year. For anyone willing to make a contribution to buy back years, we would match a percentage of that to help them get to 10 years or as close to 10 years as possible.”
Fisher proposed developing a formula under which the city would match a percentage of funds needed to ensure long-term employees are fully vested in the IMRF system. For the senior employees, Fisher said, the buy-back will be more expensive than it will be for employees who have workers for shorter periods. Fisher said he would like to have a formula that is weighted to pay different percentages of the buy-back for different employees, based on each employee’s longevity and age.
“We would have to act on it in December,” Fisher noted. “I have no idea how we would pay for it. We’d have to figure that out. I thought we should do something, especially for guys who’ve been with us for a long time.”
Fisher said the cost to the city will “not be insubstantial,” estimating an outlay of $100,000 to $150,000.
In another personnel-related matter, the council asked the City Attorney to develop a draft policy to bring the city into compliance with the state’s Paid Leave Act.
Under the law, Fisher told the council, an employee is entitled to earn one hour of paid leave for every 40 hours they work. Fisher said the city needs a policy, however, to ensure employees can only use those hours for paid leave for attending funerals or personal business, but cannot be reimbursed for them upon terminating from city employment.
“If someone quits or gets laid off, are they entitled to be reimbursed for paid leave they’ve built up?” Fisher asked. “We need to have a policy for how we’re going to handle this going forward.” Reimbursing terminated employees for paid leave, he argued, is “not in keeping with the intent of the law.”
DISPUTED WATER BILL
On a motion by Ald. Dave Link, the council voted to waive late fees and sewer charges for a city resident who accrued a large water bill due to an undetected leak. Gary Irvin, who resides in the 100 block of East Spruce Street, appeared before the council to voice concerns about the bill said the leak was discovered and repaired after he returned home from being out of town. He later received a $535 bill for 57,000 gallons of usage.
“I’m retired,” he explained. “I don’t have that sort of income.”
In addition to reducing the amount of the bill, Link’s motion gives Irvin 60 days to make payment.
Irvin also asked about replacing a sidewalk at his residence that has been in a state of disrepair since the city’s water infrastructure replacement project. He said he has fallen twice because of the broken sidewalk.
Fisher told Irvin the sidewalk will be replaced under a Streetscape project that is supposed to begin next year.
OTHER ACTION
In other action, the council voted unanimously to purchase a lot with a burned out residence at 301 East Maple Street for $811 in delinquent real estate taxes. Verticchio told the council a tax trustee purchased the property at a tax sale and $811 would redeem the property. In the alternative, the city could pursue condemnation procedures which would cost a minimum of $3,000 in legal fees.
By purchasing the property, Hicks noted, the city will be able to go in and clean up the property in order to resell it.
Council members also voted unanimously to accept the recommendation of the Zoning Board to reclassify 209 Montgomery Street from business to residential. The brick building originally was used as a funeral home and was most recently occupied by a non-denominational church congregation.
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Community News
UMWA President Cecil Roberts to Speak at Spirit of Mother Jones Festival in Cork, Ireland
The Spirit of Mother Jones Festival, an annual celebration honoring the legendary labor organizer Mother Jones, will host a historic event this year as UMWA President Cecil Roberts becomes the first American labor leader to address the festival. The event will take place on July 25 at 4 PM local time, with Roberts speaking via live internet broadcast from inside the Firkin Crane in the historic Shandon District of Cork.
Founded in 2011, the Spirit of Mother Jones Festival has traditionally invited European labor and community leaders to share stories of activism and advocacy. This year, however, the festival committee proudly extends an invitation to President Roberts, recognizing his leadership in the labor movement and his personal ties to Mother Jones’ legacy.
Ger O’Mahony, speaking on behalf of the festival committee, expressed his enthusiasm: “The United Mine Workers of America gave Mother Jones her role as a union organizer in the late 1890s, empowering her to organize miners across the United States. Today, President Cecil Roberts continues this proud tradition. It is an honor to welcome him to the festival.”
Adding a personal touch, O’Mahony also highlighted Roberts’ family history: “President Roberts’ great-grandmother, Mother Blizzard, was a trusted friend of Mother Jones during strikes in West Virginia aimed at securing union recognition and fair wages for miners. This connection offers a living link to Mother Jones herself and her enduring fight for workers’ rights.”
Cork’s Lord Mayor, Cllr. Fergus Dennehy, described the festival as a “festival of courage,” emphasizing its significance beyond commemoration. “We are not just celebrating history,” he said. “We aim to rekindle the flame of activism that Mother Jones ignited over a century ago — a fire that still burns in every worker fighting for fair wages and in every child dreaming of a future free from exploitation.”
The Spirit of Mother Jones Festival runs from July 24 to 26, bringing together activists, union members, and community advocates from around the world to honor the enduring spirit of social justice.
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A public comment from the CEO of the Gillespie-Benld Area Ambulance Service led to a larger discussion during Tuesday night’s meeting of the Macoupin County Board about delays in collecting property taxes and paying disbursements to local taxing bodies. Ultimately, the board referred the issue to committee after spending several minutes discussing the matter.
Josh Ross, CEO of the Gillespie-Benld Area Ambulance Service, told the board his agency and other local taxing bodies have suffered as a result of delays in receiving their share of property tax revenue.
“There has developed, over a couple of years, a troubling pattern of poor communication, a lack of transparency, and at the very least an outward appearance of inefficiency and an apparent lack of urgency when it comes to the collection and distribution of property taxes,” Ross said, reading from a prepared statement.
He said he reached out the the County Treasurer’s Office and several county board members about the issue but received no satisfactory explanation for the delays.
Ross said state statute requires the county to make disbursements to local taxing bodies within 30 days of the due date. For 2023 taxes payable in 2024, the ambulance service received its first distribution on Aug.19, 2024. A second payment due on Sept. 27, 2024, did not arrive until Feb. 27, 2025. A final distribution for interest arrived on June 17, 2025—303 days after the first disbursement and after the state of the agency’s fiscal year.
Ross said he’s been told to expect similar delays this year in regard to 2024 taxes payable in 2025. Macoupin County tax bills have not gone out this year while Sangamon County sent its bills in April with the initial due date set for June 6. Macoupin County residents are expected to receive tax bills in August, with a first installment due date of Sept. 19 and the second installment due on Oct. 31—just 39 days before the county is required to set levies for the 2025 tax year.
Ross said the delays negatively impact local taxing bodies, including fire protection districts and other agencies that provide critical services. Moreover, since COVID recovery funds are no longer available to cushion the impact, some agencies are forced to dip into interest-bearing reserves to meet their obligations.
“The unpredictability and inconsistency we have been experiencing for these last several years have made budgeting for six months, let alone a full fiscal year, nearly impossible,” Ross said.
Acknowledging that tax collection and distribution are the responsibility of independent county officers, he asked that the board exercise oversight to get to the root of the problems and offer a solution.
“Is what he’s saying true?” Board Member Holly Klausing asked. “Are we out of compliance?”
County Treasurer Amber McGartland told the board delays in disbursing 2023 tax funds in 2024 resulted from faulty software that forced her office to hand process distribution of tax funds. She said the software has since been replaced, which should result in more timely processing. She noted, however, that she can only send out tax bills after the County Clerk provides her with the amount of tax due for each taxable parcel. The clerk’s office is responsible for finalizing the levy for each taxing body and the county, and applying that levy to the current equalized assessed valuation for each and every parcel in the county. She said tax bills are expected to go out “no later than August. 19,” with a first installment due on Sept. 19. Final disbursement to local taxing bodies will occur after the county tax sale, which is set for Jan. 12, 2026.
The County Clerk said his office can be hamstrung by delayed reporting from the Supervisor of Assessments to confirm the equalized assessed valuation for each taxable property.
John Bresnan, Supervisor of Assessments, said he can only submit his report to the County Clerk after local assessors provide him with updated assessments.
“The last couple of years there have been difficulties with the tax system,” Bresnan said. “We expect things to be a lot better going forward but it take time.”
Further exacerbating the issue is a dearth of county assessors. Bresnan said it’s difficult to find people willing to do local assessments. As a result some assessor positions in the county are vacant. “When you have two assessors doing 20 townships, that’s not a good situation,” he said. Filling assessor spots is a statewide problem, he said. “In my opinion, it’s at a crisis level now.”
“Are we expecting 2026 to be back to being in line with other counties?” Klausing asked.
“We expect things to go forward better now that we’ve converted to a new system,” Bresnan said, reiterating that much depends on how quickly a handful of assessor can complete their assessments.
In answer to another question, County Clerk Pete Duncan said accountants hired by the county to audit county accounts are four years behind on auditing the county’s tax collection and distribution.
“Someday, I’m going to come in with a very larger bill (for four years of audits) that we have to pay,” he said.
Board Chair Larry Schmidt cut the conversation off, adding that the issue should be further investigated at the committee level.
BUDGETARY BELT TIGHTENING
Duncan presented an extremely tentative budget, noting that it is subject to change as the board continues to wrestle with balancing expenditures with anticipated revenues. Currently projected revenue is $10,335,742, which is up $251,000 from last fiscal year. If the board approved all department requests as submitted, the budget would be $204,746 in the red.
The tentative budget anticipates $10,318,790 in expenditures, leaving a tight surplus of $16,952. The expenditure projection was reached by basically eliminating department requests that were not related to salary increases and reducing the Capital Outlay budget from $250,000 to $175,000.
“I put this proposal together to show you that after adding just the salary requested, there is basically no room for additional funding for the other requests, Duncan said. He said he has already asked the county’s newly hired Grant Manager to look into potential grants to fund some of those non-salary department requests.
Duncan also told the board that final budget numbers are due to him by Aug. 5 in order for him to update the budget and have it ready for approval at the board’s Aug. 12 meeting.
“If we don’t meet that timeline, some people aren’t going to get paid,” he said.
Duncan added that the board might be able to accommodate requests from the Sheriff’s Department by “sweeping” some unspent line items and further reducing Capital Outlay expenditures allow for the purchase of two vehicles for the Sheriff’s Department and begin setting aside money for a $500,000 upgrade to the jail’s door system. Reducing the Capital Outlay Budget, Duncan warned, could leave the county unable to pay for unexpected expenditures related to county buildings.
HIGHWAY DEPARTMENT
The board took several actions involving the County Highway Department, including approval of a resolution giving power to act on bids for improvements to Staunton-Bunker Hill Road. County Engineer Tom Reinhart said having the power to act would allow work to start as soon as possible after the bid letting on Wednesday.
The board unanimously approved a three-year contract with non-union workers employed by the Highway Department calling for an 8.5 percent increase in the first year, and increases of four percent in the second and third years. Reinhart said the contract will bring non-union salaries in line with union wages.
Three 50/50 petitions were approved obligating the county to subsidize half of the cost of culvert replacements in Barr, Bird and South Palmyra townships. The county will pay half of the $6,000 cost of replacing a culvert in Barr Township, half of the $7,000 cost to replace a culvert in Bird Township, and half of the $7,500 cost of replacing a culvert in South Palmyra Township.
GRANT MANAGER
The board was briefly introduced to newly hired Grant Manager Joseph Amazuwa Chirwa. Chirwa said he has many years of experience with writing grants. “It’s what I do,” he said.
He said he will need the support and involvement of the board and county office holders to clarify the specific need for various grants to improve the chances of securing a grant award.
“He started work on day one,” said Klausing, Economic Development chair. “I’m really excited to see what he can do for the county.”
In a related matter, the board approved a resolution to increase the Community Development budget by $15,000 to defray a portion of Chirwa’s salary.
OTHER ACTION
In other action, the board:
- Approved bidding specifications to seek a new contract to provide health insurance for county employees.
- Authorized the State’s Attorney’s office to participate in a 40-county consortium to hire additional special attorneys to defend against lawsuits resulting from a 2023 Supreme Court decision regarding the sale of delinquent properties.
- Approved increasing in the County Sheriff’s salary to $176,460.50 and the Public Defender’s salary to $197,393. Duncan said approval was necessary for the county to be eligible for partial state reimbursement for the Sheriff and Public Defender’s Salaries.
- Approved a plan recommended by the county’s auditors to all payments and disbursements for various county offices and agencies through the county’s centralized computer accounting system, which will enable the County Treasurer to reconcile all county accounts in lieu of having those accounts managed by individual offices.
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The Public Access of the Illinois Attorney General’s Office has determined the Macoupin County Board technically violated the state’s Open Meetings Act on March 26 when Board Chair Larry Schmidt used a text message to solicit the opinions from 15 of the board’s 18 members about whether or not he should step down from the chairmanship.
In a letter dated July 2 to the County Board and Chelsa Pruden, Staunton, who filed the initial OMA complaint, Matthew Goodman of the Public Access Bureau confirmed the board violated the OMA but does not assess any penalty or punitive action. The Attorney General’s determination, however, does require the board to publicly disclose a verbatim copy of the text messages exchanged by some of the board members and Schmidt on March 26.
Those texts were made public during a meeting of the Macoupin County Board this week.
At issue was whether or not the text messaging represented “contemporaneous interactive communication” among a majority of a quorum.
While court cases nor legislation has legally defined what constitutes “contemporaneous” communication, Macoupin County State’s Attorney Jordan Garrison told the board his assessment was that the Public Assess Bureau used one hour as a standard for defining “contemporaneous.”
“If the messages had been spread over two hours or over several days, it probably would not have been a violation,” Garrison said.
In his letter to the board, Goodman states that Schmidt sent his original text at 5:03 p.m. Only seven of the 15 members Schmidt contacted responded, with replies coming between 5:05 and 5:58 p.m.
During the board’s Tuesday night meeting, the text of the conversation between Schmidt and board members was made public as follows:
Larry Schmidt (5:03 PM): As most of you know I caused quite the controversy with a personal statement I made on facebook. I was referring to Anheiser Busch not funding the Gay Pride Parade this year in which I was in agreement. I chose poorly on my words and it sounded worse than intended. They tied it in with me being county board chairman. I am truly sorry and regretful this happened. I am willing to suffer the consequences. Here are the options…
Let it ride and see what happens
Resign as chairman and stay as district 5 as a member
Resign from the board all together.
I am so sorry for getting you into this mess. Let me know your thoughts. I am not homophobic in anyway and I do not let personal beliefs interfere with my official duties on any job I have had. Let me know your thoughts.
Kristi Dunnagan (5:05 p.m.): Agree!
James lbberson (5:07 p.m.): Let it ride, Larry.
Aaron Stayton (5:07 p.m.): Let it ride. It will settle down.
Bernard Kiel (5:12 p.m.): Let ride in my eyes you’re a very good chairman.
Leann Barr (5:14 p.m.): I do not know the comment, but sounds like it was taken out of context and you reiterated you do not let personal beliefs interfere with official duties. You have your answer. Do not resign and let it ride.
John Trevino (5:19 p.m.): Same Larry, let it ride you have my support.
Robert Wiggins (5:55 p.m.): Hey we made it thru the “cat season” with just a scratch. We’ll get thru this. People need to lighten up. You’re doing great. (Dunnagan responded to this message with “Haha.”)
Todd Armour (5:58 p.m.): A little grace goes a long way. Larry gave me grace, I’m giving it back!
The controversy stemmed from a comment posted on the KMOV Facebook page in regard to Anneheuser Busch withdrawing its support of the St. Louis Pride Parade. “You can be queer, but you don’t need to march in the streets to show off your disability,” Schmidt posted. LGBTQ+ advocates claimed the comment was part of a pattern of anti-gay/trans rhetoric previously posted by Schmidt. During the April meeting, Schmidt apologized for the comment and said he had deleted the post.
Upward of 100 protestors appeared before the April meeting. Those protests have continued every Tuesday since that time, though the focus has shifted to anti-MAGA sentiments.
During the April meeting, John Blank and Holly Klausing both condemned Schmidt’s remarks. Notably, Ryan Kilduff noted he was not contacted by Schmidt and alleged the text messaging did, indeed, constitute an illegal meeting of a quorum.
Pruden filed her complaint shortly after the April meeting. The board retained attorney Peter C. Drummond to respond to the complaint to avoid potential conflicts of interest with the Macoupin County State’s Attorney’s office. Drummond argued that the text messaging did not constitute a “meeting,” and since no legislative action was taken, there was no remedy if the Attorney General found a violation.
In an unusual move, Schmidt also filed a response to the complaint even though the complaint cited the board, not Schmidt individually.
