The Stephenson County State's Attorney and his Walnut Acres Dance

 At the last Stephenson County Board meeting on April 20th Stephenson County State's Attorney Carl Larson was asked about an Illinois statute which applies to Illinois's county run nursing homes.  The part of the statute the State's Attorney attempted to address is this paragraph, 55 ILCS 5/5-21001(9).

"Upon the vote of a 2/3 majority of all the members of the board, to sell, dispose of or lease for any term, any part of the home properties in such manner and upon such terms as it deems best for the interest of the county, and to make and execute all necessary conveyances thereof in the same manner as other conveyances of real estate may be made by a county. However, if the home was erected after referendum approval by the voters of the county, it shall not be sold or disposed of except after referendum approval thereof by a majority of the voters of the county voting thereon."

The last clause of this statute is what is pertinent to Stephenson County's present situation, as a matter of fact, State's Attorney Larson cited the last clause verbatim to the Stephenson County Board.  Again, that clause is, "if the home was erected after referendum approval by the voters of the county, it shall not be sold or disposed of except after referendum approval thereof by a majority of the voters of the county voting thereon."

You may view Mr. Larson's presentation at this YouTube link, it begins at 18:57.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2bhIYW5M8g&t=1260s

Mr. Larson goes on quite a stretch of illusionary legal reasoning in an attempt to bifurcate the building from the legal entity.  Please watch the video where he attempts to define the words "erect"  and "nursing home" in a blatant attempt to mislead the Stephenson County Board and the public at large regarding plain as day Illinois Statutes.

Clearly our State's Attorney Larson desperately needs a lesson on statutory construction as determined by the Illinois Supreme Court.

I am in possession of an Illinois Supreme Court opinion that states, "A primary purpose of statutory construction is to ascertain the legislative intention.  In seeking the intent of the legislature, courts consider not only the language used but also the evil to be remedied and the object to be attained.  Furthermore it is well settled that, in the absence of statutory definitions indicating a different legislative intention, the courts will assume that words have their ordinary and popularly understood meanings" Citations have been removed, however anyone can copy and paste the quoted material and find this opinion of the Supreme Court of Illinois.

Clearly, in passing this statute, the General Assembly wanted to ensure that if the electors of a county had supported a county "home" through a bond sale approved at referendum, the county board acting alone could not pull the rug out from underneath something the public has willingly supported with their tax dollars and votes for decades.  

In my opinion, the statute was meant to give the future of county homes--that had been supported by past bond issues courtesy of referendums--to the public at large and not the county board.

I would be interested in seeing a written response from State's Attorney Larson as to what problem he thinks the General Assembly was trying to remedy in the statutory clause  he recited to the county board above?

I believe this clause is enforceable by any citizen of Stephenson County with a simple action in the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit Court for a couple hundred dollars.  I'd go in pro se on this issue just to see the State's Attorney turn himself inside out attempting to tell the court the statute in question means something beyond its plain and reasonable meaning.

Another problem with our State's Attorney.  Why is he twisting himself into a pretzel on behalf of the Helms' cabal?  I like to think that a state's attorney does the public a greater service by making sure that the real power stays vested with the people and not the few citizens who happen to be county board members.  I think it would be more prudent for Mr. Larson to side with the public over the board.

Personally, I don't have a strong opinion whether or not we continue to maintain a county nursing home.  However, I believe that is a decision that should rest with the voters of Stephenson County and not the Stephenson County Board.

What's more important is Illinois Statutes demand that the public weigh in via referendum before a county home is disposed of or sold.  I welcome a written response from State's Attorney Larson.  It will be much less stressful for him to discuss this here rather than in front of a court, but I just might be down for some fun, I've got nothing to lose but a couple hundred dollars.

As always, yours in honesty, John Samuel Cook

2023

Freeport Needs a Water and Sewer Commission

Freeport's water and sewer system is a public utility.  The funding and expenses must be kept separate from the City of Freeport's other financial books.  The users of this most important public utility deserve to know how it is being run and who it is that is making long term, publicly expensive decisions.

Prior to 2017 and City Manager Lowell Crow, Freeport utilized a  Water and Sewer Commission which would handle all things regarding our public utility.  The Board of Water and Sewer Commissioners consisted of five people, the members of the commission usually had plumbing, construction or engineering experience.  Here is a picture from City ordinances as the paragraph appeared in the 1980s.

In the writer's opinion this system worked very well and provided much more in the way of transparency for us, the owners of the public utility as well as the Freeport City Council.  As it stands now all decisions have already been made somewhere behind closed doors prior to arriving on the City Council agenda.

At present, there is a plan for the largest buildout of water and sewer in the history of Freeport, in to the Forrestville Valley School district south of the Titan Tire plant.  A plan that would not be any where near economically feasible had Covid relief money not dropped from the sky.  How feasible it will be for present users of the water and sewer system to maintain such a buildout without numerous new users, no one knows for sure.  There has been no independent feasibility study of any type conducted.

So where did Freeport water and sewer rate payers (and by extension the Freeport City Council) first learn that this massive buildout was being proposed? The July 12, 2021 meeting of the Planning and Development Committee of the Stephenson County Board, that is where it was first made public.

Meeting minutes from this meeting make it clear that this proposal, and the plan to spend Stephenson County's American Recovery Plan Act dollars on the project, originated behind closed doors within the Greater Freeport Partnership.

One question to the Stephenson County Board.  Why ask the citizens of Freeport to subsidize another school district with our public utility?  Forrestville Valley will reap industrial property without the added cost of new students.  And the school board in Forreston can close their one school in Stephenson County, at German Valley, without so much as a telephone call to the Chairman of the Stephenson County Board.

Why can't this money be used to help construct a treatment plant on site?  Titan already treats their own.  Why is there only one solution on the table?

There are many more issues beyond this one confronting rate payers of Freeport's (not Stephenson County's) water and sewer system and the Freeport City Council.  We need and deserve much greater transparency when it come to our only but most important public utility in Freeport. 

I urge the incoming Freeport City Council to bring back the Water and Sewer Commission,  appoint competent and qualified commissioners and begin to examine the functionality of our public utility from top to bottom.  

As always, yours in honesty,

John Samuel Cook

2023

How About Legislating Some Ethical Values?

Do you think the board of directors of a major corporation would ever tolerate their CEO being married to the finance director of the company they oversee for shareholders?  Clearly such a situation would be rife with moral, ethical and perhaps legal pitfalls. 

Right off the bat spouses are always going to look out for their spouse first as their individual livelihoods are dependent upon each other.  Secondly, its too easy for the CEO and  finance director to collude virtually undetectable as they'd be living together as husband and wife.  Third, if one of them is partaking in potentially illegal conduct, the other one has every reason in the world to help hide their matrimonial partner's misdeeds.  Fourth, being married protects spouses from having to testify against each other in any matter, a marriage is its own legal entity.  Anyone can increase this list.

Below is a picture that was posted on  Illinois State Senator Andrew Chesney's Facebook page  along with the County Board Chairmen of Jo Daviess, Stephenson, and Ogle Counties in northwest Illinois.  The Senator's post bears his signature hashtag #nwILLINOISvalues.

It just so happens one of those county board chairman happens to be married to the elected county treasurer.  Scott Helms, the Stephenson County Board Chairman is married to Stephanie Helms the Stephenson County Treasurer.

Has any member of the Stephenson County Board even thought about the ethics of this arrangement?  Has any of them formally requested the Stephenson County State's attorney look into the potential legal pitfalls of this arrangement?

If this was two democrats doing this in Stephenson County Senator Andrew Chesney would literally screaming from the hill tops and authoring legislation prohibiting full time elected county officials' spouses from serving on  the county board that is charged with oversight.  Scott Helms is overseeing his wife's department.

I wonder if the bank where Mr. Helms works would consider having a president of the institution being married to the bank's comptroller?  Would Mr. Helm's employer consider that ethical?  Or do they, like most organizations, have an ethics policy preventing this type of unethical behavior?

So please Senator Chesney, prove you care about real values and honest ethics in northwest Illinois.  Sponsor legislation that would prohibit the spouse of a full time elected county official from running for the county board?  Maybe the local Republican party can talk about more than national issues on their Facebook page being we seem too struggle  with ethical behavior right here in Stephenson County.

Senator Chesney and the full Stephenson County Board should be doing everything in their power to avoid even the mere appearance of unethical behavior.  However Republicans around here seem willing to stick their heads in the sand when it's their own practicing questionable behavior.  

Stephenson County is desperately in need of higher ethical standards.

As always, yours in honesty

John Samuel Cook, 2023