Shelby Co. (ECWd) –
Once again, the spin cycle of lawlessness in Shelby County, with zero accountability, continues. We encourage everyone to read Part I at this link.
When people quit after key records are requested, it’s a pretty good indicator that they have something to hide.
A simple FOIA request on April 16, 2026 was submitted for a copy of all work product submitted to the State of Illinois by the person handling PCOM, I was told that request was unduly burdensome. That is pretty special in light of the reason Effingham County has now taken over all the PCOM work that was being done in Shelby County. For those that don’t know the reason, it’s because the person County Board Chairman Tad Mayhall selected for this overpaid job did not do her job at all. How is my request for work product unduly burdensome when there was no work product?
I narrowed the request as the law permits on April 20th, along with an additional request for records that I knew would expose the fraud that was taking place under the County Board’s own nose.
Four days later, the PCOM administrator resigns and my FOIA has been ignored.
I sent the State’s Attorney an email in an effort to resolve this matter logically on April 28, 2026
“Mrs. Woolery,
Below is the narrowed FOIA request that included additionally FOIA’d records from PCOM. It is past the due date and the PCOM employee who asked the initial request to be narrowed has not replied to the narrow request or the additional request.
Please advise as to how you would like to get this FOIA taken care of or if this is a matter that is going to need to be litigated.
Thanks
Kirk Allen”
She responded that same day.
“Mr. Allen, I am working to see who would has access to the requested records to be able to respond.”
To date, not a single response to my narrowed request and additional request. Why is it that filing a lawsuit is the only way to get Shelby County to comply with such basic requests for records?
Who knew a part-time employee could open up a credit card with her name and the County’s name on it? A part-time employee accessing unchecked credit? What happened to the Credit Card ordinance? Yet another example of not following established directives. Why does a part-time employee need to set up a separate PO Box for county business? Why do they need Starlink? Why do they need “AI” software program subscriptions? The list of questionable expenses is broad, and the County Finance Committee approved those, some without the appropriate receipts to support the claim.
Considering she was being paid with grant funds and did not do her job, is that not grant fraud? Where was the oversight, Chairman Mayhall? He literally picked her for the job and then ignored the problem for months. Many of those problems became known to the public when good board members wanted answers during the last meeting but appeared to be overruled by those who would rather ignore the problems and defend the person who was paid for months and never did the work she was hired to perform. Watch the meeting video for yourself at this link.
How many recall the numerous Ethics complaints filed against Chairman Tad Mayhall back in March? We first wrote about it in this article.
A second article outlined issues with the alleged Ethics Advisor position. The County Board finally fixed that by appointing not only an advisor but an actual ethics commission. How special is it that one of the members appointed just happens to be the same person who bashed the Treasurer during her public comment a few months ago? It takes a really special kind of board to appoint such an openly biased person to hear an ethics complaint from the very person she bashed in a prior meeting.
As the clock continues to tick, the law regarding an Ethics Commission has pretty much been ignored, and the rights of those who filed those complaints have been trampled. At what point is it Official Misconduct when these people refuse to do their job as the law mandates?
When their own legal counsel is willing to ignore such blatant disregard for the most basic laws by her clients, the simple concept of due process vanishes and chaos rules.
It appears the last three words in the Pledge of Allegiance the County Board recites at each meeting mean nothing. For those who don’t want to look up what those last three words are, it’s “Justice For All”. A principle ignored in Shelby County.
