Published: January 20, 2010 11:58 am      

State's attorney comments on 'two boards' issue

By PAUL LORENZ

paul.lorenz@mcleansborotimesleader.com

& TESA CULLI

tesa.culli@register-news.com

McLEANSBORO — The Illinois Attorney General’s Office first brought up the issue of one person serving on both the Hamilton County and Rend Lake College boards to him, Hamilton County’s state’s attorney says.

Dr. Don Mitchell, a Hamilton County Board member and chairman since 2006, stepped down as a Rend Lake College trustee last week after receiving an informal opinion written by the Attorney General’s Office stating he was not able to serve on both boards.

Mitchell is a Republican, and in the wake of his decision, there have been insinuations that the investigation of the issue was politically motivated. But State’s Attorney Justin Hood denies such motivations.

“This is in no way a political issue,” Hood said Tuesday. “It’s only a legal issue.”

When the Attorney General’s Office contacted him about the issue, Hood felt he had to act on it, and he requested an informal written opinion from that office, he said.

“If I’m contacted by another state agency ... I take that as action needs to be taken, whether it’s at my discretion or not,” Hood said.

He pointed out that he often seeks the Attorney General’s Office’s assistance and felt he would jeopardize that working relationship if he ignored its request.

Hood noted that he took a similar action when Brad Miller — like Hood, a Democrat — was elected to the Hamilton County Board. Miller was also serving on the Hamilton County Water District Board at the time and had to step down, Hood said.

He noted that he respects Mitchell “very much” but has “a legal obligation to uphold the law. I took a sworn oath to uphold the law.”

Mitchell, who is running for re-election to the County Board, said last week that since he had to make a choice, he chose to continue to serve the county.

“I don’t agree with this, but involving myself in a legal entanglement isn’t fair to the college,” he stated. “I felt the right thing to do was to resign.”

The contents of the Attorney General’s Office letter prompted Mitchell to resign from the RLC board, although the letter states at the end that “this is not an official opinion of the Attorney General.”

The letter quotes an act which states in part that “No member of a county board, during the term of office for which he or she is elected, may be appointed to, accept, or hold any office other than (i) chairman of the county board ... unless he or she first resigns from the office of county board member or unless the holding of another office is authorized by law ...”

However, in reading the act, one of the authorizations given — which is not mentioned in the letter — is for those areas which have 40,000 inhabitants or less. Hamilton County was counted in the 2000 Census with 8,621 inhabitants — well under the 40,000 threshold.

“A member of the county board in a county having fewer than 40,000 inhabitants, during the term of office for which he or she is elected, may also hold the office of member of the board of education, regional board of school trustees, board of school directors, or board of school inspectors,” section 1.2 of the Prohibited Activities Act states.

In writing the letter to Hood, Lynn E. Patton, senior assistant attorney general chief of the opinions bureau, cites case law from the State Appellate Court in which the Rev. Elmer E. Wilson in Kankakee was a member of the Kankakee County Board and Kankakee School District 111. According to the ruling, Wilson had to give up his position on the school board.

The ruling, written by Appellate Justice J. Scott Swaim, stated “implicit in the provision is that a member of the county board may not hold a position on a school board if the county has more than 40,000 residents. We note that Kankakee County is well over that amount in terms of population.”

The only time Patton’s letter addresses the issue of the number of residents in Hamilton County is when she states, “Neither section 1 nor any other statute expressly permits one person to serve simultaneously as a county board member and a community college district trustee. Therefore, pursuant to the section 1 of the Prohibited Activities Act, a Hamilton County Board member may not be appointed or elected to the office of community college district trustee.”

If a Hamilton County Board member, during his or her term of office, is elected to the office of community college district trustee, the election is void under section 1 of the Prohibited Activities Act.

Patton later said the exception in the Prohibited Activities Act does not include the office of community college trustee since it is governed by the Illinois Public Community College Act, and the exceptions are established by the Illinois School Code.

The only other exception is if the General Assembly expressly, through statutory provision, authorizes an individual to serve on both boards.

Mitchell stated he acted on a precedent set by a former RLC Board member who served on the board more than a decade while holding a position on a county board in the college district — Randall Crocker of Franklin County.

The Rend Lake College District covers the majority of Franklin, Hamilton, Jefferson and Perry counties; parts of Wayne and White counties and reaches into portions of Washington and Williamson counties. It encompasses 13 high school districts — Mt. Vernon, Benton, Christopher, Hamil-ton County Unit Schools, Norris City-Omaha-Enfield, Pinckneyville, Sesser-Valier, Thompsonville, Waltonville, Wayne City, Webber, Woodlawn and Zeigler-Royalton.

• Tesa Culli is associate editor of the Mt. Vernon Register-News, sister newspaper of the Register-News.