“Double Standard” Documents
Apparent Breakdown In Communication
There appears to be a “Double Standard” for the government and citizens with respect to the accurate and timely filing of documents.
Supporting Evidence
County Clerk
The County Clerk filed the ‘wrong’ Auditor Referendum by the deadline on August 22nd. The County Clerk has zero realization that the ‘wrong’ document had been filed until she was told on August 26th.
The error was placed on an assistant in the administrative office who sent the ‘wrong’ document.
Why didn’t the County Clerk take the referendum from the “Pages from 08-11-2022 – Agenda Packet – Completed.pdf” which was available at least by August 17, 2022?
Download Document: Online Form Submittal Contact County Clerk
Before sending the document, the County Clerk does not read the document to ensure that it is the Board Meeting not the Executive Committee Meeting vote tally?
PCEC Executive Director
The Executive Director is instructed by the State’s Attorney’s office to handwrite the words ‘nunc pro tunc’ on the late filed Auditor Referendum on August 26th.
When a citizen files candidate’s nominating petitions et al or petitions for the submission of questions of public policy, if their respective petitions and other documents are not filed on time, disqualification occurs and no ‘nunc pro tunc’ will be dispensed for any of those late filings.
County Administrator
The County Administrator sends ‘High’ Importance email to staff member on August 11, 2022 at12:34 pm.
“The agenda brief does not match the resolution related to the exact ballot language. Please insert this agenda brief into the packet in place of the version that came out of committee.”
Download Document: Scott Sorrel email to Jan Kleffman
The Peoria County Agenda Center website shows two agendas with what appears to be the same Agenda Packet. Only one (_08112022-1259 (peoriacounty.gov) ) has a date stamp – “Posted Aug 11, 2022 12:52 PM” and the other is found at https://www.peoriacounty.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/ArchivedAgenda/_08112022-676
Download Document: Agenda Briefing – July 26, 2022 with $150K language
Download Document: Agenda Center
Staff tells County Administrator on August 11, 2022 at 3:34 pm. “Just so you’re aware – the Ipad versions and the board packet uploaded to the website have been revised. The hard copy of the packets I made for ‘Board Member A’ and ‘Board Member B’ are both the correct versions as well.”
Download Document: Jan Kleffman email to Scott Sorrel
By what authority does the County Administrator have to change what came out of Executive Committee?
Download Document: Scott Sorrel email to Jan Kleffman
Did the County Clerk know about this ‘revised’ packet?
Assistant State’s Attorney
The Assistant State’s Attorney makes the claim that “They noticed that it was the wrong version, sent the correct one, and it was a – it was a paper trail notation.” (Ms. Jennie Boswell, CIRCUIT COURT OF THE 10TH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT PEORIA COUNTY, ILLINOIS, No. 22 CH 28 CIRCUIT JUDGE JAMES MACK on September 30, 2022, Page 17, line 24 and page 18, lines 1-2, 13-16.)
Download Document: Transcript … County noticed that it was the wrong one.
This statement is simply not true. The County Clerk had zero realization that the ‘wrong’ document had been filed. This filing error was in fact discovered by a Community Advocate in conversation with the PCEC Executive Director on August 26th. The County Clerk was told of this mistake and then filed the ‘correct’ referendum on August 26th.
The Assistant State’s Attorney seems to demonstrate disregard for the Latin term ‘nunc pro tunc’ (‘now for then’) in an attempt to bend time backwards outside of a court setting. The ‘wrong’ filing was outside of a court setting and there was no leave of the court to file ‘nunc pro tunc’ as filing a document at the PCEC is not filing a document with the court.
County Clerk’s Affidavit
Quoted portions are indented below:
Download Document: Affidavit of Peoria County Clerk
I, (County Clerk), pursuant to 735 ILCS 5/1-109 and under perjury of law, hereby do declare and affirm the following:
6. “As the Clerk, the business before the Board is set forth in a meeting agenda which is distributed to the Board members by my office along with a packet of information in advance of each board meeting.”
The County’s 2021-2022 Rules of Order state that the County Administrator shall provide a copy of the agenda to each member of the Board on or before five days preceding the session.
Download Document: 2021-2022 Rules of Order County Board County of Peoria, Illinois Article V. PROCEDURE Section 18.Why is the County Clerk’s staff sending out the Agenda Packet at all, let alone on August 10, 2022, the day before the meeting?
Download Document: Online Form Submittal Contact County Clerk
Why is the County Administrator and staff changing the Agenda Brief and redistributing and posting this update on the day of the meeting without marking it ‘revised’? (Please refer to County Administrator section above.)
7. “The Board meeting agendas and packets are publicly available on the Peoria County website in advance of the Board meetings and the Board’s committee meetings.”
It seems to have been a fluid situation for the August 11, 2022 County Board Meeting Agenda Packet.
9. “At the August Board Meeting, I announced the business before the Board, including a referendum to eliminate the internal office of the County auditor (the “Referendum”) which appeared on the August Board Meeting agenda and in the August Board Meeting informational packet that my office previously circulated and which was posted publicly on the Peoria County website.”
There were two versions of the Auditor Referendum Ballot language posted publicly on the Peoria County website, namely the (2024) version and the ($150,000) version. Which version was actually sent by the County Clerk’s office? It would appear that what was sent was the (2024) version as the County Administrative staff changed it to the ($150,000) version.
12. “As the official keeper of the records and minutes, I was to submit the official record of the Referendum to the election commission to be placed on the ballot, which I personally did on August 19, 2022.”
The Referendum was ‘Filed in the office of the Peoria County Election Commission, Peoria County, Illinois This 22 day of August 2022 at the hour of 2:10 o’clock PM signed by the Executive Director.
The County Clerk date stamped the Referendum as “Filed August 19 2022 Rachel Parker Peoria County Clerk.”
Download Document: 2024 Referendum
14. “Instead of referring to the August Board Meeting agenda and packet in preparing the Referendum to be sent to the election commission, I asked an assistant in the administrative office to send me the Referendum that was adopted by the Board. That assistant sent me the Incorrect Version which included the vote total from the executive committee meeting, not August Board Meeting. I mistakenly sent this Incorrect Version with incorrect vote information to the election commission.”
Why didn’t the County Clerk take the referendum from the “Pages from 08-11-2022 – Agenda Packet – Completed.pdf” which was available at least by August 17, 2022? Why would the Clerk ask the assistant from the administrative office for the referendum document?
Download Document: Online Form Submittal Contact County Clerk
16. “As soon as I was told that I had sent the Incorrect Version to the election commission, I immediately retrieved the Referendum from the August Board Meeting packet and re-submitted it to the election commission to correct my clerical error.”
Why didn’t the County Clerk initially take the referendum from the “Pages from 08-11-2022 – Agenda Packet – Completed.pdf” which was available at least by August 17, 2022?
Download Document: Online Form Submittal Contact County Clerk
17. “Below is the Referendum language that was posted publicly, was in the Board and committee packets, was read, voted on, and adopted by the Board.”
There were two versions of the Auditor Referendum language posted publicly. One version with an ‘effective date of December 1, 2024’ and another version with no effective date and ‘This would be a cost savings of approximately $150,000 annually’ wording. There was an August 11, 2022 Peoria County Board Meeting Agenda available on August 6th at the Peoria County Agenda portal with the (2024) language. This link became unavailable and on August 11th at 12:52 pm, the Agenda Brief changed to the ($150,000) language.
Not sure what ‘read’ means, because the actual Auditor Referendum ballot language was not read at either the July 26, 2022 Executive Committee Meeting nor the August 11, 2022 Board Meeting. The issue was always referred to generically as the Auditor Referendum per the County’s Rules of Order.
County Clerk’s August 19, 2022 Date Stamp
There were two Auditor Referendums filed by the County Clerk at the Peoria County Election Commission respectively on August 22, 2022 and August 26, 2022.
From the County Clerk’s Affidavit above:
16. “As soon as I was told that I had sent the Incorrect Version to the election commission, I immediately retrieved the Referendum from the August Board Meeting packet and re-submitted it to the election commission to correct my clerical error.”
How could the Referendum retrieved from the August Board Meeting packet on August 26, 2022 be date stamped: “Filed August 19 2022 Rachel Parker Peoria County Clerk”?
Auditor Referendum ($150,000)
Why doesn’t the second Auditor Referendum filed at the Peoria County Election Commission on August 26, 2022 match the type font from the August Board Meeting Packet?
Download Document: $150K Referendum
Download Document: Online Form Submittal Contact County Clerk
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