EDGAR CO.—A current problem with the Edgar County board chairman is mirroring a past problem with the former ambulance director in the county, Dee Burgin.
Burgin, originally of Richland County, was a deputy in Edgar until last summer, when a federal court decision against him in a civil rights violation trial prompted his termination in that department. He has currently gone on to find employment in the village of Newman in neighboring Douglas County, as the judge in the civil case saw fit to not remove Burgin’s police certification from him.
The current Edgar County board chairman, Chris Patrick, has found himself in a series of issues with the Edgar County Airport similar to what Burgin was in years ago when Burgin purchased the ambulance service from the county…with an alleged illegal loan.
And Patrick now stands accused of an illegal loan as it relates to the airport, in documents uncovered by the Edgar County Watchdogs, in an incident, like Burgin’s, still unaddressed by the state’s attorney as the crime that it obviously is.
Airport board received CD
The Watchdogs produced a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request recently to the Edgar County treasurer, seeking information on a certificate of deposit (CD) at First Bank, received by the airport in November of 2008, this according to airport board minutes.
In the minutes, also obtained by the Watchdogs, Patrick (the past Airport Board Chairman and current county board chairman) noted that the airport “has come into the good fortune of receiving a CD.”
There was no mention of the source of the funds, nor the amount.
A claim was made, as noted in the minutes, that the CD would be used for “land acquisitions,” so the inference could be that it would be a substantial amount of money.
The minutes reflect that a resolution would be drafted and presented at the next meeting; however, no such thing, or even a discussion of a resolution or draft about a CD, appears in the December minutes.
In fact, and disturbingly, in August 2010, minutes show that Patrick decided to replace the names on the CD from a deceased member of the airport board, Jack Asher (law partner of attorney and Paris mayor Craig Smith) to now reflect himself and Jimmy Wells, the airport manager.
CD not found
The response to the Watchdogs’ FOIA from the county treasurer was as follows:
“I cannot find reference to this CD number at First Bank. The number is similar to CD numbers that First Bank would have, but it is not even close to any active or inactive CDs at First Bank. Is there additional info you can provide that might assist me in narrowing my search down?”
The Watchdogs advised that the board took action to change the names on the CD in 2010; upon doing so, the response was “The treasurer’s office has no records/documentation of CD #01-4012792-8 at First Bank”…despite the fact that the county treasurer is the office/person solely and ultimately responsible for those funds.
This brought into question such fundraisers for the airport as “pancake breakfasts.” One such breakfast had a profit of $964. There was use of public facilities involved as well in this endeavor; so public tax dollars can be added to the presumed total of any amount in which the airport and/or board benefited. Yet there is nothing turning up any profit in a county audit reflecting any revenue from such events.
Self-serving Patrick
All of this is going on while Chris Patrick is in charge.
As chairman of the county board, he has recently been informed that a conflict of interest exists with his seat as regards the Illinois Department of Transportation (as Patrick, who owns a cement company that has contracts with IDOT, was among a handful of select other Paris Township residents who are former recipients of a free driveway from IDOT, part of the abject corruption which has been exposed in recent months by the Watchdogs as that corruption swirls around Patrick). This conflict has caused all state and federal sources of funding to be terminate to the highway department.
Patrick also is listed as the vice president of PEDCO (Paris Economic Development Corp, covered extensively in past issues of Disclosure Heartland, September 2012). This means he is working hand-in-hand with Bob Colvin, the Paris gadfly who has the public convinced that he’s an engineer when the Illinois Department of Professional Regulation has confirmed he is NOT.
Where Burgin and the ambulance service come in
As if all this weren’t bad enough, here’s where Dee Burgin enters back in to the picture.
In the search through county treasurer documents and files, another piece of key evidence proving Burgin is obligated to pay $100,000 for the purchase of the ambulance from the county years ago has emerged.
The county treasurer, the Watchdogs have learned, has nothing in his possession to support the note in the audit, as outlined here:
“NOTE 12—NOTES RECEIVABLE: Effective October 1, 2003, in consideration of $100,000 and the assumption of all assets and liabilities, including a $293,316 real estate loan, the County turned over the operations of the ambulance service to buyers Dee E. Burgin and Lisa L. Burgin d/b/a Edgar County Special Service Area Ambulance, Inc. Per a new agreement September 1, 2005 to August 31, 2010, the Special Service Area No. 1 Ambulance District will pay back the $100,000 by making monthly payments at $800 per month at zero percent interest. The amount owed at November 30, 2010 is $-0-.”
This confirms Burgin was to pay $100,000 for the ambulance service, which he was the director of as a county employee.
He stocked the service up with supplies and a new Ford Excursion a month prior to the purchase.
He did not assume the illegal $293,315 loan; instead he made monthly payments to the bank on behalf of the county who carried the note for him solely in the name of the county.
Was caught stealing; now OWES
The “new” agreement, a “service agreement,” not a “purchase agreement,” on Sept. 1, 2005, was not to pay back the $100,000 as the note reflects. It was to pay back the $43,000 that he got caught stealing (the year prior) from the county and was to be paid back at $800 per month.
The reference in the second agreement was that these payments were to bring the county ambulance account BACK up to $100,000. Why? Because the bogus invoice from Burgin for $43,000 brought the account below where the county wanted it frozen.
He later sold the ambulance service in 2009, and to this day has NEVER paid original $100,000 purchase price.
In January 2013, the county board finally officially realized (as they were told over a year ago by the Watchdogs) they had a balloon payment due on the (unsecured) loan, and it is due this month (February 2013).
Most damning evidence
The most damning evidence of this whole issue now is the note in the audit that came from some county official, wherein it clearly reports “IN CONSIDERATION OF $100,000.”
There is a major problem with that. The excuse that state’s attorney Mark Isaf presented to the board was that the $100,000 Burgin owed for the purchase was considered to be the $100,000 already in the county funds and it would stay there in lieu of him making the payment.
If that is to have any truth, why would Dee Burgin have to pay back something that he never had control of in the first place? Records PROVE the pay back agreement had NOTHING to do with compliance of his original $100,000 consideration.
This is Isaf we’re talking about, here…
The horror of this is that with all this illegal activity clearly documented and provable, Isaf, who was re-elected November 2012 in his unopposed run for another four years as prosecutor and legal counsel to the county, sits idle and does nothing.
However, this is the same state’s attorney who asked the Illinois Attorney General if his office is considered a public body as it relates to the Freedom of Information Act.
He is the same state’s attorney who is doing NOTHING to the county board chairman Chris Patrick, who IDOT has clearly outlined a conflict of interest which is a violation of the law.
Instead it appears Isaf turns things over to his former law partner, Paris mayor Craig Smith to ask IDOT for clarification.
Rules for public bodies apparently don’t apply evenly when it comes to Edgar County, and now, people are beginning to feel the pain of this very sad but true fact, as each piece of corruption is uncovered.