Daily Archives: June 8, 2010

Peoria Public Schools

Davis gets to keep her salary unless she’s convicted…and maybe even then

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Since Mary Davis was fired from District 150, I’ve been wondering if the taxpayers would be getting their money back from all those months she was on paid administrative leave. Today I got the answer from the district’s spokesperson Stacey Shangraw: Only if she’s convicted:

Mary [Davis] will be required to pay back the salary she received while she was on administrative leave if she is convicted of a crime. The pay back requirement does not come into play when a person is indicted or charged. Her trial for the criminal charges has been set to begin August 16.

So we will not know if she is required to pay back the salary she received while on leave until the criminal proceedings are finished. It is outlined in the Illinois State Statute, the state officials and employees ethics act, under 5 ILCS 430/5-60 that she will be required to pay the salary back, however it is not part of the criminal code.

If convicted, we will ask the State’s Attorney to include a request to include payments as part of her sentencing, but the Judge is not required to include that in the sentence or order. If the Judge does not include this payment requirement in the criminal sentencing order then the district would have to seek payment by first demanding it pursuant to the statute.

Here’s what 5 ILCS 430/5-60(b) says:

As a matter of law and without the necessity of the adoption of an ordinance or resolution under Section 70?5, if any officer or government employee of a governmental entity is placed on administrative leave, either voluntarily or involuntarily, pending the outcome of a criminal investigation or prosecution and that officer or government employee is removed from office or employment due to his or her resultant criminal conviction, then the officer or government employee is indebted to the governmental entity for all compensation and the value of all benefits received during the administrative leave and must forthwith pay the full amount to the governmental entity.

Sounds complicated. It also sounds like District 150 won’t be getting that money back. Read the wording of that statute again, especially the part that says, “and that officer or government employee is removed from office or employment due to his or her resultant criminal conviction, then the officer or government employee is indebted….” They fired her before she was convicted of anything, not because of a criminal conviction. So, I’ll bet the statute is moot and the district doesn’t get that money back, unless they can get it included as part of her sentencing.

Any lawyers out there, feel free to correct me if I’m reading the statute incorrectly. I’d really like to be wrong about this.

City Council, City of Peoria

Liveblogging the City Council 6-8-2010

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Good evening everyone! There were a number of proclamations tonight, but we’re finally underway at 6:50 p.m. Not a lot of people are here in the chamber, and there’s plenty of parking; must not be anything controversial on the agenda, and no other events going on downtown. All the council members and mayor are here with one exception: George Jacob. Mayor Ardis gave an update on Councilman Jacob, stating that he is “stable” and that “stable is good” at this point. We will continue to pray for his recovery.

On to business. I’ll be updating this post throughout the meeting, so if you’re following live, be sure to refresh your browser often. Here’s the agenda for tonight:

Continue reading Liveblogging the City Council 6-8-2010 →

City Council, City of Peoria

More cuts on the agenda for tonight’s council meeting

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Property values didn’t rise as much as the City of Peoria hoped they would, and that means less property tax revenue will be collected — $826,000 less, to be precise. To make up for this additional shortfall, more cuts are being made to the budget. The cuts primarily impact the police, fire, and public works departments, as usual.

Public Works is cutting $451,340 dollars they were going to use to purchase new vehicles. According to the Journal Star, that would have paid for three new trucks “used for snow plowing, removal of storm debris, hauling asphalt, etc.” David Barber says his department can manage without the new vehicles.

The police department will be giving up $90,000 in overtime. The fire department will be reducing their overtime budget by $45,072 and their clothing allowance by $26,815. Staffing is down in both departments, but especially in the police department, which took a big hit during last year’s budget crisis. Fewer cops means heavier reliance on overtime from the remaining officers to ensure everything is covered adequately. Now they’re cutting overtime, too.

And looming on the horizon is a predicted $10 million budget deficit for next year that will have to be filled with even more cuts and higher taxes/fees. Citizens will end up paying more for less service . . . again. I wonder if that’s at all related to the decline in sales and property tax receipts?