West Central Reporter

The Stark County sheriff stopped a county board meeting after it failed to follow the protocol of a special meeting recently, the Edgar County Watchdogs (ECW) reported on their Illinois Leaks website. 

"If the board would have continued to move forward with their meeting, which clearly was not published as required, one could easily argue that action would constitute Official Misconduct under the criminal code," the ECW posted.

The ECW argued that the board had not posted applicable notice of the meeting beforehand and also failed to get a third of its members to request a special meeting in writing, as mandated by statute. 

The board chairman and another board member attempted to stop the ECW from speaking at the meeting because the group hadn't signed up by noon, the ECW said. The chairman also argued that the gathering was not a special meeting -- even though it had been promoted that way, the ECW said.

The ECW spoke with the sheriff and state’s attorney before the meeting, who agreed that the county board was holding the meeting improperly, the ECW said.