CENTRALIA— The City of Centralia has fired its Recreation Department Director, who has been with the city for more than a decade.
According to public documents obtained by the Edgar County Watchdogs, Robert “Spanky” Smith was fired December 6, 2013 and has started his new year without the $48,935/year salary he had worked his way up to.
Information gathered by the Watchdogs through the Freedom Of Information Act shows that Smith was sacked at least in part because officials discovered that he was allowing a “Mr. Wells” to use a public building as a temporary residence while Wells was going through a divorce.
The exact relationship between Smith and Wells is unclear, but what is clear is that Smith had cable television installed for his buddy Mr. Wells and at taxpayer expense.
Documents turned over to the Watchdogs showed a Charter Communications bill to the recreation department had always run $104 per month and did not include cable television.
Starting in October 2013 the bill jumped to $184.36 per month including charges for cable television basic and expanded to include “Sports View.”
“Why not get it all when the taxpayers are paying for it,” said one of the Watchdogs founders John Kraft. “It appears Mr. Wells wasn’t satisfied with just a place to live; he had to be entertained as well.”
Prosecution would actually save taxpayers money
The last Charter Communications bill the Watchdogs received in December was for $165 and still listed the cable service being active.
Some may view Smith’s actions as petty but should at least consider that the Illinois Constitution, that document which governs all Illinois residents, clearly states: “Public funds, property or credit shall only be used for public purposes.”
Violations of these types of acts can be used to build a felony case of Official Misconduct for starters.
If a public official is found guilty of a felony while in the performance of their official duties, such as allowing a buddy to use a public building as a residence, that conviction automatically forfeits any and all IMRF retirement funds.
In a state second in the nation for underfunded pensions, one would think prosecutors would not only do their job but lend a hand in cutting the unneeded fat out of the taxpayer’s pension burden.
Comparing what’s right with what’s not
“The purpose of bringing this story to light is to show how local government is supposed to work when problems of this type are discovered,” Kraft said. “The City of Centralia discovered one of their employees were violating the law in his official capacity. They investigated the allegations, determined cause existed and immediately terminated his employment. This is the way government is supposed to operate when things such as this come to their attention.”
Craft contrasted how Centralia handled its problem with what routinely happens in Edgar County and the City of Paris.
“Which is… nothing…,” Craft said. “Over the past several years there have been several employees and elected officials identified as having lied, committed forgery, submitted false claims for payment, submitted false justifications for grants, bid-rigging, using city credit cards for family trips to Disney in Florida, free driveways, credit cards used for spouse airplane tickets, getting paid twice for working the same hours, opening secret bank accounts, taking out illegal loans, conflicts of interest, selling guns illegally, use of prisoners to roof a house, and finally, shafting the taxpayers of Edgar County out of $100,000.00.
“All of these incidents and more were well documented, presented to public officials, and nothing happened. Oh, except a resignation from the airport, and even then they are giving that guy a ‘letter of appreciation’ for his ‘hard work’ when what he should be getting is an all expenses paid vacation in the county jail they refuse to approve funds to fix.
“As a matter of fact, resources were spent covering everything up, including instructing the county auditing firm to insert a blatant lie in the 2012 audit.”
Undaunted
Both retired veterans, neither John Kraft nor Watchdogs co-founder Kirk Allen allow the corruption to get them down.
In fact they have re-doubled their efforts, expanded their coverage, continue to accept invitations by concerned citizens and a few good public servants to investigate wrongdoing and even have become the benefactors of numerous secret sponsors who believe in exposing official corruption.
“This is why we must keep attending local meetings and keep bringing these items up. If we don’t, no one will ever be held accountable,” Kraft said. “If public officials refuse to hold people accountable to the law, we will hold them accountable thru public opinion.”
Kraft announced in 2014 the Watchdogs will get a facelift.
“A New Year brings exciting new things. We will update our website and use a different name for our publishing arm—IllinoisLeaks.com—the layout will remain the same for now and you can still use the same Edgar County Watchdogs website,” Kraft announced. “A New Year also brings with it a renewed determination to bring light into the dark corners of our local public bodies throughout the state!”