Knox County board approves title for first assistant state's attorney after narrow vote; creates FOIA officer

Knox County trustees debated and narrowly approved a measure on Wednesday to authorize the title of "first assistant state's attorney," while separately creating a county FOIA officer to handle a surge in public-records requests.

The measures were considered at the board's Sept. 25 meeting at Galesburg City Hall. The vote to authorize the state's-attorney title — a classification-only change the county said does not itself add new staff — passed after a contentious floor debate. Opponents argued the board should first know how much the title would cost. A motion to amend the resolution to delay the title’s creation until after a treasurer-conducted wage study and budget review failed on a 6–6 tie; the original resolution then passed 7–5.

Chair Jared Hawkinson, who introduced the item, described the change as an administrative classification that "does not authorize the creation of additional staffing for their office" but will allow an appointed first assistant to carry out duties when the elected state's attorney is absent. "This is just a title change to have one person as the first assistant," Hawkinson said while outlining the job description and next steps for wage classification.

Several board members expressed concern about approving a title without knowing the budget impact. "Even though it might be needed, I would not be voting yes for it until we know what the cost or the raise whoever might be receiving this," said Member Davidson during the floor debate. Another member said the treasurer should provide wage-study input before final implementation.

On a separate personnel item, the board approved creation of a county FOIA officer position, intended to centralize handling of Freedom of Information Act requests. The job description directs the treasurer to perform a wage compensation analysis and requires the FOIA officer, once hired, to complete training provided by the Illinois attorney general's office within six months of designation and annually thereafter. The chair told the board that Knox County has received more than 300 FOIA requests so far this year.

The FOIA officer measure passed unanimously by roll call. The board directed that wage-study results and classification recommendations be reported to the Ways & Means Committee for placement in the county wage grid.

What happens next

For the first-assistant title, the resolution directs the treasurer to commission a wage compensation analysis; the classification would then return to Ways & Means for assignment in the wage grid, and ultimately back to the full board for any implementation steps that would affect pay or staffing. The FOIA officer job description will be used to recruit and classify the position and the county will require the AG training as specified by state law.

Provenance: subject matter appears in the board packet and is discussed in the meeting transcript beginning with item 4 (SEG 403–SEG 818) and item 5 (SEG 819–SEG 903).