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LaSalle County committee to ask full board about waiving late fees after mass confusion over ethics filings
Summary
Committee members pressed the county clerk over widespread confusion about statements of economic interest mailings; the clerk said a vendor error missed four entities, roughly $400 was collected in late fees, and the committee agreed to ask the full board/finance committee to consider refunds and fee waivers.
The LaSalle County Taxes, Elections & GIS Committee on May 19 discussed widespread confusion about statements of economic interest and agreed to ask the full board — or the finance committee — to consider refunding late fees charged during the error.
Clerk (role: Clerk) told the committee that roughly 1,500 forms are mailed annually and that a vendor/system error caused mailings to four entities to be missed. She said the office sent the forms as required and that some recipients received a white form instead of the customary yellow receipt; the office will change printing procedures next year to print by entity and email individually so there is verifiable proof of delivery.
"There was 4 entities that it didn't go out to," the clerk said, adding that the vendor's base product required tweaks and that incremental charges were expected while the vendor adjusted the layout. The clerk also told members that about 30 people had not turned in their statements and that a list of names not returned by month‑end will be turned over to the state's attorney 'per statute.'
Several committee members said they and constituents received calls and texts from people confused about whether they had complied. One committee member (Committee member) urged broad relief: "We should refund everybody because of the problem that we have." The chair, Doug Traeger, said the state's attorney advised that a formal decision would require full board action; the committee moved to forward a recommendation to the full board or to the finance committee for formal consideration.
Committee members asked the clerk to provide a precise accounting of how much was collected so the fiscal impact of refunds can be estimated; the clerk said she believed the total collected was "a little over $400." Members also questioned vendor invoices related to the statement form work (about $587.50 in recent line items), which the clerk said covered layout and PDF conversion needed to fix printing and mailing problems.
Next steps: committee members asked staff to prepare an estimate of refunds and to place a referral for consideration by the full board and the finance committee next month. The committee did not vote to authorize refunds at the meeting; members instead agreed to send the issue onward for formal action.
