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| Village Clerk Debbie Williams |
SAUK VILLAGE | By now hopes where that the people of Sauk Village would know just who paid for a trip that Village Clerk Debbie Williams and her daughter Trustee Rosie Williams had taken to Washington D.C.
The Williams mother and daughter duo took a trip to a
Building One America Summit in Washington D.C. in July, 2013 along with a
Village vendor. Williams solicited
donations on the Village’s website and from among Village vendors, but called
the matter a “personal trip”. Williams
later shared video of her presentation at the summit on the Village’s website,
which is taxpayer funded.
A Freedom of Information Act request was filed following a
July 23, 2013 meeting in which Village Clerk Debbie Williams had a virtual melt
down. The Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan's
office issued a non-binding opinion in the matter in March, 2014 stating that
Village should provide all information requested. The Village ignored the Attorney General’s
opinion. So we made a follow up request
to the Village requesting the same information, since the Village had failed to
deny or honor the request in the first place.
The Village again refused to provide the information. We then asked the Attorney General to issue a
Binding Opinion in the matter. The
response came finally after months as the Attorney General’s office issued a
rare Binding Opinion stating that the Village violated the Freedom of
Information Act by failing to provide all information about the trip which was
requested.
The Village, through the taxpayer funded attorney, in
November, 2014 has sued the Illinois Attorney General stating that the Attorney
General and I had essentially colluded against the Village in what is known as
ex parte communications. In December,
2014, the Attorney General filed a lengthy multi-page legal motion to dismiss
the Village’s frivolous action. The
Attorney General, in their motion to dismiss the Village's action the Attorney General reminded the Village that the State of
Illinois has Supremacy over the Village and that its power is derived from the
State.
A hearing was scheduled for Monday, February 9th;
however, the Village was unprepared and requested a continuance. The Continuance was not objected to by the
Village or I and the hearing will go forward in March.
Taxpayers are likely paying for the legal services to protect the
actions of Debbie Williams and Rosie Williams as they are not in compliance
with the Illinois Attorney General’s Binding Opinion. The Illinois Attorney General’s office has
vehemently defended their Binding Opinions as a matter of law and for the most
part has always been upheld and maintained.
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