The head of Normal Township told constituents at a town hall meeting Wednesday that her primary focus is getting its general assistance fund spending under control.
Supervisor Krystle Able said expenditures for the township's public aid fund obligations far exceeded their revenue when she took over in May.
“There have been townships that have gone bankrupt because they have paid general assistance without having the funds to actually pay it,” she said Wednesday at the Normal Activity and Recreation Center [ARC], which is operated by the township. “We don’t want to get into a situation like that here.”
Able said in addition to working through staff changes and a transition to an entirely new slate of trustees, the township has focused much of its energy on evaluating the general assistance [GA] fund to close loopholes and cut spending.
“The previous board, in an effort to spend down reserves, had budgeted four times more for general assistance than what the revenue was,” she said. “The law is you can’t have more than 2.5 times the budget in your reserves. This township had gotten to a point where they had more than 2.5 times the budget and had to spend that down. But we kept the [tax] levy flat. So, we’ve spent down the reserves without backfilling them.”
Constituents requested a town hall to hear from the new township leadership and address concerns about operations, including Able having a second full-time job with the Illinois Alliance of Retired Americans. Both positions are salaried exempt positions. Non-exempt employees are typically paid hourly and eligible for overtime.
“I believe I do work full-time,” Able said. “As long as I’m meeting my goals, I get paid my salary.”
Able said she had to be careful about answering questions about her other job, “because it is a political job, and I’m not allowed to talk about political things while I’m on township time.”
But she also said township employees do not track hours and are “24/7 on-call employees.”
“If the Normal Police call me at 2 o'clock in the morning because they need a bus ticket or a train ticket for a transient person they’re trying to get out of town, I have to go,” she said. “The position is something that is generally full-time because it’s a 24/7, on-call position, but it’s not a position where we’re required to hold specific office hours.”
Able said she visits the township office during the week, “popping in and out” as needed. Office staff keep regular business hours.
“Am I there 8 to 4:30 Monday through Friday? No, I’m not,” she said. “I’m not required to be. I’m required to do my job, and my job gets done.”
Able also announced plans to step down from her seat on the McLean County Board, saying she’s moving out of her current district in the coming months to be closer to the township offices and ARC. Now that she’s nearly done “putting out fires” regarding the GA fund, immediate staffing needs and an audit, she plans to shift more focus to ARC staffing, programs and capital improvements. The biggest reaction from the crowd came in response to news of a planned shade structure outside the ARC, which Able said is fully funded and will move forward.
“I understand that some people are frustrated that I’m not at the ARC all the time,” she said. “Or even every day. I understand that it’s very hard to picture what I’m doing or what I’m supposed to be doing when 95% of our community doesn’t know what township is or what we offer.”
Transparency and open meetings act
Others raised concerns about transparency. Governmental bodies are required to publicly post meeting agendas and minutes in accordance with the Open Meetings Act. Township clerk Dayna Schickedanz had fallen behind on approving and adding meeting minutes to their website. A special meeting was held to rectify this, the agenda of which was only made public on bulletin boards at the township office and ARC.
Able received a letter from Attorney General Kwame Raoul triggered by a complaint filed by citizen watchdog Diane Benjamin. Able said because they use a third-party vendor for website management, posting agendas to a website is a courtesy, not an obligation.
“We are not legally required to have our agenda posted on the website,” Able said. “We are required to post it publicly. That is the minimum requirement legally, and we do meet the minimum requirement.”
Schickedanz said she’s encouraged by recent engagement from the community. About 50 people attended the town hall.
“To see all of you really highlights that you really want answers to your questions,” she said. “Please come to our meetings. We never see media at our meetings. We never see this many faces at our meetings. They’re open to the public. They’re always available to all of you.”
