Chambana Sun

Piatt County Board Chairman Ray Spencer admitted he got paid for a canceled meeting but has been silent about allegations that another $900 he billed the county was improper.

When confronted at a Personnel Committee meeting on March 5, Spencer said he made a mistake filing an invoice for that canceled meeting. He said he reimbursed the county for the $60 on an invoice for a mapping committee meeting that got canceled, according to Edgar County Watchdog. Spencer did not comment on any other disputed payments.

Sixteen of the December meetings occurred on days where Spencer already got paid for a meeting. State law defines compensation as per diem, so only a single payment is due.

The way Piatt County Board set up its meeting pay system created an environment that makes it easy for board members to increase their own pay.  Board members get paid $75 for each full board meeting, and $60 for each committee meeting. The county lists 28 board committees on its official website, and the board chairman is a member of every committee, the website reports. Adding meetings to the schedule increases the pay for board members who attend them.

Edgar County Watchdog said that the resolution Piatt County Board adopted to set compensation did not follow state law. The law states county board compensation shall be computed on a per diem basis, an annual basis or a combined per diem and annual basis. And they are to fix the amount of that salary. After that, they can change the amount of pay, but any changes should not take effect during their own terms. The two-tiered meeting payment system fails to meet any variation of these requirements.

Spencer filed invoices for attending 30 meetings in September 2019, including one board meeting. He billed the rest as committee meetings. But 15 of those weren’t board or committee meetings. He was paid $900 for activities that included participating in a conference call, EMA classes, meeting with the state’s attorney and assistant state’s attorney. Spencer submitted an invoice for $2,035.40 for meetings and mileage totaling 380 miles, Edgar County Watchdog reported.

“The state’s attorney had no knowledge of the meeting found on the claim form, there is no provision for getting paid for a conference call, and EMA classes are not meetings,” Edgar County Watchdog reported. “It appears many of the claims could be considered a false claim and possibly a false entry and misapplication of funds as defined in the criminal code.”

Piatt County records show Spencer invoiced the county for attending 278 meetings in 2019, Edgar County Watchdog reported.

In January a grand jury indicted Spencer on four felony charges: two counts of official misconduct and two counts of forgery.