Matt Forcum has put an end to a Holland Township squabble that at one point involved accusations of document theft, board member recusals and general disarray regarding what procedures needed to be followed to determine what to do when the sparsely populated Central Illinois area has two people wanting to work for free as highway commissioner.
Forcum, who had filed an objection to the candidacy of his rival, Larry Syfert, saying Syfert had not followed the requirements for filing, withdrew his objection after considering the financial strain it might put on the township.
An earlier hearing to consider Forcum's objection fell apart because Forcum recused himself due to a possible conflict of interest, and two other board members recused themselves as well, leaving only one trustee -- not enough to hear the objection or anything else.
At that hearing, Syfert questioned why the documents he said he filed to run for the commissioner spot were lost after being in Forcum's care. Forcum responded that he "despised" the insinuation that he had deliberately lost the paperwork.
Also present at the meeting were members of the Edgar County Watchdogs (ECW), who toward the end of the 40-minute gathering at which nothing could or did happen pointed to a similar situation in nearby Shelbyville. They said that conflict ended with an attorney being hired and the case being dismissed because the objection had no indication of requested relief. Such a request is mandatory.
The ECW members said Shelbyville then was hit with a bill from the attorney, but since it had no funding, it was not able to pay. They suggested that if the Holland situation continued, it would probably meet a similar fate.
A week later, Forcum withdrew his objection.
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