East Central Reporter

Clark County Park District Commissioner Don Pine knows some old rules.

At the April 20 board meeting, current members refused to allow the swearing-in of newly elected members before voting on revisions to a controversial lease agreement that the Edgar County Watchdogs (ECW) government oversight group described as "coercion" requiring a local family to sign or lose its existing dock.

The board voted to approve the revisions, then the new board members were sworn in.

Pine, who made it clear that he did not support lease lots while running for re-election, surprisingly voted in support of the revisions. Then he made his reasons known.

Under a rarely used rule, a board member who voted in the majority may call for another vote in cases where decisions were taken hastily or under ill-advisement. Since the commissioners were not provided with copies of the revisions in advance and did not have adequate time to review them before the meeting, Pine reasoned the situation qualified.

The lease revisions were voted down in the second vote, which was confirmed at a special meeting five days later.

"The 'old' board thought they had the deal sealed…but failed to consider the new board just might know what they were doing," the ECW wrote on its Illinois Leaks website.