East Central Reporter

The RIDES Mass Transit District has filed a second amended legal complaint against Edgar County in the Fifth Judicial Circuit in the hopes of accessing funds from a previously dissolved organization, the East Central Illinois Mass Transit District, according to the Edgar County Watchdogs (ECW).

RIDES is claiming that it is entitled to funds from a building purchased in the area for more than $600,000, which transparency advocates are evaluating for disclaimers. The money in question reportedly came from a state grant that was provided for specific purposes. Now, since the RIDES Mass Transit District appears to be in a sense a “replacement” for the ECIMTD, the authority is laying claim to those prior assets.

Documentation shows that RIDES is continuing to challenge the Edgar County Board and compel it to give up the remaining money that municipal officials say should go to the involved counties, Edgar and Clark. The outcome will reveal whether the involved judicial office feels that the new transport organization, as a successor of the obsolete transit authority, is entitled to assets left over from a contentious theft allegation. 

Charges of embezzlement and their fallout essentially bankrupted the authority after ECIMTD leaders Kami Miller and Ashley Miller plead guilty in federal court to a count of mail fraud. The prosecution also accuses the Millers of illegal billing to townships.