By Benjamin Cox on February 9, 2021 at 6:29pm
A recent legal battle to keep a South Jacksonville Village President candidate off the ballot has cost village taxpayers nearly $6,700. FOIA requested documents by Village President candidate Tyson Manker made public tonight shows that the Village of South Jacksonville owes $6,695.24 in legal fees to law firm Brown, Hay, and Stephens LLP in Springfield for the objection brought by other Village President candidate Dick Samples to Manker’s candidacy.
The documents do not disclose the hourly rate owed to Roger W. Holmes of the law firm for presiding as the judge over the meeting of the Village’s Electoral Board, nor does it include the hourly rate for the court reporter for the meeting. The itemized list in the documents says the list only includes charges up through the month of January. More charges from the law firm are likely for this month as the case now heads to Morgan County Court tomorrow afternoon.
By Benjamin Cox on February 6, 2021 at 10:04am
Calls of impropriety continue to be heard over the ballot for Village President in South Jacksonville. On January 26
th, Tyson Manker filed suit in Morgan County Court to have his name restored to the ballot in the upcoming April Consolidated Election. The Village of South Jacksonville Electoral Board consisting of current village president Harry Jennings, Village Clerk Megan Moore, and village trustee Paula Belobradjic-Stewart voted unanimously to have Manker struck from the ballot on the grounds that Manker failed to file his statement of economic interest with the Morgan County Clerk’s Office as required by state law in a hearing on January 21st. The objection to Manker’s candidacy was filed by current village trustee and current opponent Dick Samples. Manker contends and has evidence that he was directed via email by Morgan County Clerk Jill Waggoner’s Office to file the statement at the Village of South Jac
By Jeremy Coumbes on January 11, 2021 at 8:20pm
Tomorrow’s meeting of the Village of South Jacksonville’s Electoral Board was canceled today, following a call from one of the candidates for a new board chair.
The Village Electoral Board was set to hear arguments over Village Mayoral Candidate Richard Samples’ objection to the petition for candidacy by Tyson Manker, however after a flurry of activity by both sides, the hearing has been rescheduled to next Wednesday, January 20
th.
On December 30
th, Samples filed the objection on grounds that Manker’s petition was not properly fastened as instructed, one of the notarized pages of signatures was not signed by Manker, and that he failed to file his Statement of Economic Opportunity with Morgan County Clerk’s Office.