This week’s installment of Ask a Municipality ended up very short. There was a lot going on this week, to get into the paper! MIDC questions will continue next week.
Who oversees the MIDC; who keeps them in check?
The City of Menard oversees the MIDC. The City Council must approve every loan or grant money given, even if it is already in the budget to spend it. Nothing happens with the MIDC that the City does not approve, including Board members. The MIDC’s Executive Director—currently Cherry Swindall— presents the budget, budget amendments, new Board members, all loans and all grants before the City Council for approval before any monies can be spent. This happens at the City Council meetings.
To me, this arrangement is comparable to a kid with a piggy bank full of money, but he still has a parent there, not allowing him to spend it all on candy and baseball cards. MIDC cannot do whatever they want to, with no accountability.
In addition to being a City underling, MIDC also has a veritable unending scroll of bylaws, rules, audits, reports and more they legally have to abide by or produce. If reports of any kind are “off,” they will surely be caught at the city level. If for some reason undesirable behavior slinks past the City, the MIDC is also subject to annual financial audits and compliance reports the CPA must submit to the Secretary of State. I am not saying someone couldn’t buck the system and be skimming funds. But I am saying if they do— it couldn’t last long. There are too many outside agencies constantly snooping around to prevent it.
Check back next week for more answers on MIDC’s operations!