Huntley village trustee steps down ‘not by choice’
Huntley village Trustee Mary Holzkopf has resigned from the village board after McHenry County officials said she didn’t turn in a mandatory form outlining her economic interests.
In statements at a village board meeting and on Facebook, Holzkopf said her departure was “not by choice” but was “forced by the State’s Attorney’s office due to an accidental and unintentional issue with the submittal of my statement of economic interest form.”
“While I have done absolutely everything in my power to rectify the situation and resubmit the form, I have been told that the only option I have is to resign,” she said.
Officials in the McHenry County state’s attorney and county clerk’s office said Holzkopf missed the May deadline for submitting the economic interest form, which virtually all governmental elected officials in the state are required to fill out as part of the Illinois Governmental Ethics Act. The document has about a half-dozen questions about an officeholder’s financial assets.
Holzkopf announced at the end of Thursday’s village board meeting that she was resigning effective 12:01 a.m. Friday. She said she didn’t want to allow “a false narrative to be formed about my resignation.”
Holzkopf told the Northwest Herald Monday that she thought she had properly submitted this year’s form but later was told she had not.
State’s Attorney Patrick Kenneally and the head of his office’s civil division, Norman Vinton, said Holzkopf was notified 11 times of the document’s due date. The county clerk’s office emailed reminders to Holzkopf on Feb. 1, 15 and 29; March 14 and 28; and April 11 and 25, officials said.
Emails also were sent to Huntley village hall on March 21 and 22, and on April 18. A certified letter was sent on May 2 to Holzkopf’s home. It was signed for by Richard Holzkopf on May 6 and informed her of the law requiring her to submit the document, officials said.
Holzkopf is among seven people in the county who did not submit this form, according to the state’s attorney’s office. Of those, three have resigned from their public offices, including Holzkopf.
Kenneally said his office has a duty under the law to enforce the submission of the document.
“Every year, the county clerk sends us a list of those who are supposed to file the statement and those of who have not,” Kenneally said. “It is our duty to inform them that the stricture of the law is they resign or be removed.”
Besides elected officials, some in nonpolitical roles are required to submit this document.
“It is required so people can have a sense of people’s financial involvements and entanglements to ensure they don’t have any conflicts of interests and ensure they are not exploiting their position as an elected official in order to acquire financial gain,” Vinton said.
Holzkopf said in her statement that she had replied “N/A” to all the form’s questions since she doesn’t benefit financially from her position. She added she donated her village board stipend to her church.
Her seat is scheduled to be up for election next year. Holzkopf said in her Facebook post that she’s hasn’t decided whether she would run for it.
Huntley Village President Tim Hoeft thanked Holzkopf for her service and told her “you did put your heart and soul into everything.”