Stookey Township censures board member for alleged use of racial slur and gun threats
Stookey Township board members have approved a letter that alleges one of their colleagues has threatened to use a firearm to handle disputes.
Trustee Dan Weaver, the board member cited in the letter, denies the firearm allegation.
“I”m calling every aspect of that a lie. I’ve never threatened anybody with a gun,” he said in the moments after the board censured him during a June 5 meeting, according to an audiotape of the meeting obtained by the Belleville News-Democrat via a Freedom of Information Act request.
Before he was elected to the board and since he took office, Weaver has criticized township spending, the supervisor, board members and employees. This was the second time the board has approved a censure vote against him.
In an interview after the June 5 board meeting, Weaver vociferously defended himself and said he was the victim of a “kangaroo court.”
“I’ve never shot anybody,” he said. “I’ve never hurt anybody. I’ve never been in a fight with anybody.”
Weaver and Township Supervisor Mark Bagby had a heated exchange during the June 5 meeting.
After Bagby read the letter, Weaver asked if he could comment.
“No you cannot sir,” Bagby said.
After the roll call vote, Weaver was handed a copy of the letter. Weaver denied the allegations in the letter but Bagby gaveled him down.
“You are out of order Dan,” Bagby said.
Weaver replied, “You are out of order.”
“You’ve made a lie out of everything,” he added.
The four-page censure letter bans Weaver from all township property unless there is a township board meeting.
If Weaver goes onto Stookey Township property other than for meetings, the township will consider it a “criminal trespass to property” and would subject to prosecution, the letter states. The censure also bans Weaver from communicating with any township employee.
The letter is the formal way in which the board can collectively declare its opinion, but Weaver remains on the board.
Along with Bagby, trustees Jim Lougeay, Allen Scharf and Ryan Stookey voted to approve the letter.
Bagby said Weaver wasn’t given a chance to vote during the roll call for the motion because it would be a conflict of interest.
“You can’t vote on something that involves yourself,” Bagby said.
Weaver said in an interview that he plans to file a lawsuit against the township, which has 9,219 residents near the west side of Belleville in unincorporated St. Clair County.
The censure letter didn’t detail a specific incident in which Weaver threatened to use a gun, but it states he “has frequently claimed to have a firearm and has publicly threatened to use it to ‘take care of the situation next time.’”
“Coupled with his intimidating comments both in person and on e-mail and social media regarding ongoing disagreements and statements about ‘settling’ disputes, it is easy to understand how many people interpret the combination of his obsessive, relentless, fiery criticism and seemingly endless angry outbursts as indication that he will use a firearm to attack his colleagues to ‘settle’ disagreements,” the letter states.
Bagby, who once was a political ally of Weaver, said in an interview the township has information from “multiple people” that Weaver has talked about using a firearm “to take care of business.”
“We’ve got to prevent something like what happened in Kirkwood and across the country from somebody harming employees and elected officials,” Bagby said.
In Kirkwood, Missouri, in 2008, a gunman who had been in disputes with city officials launched an attack on City Hall. Two police officers, the mayor, two city council members and the public works director died as a result of the shooting.
Previous actions against board member
Weaver was previously censured by the board in 2021 shortly after he was elected.
In that case, the board accused Weaver of “official misconduct” regarding comments he posted on Facebook about township spending for Stookey Township Park off South 74th Street and for road maintenance in the township.
In response to that censure, Weaver said that he has “not lied” and that he is trying to let Stookey residents know about the township’s finances.
“I want people to know where we’re spending the money on. It’s their money,” Weaver said in 2021. “I wasn’t trying to use malice in any form.”
In 2015, six years before Weaver was elected to the board, former Township Supervisor David Bone had banned Weaver from the public participation portion of township meetings in July 2015 and August 2015.
Weaver had criticized township spending under Bone, who said Weaver “harassed” township employees.
Weaver denied harassing township employees, and Bone declined to give details of what he alleged Weaver did.
When a News-Democrat reporter and photographer attended the September 2015 meeting, Weaver was allowed by Bone to speak.
After the 2021 censure vote against Weaver, the executive director of the Township Officials of Illinois organization, Jerry Crabtree, said he had not heard of a township board taking such action against a board member.
And when asked about this month’s vote against Weaver, Crabtree said he still can’t recall such an action. Crabtree has led the statewide group since 2005.
Spending by the township
Weaver said his goal is to be a “watchdog” on government spending.
“You are supposed to take care of the taxpayers’ dollars,” he said. “You are supposed to be the guardian of their money. You are supposed to be the one that tells the Bagbys of the world, ‘No thank you, we’re not going to do this.’”
Here are three recent instances of township spending that Weaver criticized:
▪ The township should have stained the brick walls at the office buildings at 313 Eiler Road instead of painting them. Weaver said the stain would allow the bricks to breathe and would be more cost effective.
▪ The township should have installed a steel roof on the township offices instead of shingles because he believes the steel roof would last longer.
▪ The township did not need an electronic gate at the sewer department. Weaver said this cost $77,000 and was not necessary since a regular lock would be OK.
Stookey Township Park dispute
The censure letter against Weaver alleges he used “threatening language” and a racial slur during a verbal altercation with a part-time employee on April 24 at Stookey Township Park off South 74th Street.
The employee, who handles maintenance at the park, was not named in the censure letter, but Todd Horn said during the public participation section of the June 5 board meeting that he was the employee.
Horn and a few other speakers said Weaver should resign.
“I don’t fall for your threats, your fear tactics,” Horn said to Weaver.
Horn said he was upset that Weaver had pulled his criminal background, which includes four DUI charges.
Horn said he was “sorry” for the charges and that he was upset that Weaver said he wouldn’t be working for the township again. When Weaver commented, Horn told him to “just shut the hell up.”
In an interview, Weaver denied using a racial slur and that he had been friends with Horn and they had shared beers.
Weaver said he approached Horn because he was upset with comments Horn allegedly made about Weaver’s opposition to a proposed mental health center in the former King’s House Catholic retreat property off Judith Drive, which is near Weaver’s home.
During the June 5 board meeting, Weaver said Horn made “derogatory and disparaging remarks” about him during a previous public meeting. Weaver, who described Horn as a “good guy,” alleged that Horn told him he needed to watch out before the “men in white coats” come for him.
Before Weaver could finish his defense, he was cut off by Bagby who noted that Weaver had used his allotted three minutes of public participation.
Weaver and Bagby then argued about how much time Weaver had to speak.
“Everything that Todd Horn said was an absolute lie,” Weaver said as Bagby began discussing the next agenda item.
Bagby then told Weaver, “One more outburst, you will be removed and charged with criminal trespass.”
Outlook on trustee’s ban
The censure letter ends with a statement that if Weaver thinks the measures taken against him are “unfair or unnecessary,” he could meet with Bagby to find a “reasonable path” forward.
The township board wants Weaver to “unequivocally disavow any intent to do further emotional harm and to never inflict physical harm on Stookey Township employees or elected officials.”
But Weaver said in an interview he has no intention of meeting with Bagby and compromise his fight against “egregious spending.”
“I don’t kiss anybody’s ass,” Weaver said.
“I will always fight for the people,” he said. I will always fight egregious spending. If I think something is wrong, I will tell you and I will damn sure make sure you know about it.”
