HOSKIN RESPONDS to November no-confidence vote; calls on board to focus on budget crisis

By Editor | January 6, 2026 |

By DAVID CAMPHOUSE

The regular December meeting of the Pike County Board ended with Board President Reta Hoskin issuing a statement in response to the vote of no-confidence brought by Jim Sheppard and seconded by Mark Mountain at the November Board meeting.
Hoskin’s statement was also made available to the press. The entire statement is on page A6.
While the no-confidence vote “passed” 4-3 – with Sheppard, Mountain, Tom Lewis, and Andy Borrowman expressing their lack of confidence in Hoskin’s leadership – the vote was non-binding and brought about no leadership changes.
Hoskin, who has served as Board President for one year, indicated that her statement was made in an effort to set the record straight regarding her role in Pike County’s financial crisis and in the apparent divisions among Pike County Board members.
“I just felt like I needed to say that these problems didn’t just happen in the last year, but they’ve been growing for some time,” Hoskin said following the meeting.
Directly following the reading of her written response to the no-confidence vote, Hoskin reminded the Board that the county remains in a dire financial situation, and that the situation would require significant effort to fix.
Hoskin, stated that the county’s financial troubles remained so severe that the County is unable to pay its December and January expenses without Hoskin and County Treasurer Scott Syrcle, earlier in the day, cashing in three $250,000 Certificates of Deposit held by the Pike County Highway Department. The money in the CDs was paid by the developer of the Panther Creek Wind Farm to compensate the county for wear and tear on county roads during the construction of the wind farm.
“I want to point out that Scott and I at three o’clock went to Farmers State Bank and we cashed in three of the highway department’s CDs for $750,000,” Hoskin said. “That will let us pay back money we took from the tort fund, and it will help us meet our expenses.”
“Already, this month, it looks like we may not be able to cover all of our expenses that were approved for December, and, in January, we won’t be able to make our payroll without cashing in those three CDs.”
Hoskin continued, stressing to the Board that much work remains to try and balance Pike County’s budget.
“I’m glad we have an approved budget,” Hoskin said. “I’m happy we can get started working on it in the finance committee, but I just don’t want people to lose focus of where things stand with regard to our financial situation.”
“And if there are still people who believe that we really don’t have that big of a financial problem – that the revenue is there, that we’re not going to have any issues – just let me say again – in January it doesn’t appear we’ll be able to make payroll without those CDs we had to cash in.”
In an effort to better keep tabs on monthly cash flow, Hoskin went on to announce a change in leadership of the Board’s finance committee.
“I am changing the chair of the finance committee to be Derek, because I want the focus of the finance committee at the beginning of each meeting to be reviewing the budget and spending to date in light of the budget – as well as the revenue coming in.”
Also approved at the December meeting was an anticipation note in the amount of $1.3 Million. The $1.3 Million is a loan of 80 percent of the county’s property tax revenue, which will be paid by property owners later in the year. The loan approved was from FSB at 4.67 percent interest, plus a $250 application fee. UCB had offered the loan at a rate of 5.08 percent. Bid requests were sent to eight different financial institutions, with only the aforementioned two institutions bidding.
In other business, it was approved unanimously that the County’s contribution to employee health insurance premiums would remain as it was in 2025, with no changes.
The Board also voted to stop purchasing unemployment insurance at $25,000 per year, with the Board choosing a “self insurance” route, since the county has only paid out $549 in unemployment claims in three years.
Although the coverage was already in force, at Hoskin’s behest, the Board voted 5-3 to renew property/casualty insurance with ICRMT. Joey Cobb, Derek Ross, and Lance Kendrick voted against the renewal, to express their displeasure that a lower bid had previously been rejected by the full board.
A resolution for the County to continue participation in the Service Program of the Office of the State’s Attorneys Appellate Prosecutor for the period 12/1/2025 to 11/30/2026 at a cost of $10,000.00 was approved. The program provides legal representation during appeals and in instances where conflicts of interest with the County’s States Attorney exist.
A trustee sale for Parcel #73-052-03 for the sum of $300 was approved.
Also approved were Illinois Department of Transportation mandated resolutions regarding funding for resurfacing CH-2 between Griggsville east city limit easterly to CH-21 intersection in Valley City and the reconstruction of CH-14 between CH-2 southerly to Detroit north city limit.