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County board member wants accountability amidst investigation

Update at 3 p.m. on 8/17/2022

Trooper Jayme Bufford of the Illinois State Police confirmed Troopers’ presence at the Iroquois County Public Health Department on Tuesday was connected to their investigation into the ICPHD.

Bufford said the investigation is open and ongoing and could not comment further to maintain the investigation’s integrity.


WATSEKA, Ill. (WCIA) — Iroquois County board members are asking for accountability amidst an investigation into the county’s Public Health Director, and as State Troopers were present at the Health Department on Tuesday.

State Police are investigating Dee Schippert in connection to what board members said is overtime pay. One of them, Chad McGinnis, isn’t quite sure why State Troopers were at the Health Department, but he assumes it is about the investigation. Because said investigation is being handled by State Police, there is little that the board knows. However, he was able to give some details on what has been happening.

McGinnis said board members received complaints about Schippert from her employees, claiming there was mistreatment of workers, gambling during the work day or simply not showing up to work. But he said the overtime pay is the biggest concern, with nearly $100,000 worth of overtime being paid to her over two years.

“I FOIA’d some Board of Health documents, I haven’t gone through all of them yet, there is a lot,” McGinnis said. “Just trying to find out how much overtime we paid; was it authorized? I have my own concerns as a representative to make sure that the citizens tax money is being spent properly.”

McGinnis did recognize that COVID put a lot of stress on public health administrators and believes they deserve to be paid for any overtime done. He just wants accountability to find out who authorized the pay and if it was documented properly.

Schippert did not respond to requests for comment and the Iroquois County Board Chairman declined to comment. The Illinois State Police said they would respond at a later time why they were at the Health Department on Tuesday.