Second-quarter political action committee (PAC) reports from the Illinois State Board of Elections show donation and expenses behind work the Citizens for Bulldog Blueprint did in support of the 2022 Mahomet-Seymour School District referendum.
The committee self-reported $8,000 in donations and $7,305.30 in expenses from its date of organization with the state on March 30 to June 30, 2022.
Donations came from Broeren Russo Builders, Inc for $500, Core Construction Services of IL for $2,500, Davis Electric for $1,000, Davis-Houk Mechanical for $1,000 and Harold O’Shea Builders, Inc for $3,000.
The committee reported that they spent $1,320.00 on yard signs with Awesome Campaigns, Inc., $2,985.30 on brochures with Creative Entourage and $3,000.00 on computer software with DecisionBricks, Inc.
Citizens for Bulldog Blueprint sent five mailers to constituents and hung door hangers for residents who weren’t home when they canvassed. They also had a website, yesforbulldogs.com. It is unclear if they ran any ads at this time.
Mahomet-Seymour School Board President Max McComb, who was not part of the PAC according to the records, spent less than $200 on boosting posts associated with the referendum from the Max McComb, M-S Board of Education account, according to the Facebook Ad Library.
The Mahomet-Seymour School District also spent a total of $ 6,783.62 to Martin One Source: $1,682.12 (May 2022 board packet), $1,682.80 (June 2022 board packet), $2,164.48 (June 2022 board packet) and $1,254.22 (July 2022 board packet). Those charges were for two mailers and postage. More information on the district’s communication with the referendum initiative is to come as soon as FOIA work is complete.
The Mahomet Daily will continue to follow the third quarter reports from the Citizens for Bulldog Blueprint PAC in order to bring that information to readers. Reporting for postage, for example, was not accounted for in this report.
Broeren Russo Builders constructed both phases of Middletown Prairie Elementary and renovated the Mahomet-Seymour library and auditorium within the last decade. Davis Electric and Davis-Houk Mechanical has worked with the school district since 2019, at minimum according to board packets. During that time, Davis Electric has received $78,191 for services and Davis-Houk has been paid $1,211,350.38, mostly for HVAC and plumbing work throughout the district.
Harold O’Shea Builders, Inc. has worked with Mahomet-Seymour’s architect of record, BLDD Architects on several projects, including John Hill Magnet School and Maroa-Forsyth renovations and addition, among others.
Creative Entourage was also hired by the Mahomet-Seymour School District to work on the Bulldog Blueprint, which resulted in the $97.9 million question. The referendum failed with a vote of 3,511 to 1,714. BLDD was paid $20,000 for that work, and would have received another $40,000 if the referendum passed.
The Mahomet-Seymour School board will re-approach the Bulldog Blueprint discussion at tonight’s board meeting.
Thank you for continuing to share this information even after the referendum failed. Voters should be fully informed of who else, i,e. contributing businesses, may benefit from proposals besides those primarily represented, i.e. students