July 12, 2025
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Kankakee County Board seat declared vacant

3 area officials failed to file required docs

By Chris Breach
Kankakee County Courthouse on Feb. 14, 2022.

Two elected officials have resigned their positions and a third may challenge a move to be removed to have from her elected office regarding failure to file required documents to the Kankakee County Clerk's office. (Daily Journal/Tiffany Blanchette)

At Tuesday’s Kankakee County Board meeting, a vacancy was declared for the District 10 seat that was held by Chris Tholen.

Tholen, a Republican, was one of three Kankakee County officeholders who failed to file a required document with the Kankakee County Clerk’s Office. Tholen failed to file a verified statement of economic interest by May 1.

The statement is required by the Illinois Governmental Ethics Act. The state’s attorney’s office sent several notices to Tholen about the need to file the statement.

“Our office filed a lawsuit seeking to remove him, along with several other elected officials within the county, and [Tholen] resigned,” Assistant State’s Attorney John Coghlan said Tuesday. “So, what needs to be done today is the board needs to declare the vacancy in District 10.

“The process then will be that within three days, the county administration will send letters to the political parties notifying them of the vacancy.”

Coghlan added that, by state law, the board seat would be filled by the County Board chairman with the advising consent of the board. That action needs to be done within 60 days.

The board unanimously approved the vote to declare the vacancy. The replacement must be from the same party as the person who resigned.

Kankakee 7th Ward Alderwoman Lenora Noble and Momence Alderman Leo Todd Clark also failed to file a verified statement of economic interest by May 1. Clark has since resigned from his seat.

The 10th District encompasses part of Kankakee and Kankakee Township on the County Board. Tholen won reelection in November. According to the complaint filed against Tholen, he did not show up to be sworn in Dec. 2.

As of Wednesday, Noble, a council member since 2023, had not been served with the lawsuit by the Kankakee County Sheriff’s Office.

Coghlan said numerous attempts were made to alert Noble of the need for the economic interest paperwork to be filed with the county clerk.

After Monday’s Kankakee City Council meeting, Noble said she recently had tried to turn in the paperwork but was informed that the deadline had passed.

Noble, a Democrat, indicated after Monday’s council meeting that she intends to take legal action to maintain her elected position.

A status hearing for the Noble matter has been set for 9:30 a.m. July 21 before Kankakee County Circuit Court Judge Bill Dickenson.

If Noble were to lose her council position, Kankakee Mayor Chris Curtis would be in charge of finding a Democrat to replace her on the board.