Alderman calls federal charge against longtime southwest Illinois mayor ‘a shock’
Longtime Columbia Mayor Kevin Hutchinson has been indicted by a federal grand jury for allegedly lying to investigators about referral commissions he received on city insurance contracts.
Hutchinson is charged with one count of making a false statement to the federal Southern Illinois Public Corruption Task Force, also referred to as the Metro-East Public Corruption Task Force. That’s a felony with a maximum sentence of up to five years in prison.
“It was a shock to me,” Columbia Ward 1 Alderman James Agne said Thursday night. “I’m really surprised. (Hutchinson has) been a very good mayor, just everything he’s done for the city, his public relations, all of it.”
State law prohibits elected city officials from “being financially interested, directly or indirectly, in any contract, work or business of the municipality,” according to the indictment. An ethics law also requires them to disclose their financial interests with their county clerks.
Hutchinson is serving his fourth term as mayor. He announced last summer that he wouldn’t seek re-election in April.
The indictment was handed down Wednesday in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois in East St. Louis. Aldermen learned about it from Columbia City Administrator Doug Brimm.
Brimm emailed a news release Thursday that stated: “The City Council is dedicated to the citizens of the City of Columbia and will not allow this to detract from their service to the residents. At all times, the City has cooperated with, and will continue to cooperate with the investigation.”
In an interview Friday morning, Brimm declined to comment on the morale of city employees after hearing about the federal case, but said it will have a “negligible” effect on day-to-day operations.
“Our main mission is to continue providing services to our residents and that will go on uninterrupted,” he said.
Full-time job in insurance
Hutchinson works as a director with St. Louis-based C.J. Thomas Insurance Co., according to its website. His bio states that he joined the company in 1993.
The federal indictment doesn’t mention C.J.Thomas. It describes Hutchinson as a licensed insurance agent who owned a closely-held Illinois corporation called BMC Associates, Inc.
The city of Columbia provides health-insurance coverage for employees and also contracts for property/casualty loss insurance, according to the indictment.
“Unbeknownst to the city council or the city manager, Hutchinson and his corporation, BMC Associates, Inc., received referral commissions from the insurance contracts that the city of Columbia placed with MRCT and ICRMT,” the indictment states.
MRCT is now part of OneDigital, a health, retirement, wealth and human-resources firm based in Atlanta, Georgia. ICRMT stands for Illinois Counties Risk Management Trust.
On Thursday night, Ward 3 Alderman Gene Ebersohl reaffirmed that Hutchinson was acting without the knowledge of Columbia City Council members.
“We were not aware of anything, and we were not involved in it for sure,” Ebersohl said.
The city of Columbia still contracts with OneDigital but not ICRMT, Brimm said. The Illinois Municipal League Risk Management Association provides its general liability insurance and worker’s compensation coverage.
Statement led to investigation
The federal indictment gives the following background on the Hutchinson case:
- As an elected municipal official and a public officer, the mayor was prohibited under the Illinois Public Officer Prohibited Activities Act from being financially interested, directly or indirectly, in any contract, work or business of the municipality.
- The Illinois Governmental Ethics Act required him to truthfully complete an annual Statement of Economic Interests and file it with the county clerk.
- On June 28, 2018, Hutchinson allegedly filed a false Statement of Economic Interests with the Monroe County clerk, stating that he didn’t have a personal financial interest, directly or indirectly, in any contract, work or business of the municipality.
- The Southern Illinois Public Corruption Task Force opened a federal investigation to determine whether Hutchinson violated federal law after learning that he had received referral commissions from a health-insurance policy for city employees.
- The task force consisted of agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Internal Revenue Service/Criminal Investigations and a representative of the Illinois State Police.
- On or about March 20, 2019, Hutchinson “did willfully and knowingly make, and cause to be made, materially false statements and representations ... by falsely telling a Federal Bureau of Investigation Special Agent and a federal Task Force Officer that his only interest in MRCT’s contract with the City of Columbia was in his official capacity as the Mayor of the City of Columbia.”
Still serving as mayor
Brimm verified Friday morning that Hutchinson still is serving as mayor of Columbia with an annual salary of $22,950.
Hutchinson didn’t immediately respond to BND requests for comment through email or voicemail at City Hall. Brimm wasn’t sure if the mayor intended to speak publicly about the federal case.
“The mayor of Columbia is ... a part-time position,” Brimm said. “He does have full-time employment elsewhere, and it wouldn’t be uncommon for him not to be in the office on a daily basis.”
Hutchinson was elected in 2005 to replace longtime Columbia Mayor Lester Schneider after serving as a city planning-commission member and alderman, according to the Republic-Times in Waterloo.
Last August, Hutchinson announced at a Columbia City Council meeting that he wouldn’t seek a fifth term as mayor.
“It’s bittersweet for me because I am … looking forward to a new chapter in my life as far as my family and my business and kind of moving on,” the Republic-Times quoted him as saying at the time. “We have an outstanding group of elected officials sitting up here, and I couldn’t ask for better.”
Hutchinson’s bio on the C.J. Thomas website states that he served in the U.S. Army before joining the insurance company in 1993 and that he has been a board member for the Monroe County YMCA since 2010.
This story was originally published February 26, 2021 at 10:33 AM.
