Submitted by Chula Fleming* - January 14, 2025
As Precinct Committeewoman for Carmi 13, I attend the Carmi City Council monthly meetings regularly. I am also the White County GOP Central Committee Secretary and very active in all Committee activities and monthly meetings, and report to the Committee and those attending on City Council business.
Early last year I became aware of an issue with the Carmi Light & Water credit and debit card processing fees charged to the City while attending the City Council meeting. This issue affected all Carmi Light & Water customers who paid with credit and with debit cards. That is the reason why I have continued to follow it closely.
Mayor Bill Stendeback was determined to find a viable solution to these excessive credit card processing fees, expected to exceed $500,000 in the year-ending 2025. The Mayor and City Council actively pursued a variety of solutions but determined the only course of action was to stop taking credit and debit card payments. A letter was sent out from the mayor’s office to each customer advising that effective January 1, 2026 Carmi Light & Water would no longer accept these type of payments. Cash, check and ACH payments were acceptable.
During the August 25, 2025 GOP monthly meeting, statements were made by Representative David Severin about this issue that I would like to address. What follows are the transcribed recorded statements.
“Well, I got on the phone, I saw the minutes, Facebook, whatever. Got on the phone, talked to the City. Got on the phone, talked to Brad Cole, who’s the IML director for the state, shared with him what was going on. He said, “Dave, now you know Carmi's not a member of IML. I said I understand that. I said, “Brad, I’m calling you because I need you to tell me what we need to do”.
"So, in the meantime, I got the Mayor’s people on the phone. Is it Holly Healy, is that correct? Yes, okay. How’s that for off the top of my head for an old guy? But, so, Holly on the phone, Brad on the phone, those two people talking together and so it got figured out and actually they misunderstood the rules and the regulations, and so that’s not going to be an issue. So, basically, they were prepared to try to figure out how they’re going to come up with the $330,000 to $500,000 loss. Well, it should be a moot point, and we should be okay with that.”
*Representative Severin inferred, and seemed to insinuate that due to his active involvement and efforts the credit card fees issue had been resolved and was now a “moot’ problem. Nothing could be further from the truth. The City of Carmi has continued to pay all fees through the end of the year 2025.
Severin’s attempts to take credit for solving the City’s problem has no basis in fact. On January 12, 2026 I filed a FOIA request with the City requesting as follows: “Please provide all records, written and/or digital, of any and all types of grants, federal or state, that the City of Carmi may have received in the past 12 months designated for the payment of processing credit and debit card fees for Carmi Light and Water.”
The response to my FOIA request was “The City of Carmi has no record/documentation which comes within the scope of what you have asked for.”
Rep. Severin provided no help in the form of grants or any influence with the credit card processing company. He deserves no credit for any solution to this problem. It was solved by the deliberate and tenacious actions of Mayor Stendeback and the City Council.
What else is Rep Severin taking credit for that he does not deserve? He cannot use this issue as a success story for his re-election. What has he really done during his several terms that has made your life easier, better and safer?
*Chula Fleming is the White County, IL Precinct Committeewoman, White County GOP Central Committee Secretary and Campaign Manager for Angela Evans Victory Through Unity for Illinois State Representative District 116.
*These views do not necessarily reflect the views of the White County Central Committee.
