Tim Hughes resigns from DeKalb County Board due to job scheduling conflicts

SYCAMORE – A third DeKalb County Board member within six months resigned from the board recently, according to county government officials.

Former County Board member Tim Hughes – a Republican who represented District 2, which includes Kingston and Genoa – wrote in his Feb. 22 resignation letter his new position at his work created scheduling conflicts with meetings and duties related to county government business.

“I leave with a heavy heart, as I know I will miss the friendships I have made during my [tenure] representing ... District 2 and the other board members that I have worked hard with to serve the people of DeKalb County,” Hughes wrote.

DeKalb County Board Chairman John Frieders officially declared Hughes’s seat vacant as of Feb. 24 during the board’s Wednesday meeting. He confirmed Hughes’s reason for leaving the board was because of a change of employment. Frieders said the county’s Republican central committee will seek candidates to fill the position soon.

County Board member Tim Bagby, who also chairs the county’s Republican Party, gave farewell remarks to Hughes this week, highlighting what he said was his colleague’s interest in the county’s forest preserve.

“And one of those things that I refer to as the Hughes Rule that we adopted ... is that only the operations committee can be paid,” Bagby said. “We can have as many committees as we want on the forest preserve district [commission], but only that operations committee that can be paid. ... So his legacy is his love for the forest preserves and the work he did.”

Hughes served within the DeKalb County Board since April 2017, according to the county government’s website. His current term would have ended November 2022.

Hughes’s resignation comes after County Board member Neil Mohammad, a Democrat, vacated his seat in October, with Ellingsworth Webb appointed to fill the vacany shortly thereafter. In December, County Board member Linda Slabon, also a Democrat, resigned, and Michelle Pickett was appointed to her seat.

Hughes’ time on the county board was not without controversy. During his 2020 reelection campaign, materials his campaign circulated claimed the Black Lives Matter organization is communist and at fault for destroying Black nuclear families. His comments were made in an election voter guide circulated by the DeKalb County Farm Bureau.

Rukisha Crawford, DeKalb County Board member for District 6 and a Democrat, called Hughes’ comments at the time “offensive and insensitive.”

Hughes won the November 2020 election to retain his seat.

The DeKalb County Republican Party is now tasked with appointing someone to fill Hughes’ vacancy, which would fill the remainder of his term through November.

County executive assistant and Republican Tasha Sims, who’s running as DeKalb County Clerk & Recorder against Democrat Linh Nguyen, said the party hasn’t made its pick yet but a search is ongoing.

“With the timing of it all, it would be someone who would be willing to fill the term for only about eight months,” Sims wrote in an email to the Daily Chronicle. “Because with redistricting, District 2 is mostly in the new District 1 and the filing period for the primary election is over.”