March 13th kicked off Sunshine Week nationwide, a celebration of open and transparent government. In honor of it, Macoupin County Clerk Pete Duncan announced that the over 700 filers of financial disclosures with his office can file online for the first time.

The Illinois Constitution and Illinois Governmental Ethics Act requires elected officials and high ranking public servants to annually answer a seven-question disclosure filing, known as a Statement of Economic Interest (SEI). In 2021, Duncan launched the online financial disclosure database that allowed the public to see these statements of economic interest online for the first time. But filers still needed to complete the form on paper. Now the filers can complete their questionnaire 24/7 online and immediately those answers become available to the public.

The public search database lets users search for information several ways:

• By a filer’s name;
• By the agency name, such as “Carlinville School District”;
• By an agency dropdown menu;
• By those who answered any question or a specific question.

After selecting a search method, users will be able to open a filer’s statement or download all results to an Excel spreadsheet.

Filers who still wish to complete the form on paper can do so, with a pdf version that can be completed and printed available on the same website with the link to the log in page for online filers.

Duncan said American Rescue Plan funds were used to complete the new site. Thanks to the change, the county would save significant money each year by not having to order the paper forms, print and mail them to each local government.

Those interested in visiting the database can visit www.macoupincountyclerk.com and select ‘Statement of Economic Interest’ from the ‘Public Filings’ menu.