Marshall Annexes 2.68 Acres of City-Owned Land Under Ordinance 2026-O-28

Marshall City Council | October 12, 2026

Article Summary: The Marshall City Council on Monday, Oct. 12, 2026, unanimously adopted Ordinance 2026-O-28, annexing 2.68 acres of municipally owned property in Marshall Township that the ordinance describes as contiguous to the city but outside its corporate limits, with no electors living on it.

Annexation Ordinance Key Points:

• The territory is described as 2.68 acres, more or less, in part of the East Half of the Northeast Quarter of Section 24, Township 11 North, Range 12 West of the Second Principal Meridian, Marshall Township, Clark County.
• The city is the sole owner of record, and the ordinance states that no electors reside in the territory — the basis for a voluntary annexation by ordinance.
• The land is zoned “in conformity with the existing municipal zoning classification for municipally owned property,” and the official zoning map is to be amended.
• The ordinance does not state what the property is or what the city intends to do with it.

MARSHALL — The Marshall City Council on Monday, Oct. 12, 2026, adopted Ordinance 2026-O-28, “An Ordinance Annexing Municipally Owned Property Located in Marshall, in the County of Clark, State of Illinois,” bringing 2.68 acres of city-owned ground inside the corporate limits.

The motion was made by Alderman Warren LeFever and seconded by Alderman Jarod Green. All council members were present and all voted in favor. The minutes record no discussion of the item.

The ordinance number comes from the minutes. The copy circulated with the agenda packet carries the number as “ORDINANCE NO. 2026-O___,” with the sequence left blank, and its passage, approval and publication dates are likewise blank — a pattern that means the operative number for any Marshall ordinance must be taken from the minutes or the clerk’s office rather than from the packet.

What Is Being Annexed

The territory is identified by a metes-and-bounds description running more than 30 lines and by part of parcel number 08-08-24-08-201-004. It lies in part of the East Half of the Northeast Quarter of Section 24, Township 11 North, Range 12 West of the Second Principal Meridian, in Marshall Township, Clark County, and is stated to contain 2.68 acres, more or less.

Several calls in the description run parallel to or along what the ordinance repeatedly terms the “now abandoned C.C.C. and St. L. Railway west right of way,” including a 275.77-foot run, a 228.44-foot run and a 31.00-foot jog west to reach that line. The ordinance does not expand the railway’s initials or describe the corridor’s current condition or ownership.

The recitals set out the statutory basis. They state that the territory is outside but contiguous to the city’s corporate limits, is not within any other municipality, and that “no electors reside within the Territory.” The ordinance cites 65 ILCS 5/7-1-8 for the proposition that a municipality may annex contiguous unincorporated territory by ordinance where no electors reside there and the owners of record petition for annexation, and states that the city, “as the sole owner of the Territory, has satisfied all requirements for a voluntary annexation by ordinance.”

Section 3 zones the territory in conformity with the city’s existing zoning classification for municipally owned property and directs that the official zoning map be amended. Section 4 directs the city clerk to file a certified copy of the ordinance and an accurate map of the annexed territory with the county clerk and county recorder, citing 65 ILCS 5/7-1-40. Section 5 provides that the ordinance takes effect on passage, approval and publication, and the title page provides for publication in pamphlet form.

A Document That Needs a Second Look

Two features of the ordinance as distributed warrant checking before it is recorded. The legal description appears twice — once in the recitals and again in Section 2, the operative annexation provision — and the two versions are not identical. The recital version describes the first curve as running “A DISTANCE OF 17.24 FEET WITH A CHORD BEARING OF NORTH 79 DEGREES 52 MINUTES 07 SECONDS EAST A CHORD LENGTH OF 17.15 FEET.” The Section 2 version drops that chord bearing and chord length entirely, giving only the radius and distance.

Separately, the ordinance’s statutory citations are introduced with unreplaced drafting language — “under State Statute Citation, e.g., 65 ILCS 5/7-1-8)” in the recitals and “(State Statute Citation, e.g., 65 ILCS 5/7-1-40)” in Section 4 — and Section 4 directs the clerk to file with “the County Clerk and County Recorder of the City of Marshall, County of Clark.” Both are listed in the editorial flags for this package.

The packet copy of the ordinance includes a roll-call page listing eight council members above blank AYES, NAYS and ABSENT columns, with the mayor’s and city clerk’s signature lines unsigned and the municipal seal space blank.