SPRINGFIELD — A Sangamon County Board member is casting votes for the last time April 7.
Marc Ayers, a Democrat who represents District 12, is refocusing his time on his job as Illinois State Director for Humane World for Animals, formally the Humane Society of the U.S. He said he would also be open to limited consulting opportunities.
Ayers posted about his stepping away from the board via Facebook on April 3.
“(The announcement) took a lot of people by surprise, but it’s been something that I’ve been thinking about for a while,” Ayers told The State Journal-Register recently. “This was 100% my call. No one forced me to do this.”
The Sangamon County Democratic Party will name a replacement for Ayers.
The district extends from Monroe Street to the north to Wabash Avenue to the south. It contains large sections of Leland Grove and Jerome, along with areas stretching from Chatham Road to MacArthur Boulevard.
Ayers, 40, said he wanted to stay around long enough to cast a “no” vote on the on the conditional use permit for a proposed data center in the southwest part of the county.
Ayers has been a vocal opponent of the $500 million project.
“I ran on three things: fixing animal control, promoting renewable energy and bringing transparency back to the county board and I’ve done all three of those,” Ayers said.
Ayers was one of the board members who called for the resignation of then-Sheriff Jack Campbell over the hiring of former sheriff’s deputy Sean Grayson, who was convicted of second-degree murder for the 2024 fatal shooting of Sonya Massey in her own home.
Campbell’s hiring of Grayson in 2023 “showed a lack of judgment and character,” Ayers said in 2024.
Ayers supported the funding of a 708 Mental Health Board in the county, a referendum that passed on March 17.
He was also on the board’s public health committee that in December denied three massage establishments licenses.
Ayers was first elected to the county board in 2022 when he defeated longtime Republican incumbent Linda Fulgenzi. He turned back a challenge from Republican Colleen Lucas Cavanagh in 2024.
Ayers said he was keeping the door open to future runs for office, though he didn’t offer specifics.
“I’m really proud of the job I’ve done in my four years on the county board,” he said. “I’ve always been the kind of elected official who marches to the beat of his own drum. I’m an independent thinker. I’m a Democrat and I listened to my constituents and that was it.”
Contact Steven Spearie: 217-622-1788; sspearie@sj-r.com; X, twitter.com/@StevenSpearie.
This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: Why this county board member is stepping down and what’s next for him
Reporting by Steven Spearie, Springfield State Journal-Register / State Journal-Register
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