Freeport’s Department of Community and Economic Development: Established for Accountability, Hijacked for Outsourcing?

FREEPORT, IL – August 05, 2025

A key department of Freeport’s city government, the Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED), was created to strengthen neighborhoods, stimulate economic growth, and protect public health. But after years under the leadership of Wayne Duckmann—and now with his quiet departure and controversial re-hiring as a consultant—residents are asking: Is this department still serving the people of Freeport, or just padding paychecks and shielding power behind closed doors?

What the Law Says

Chapter 250 of Freeport’s Code of Ordinances lays out a clear structure for the Department of Community and Economic Development:

  • Five Divisions: Neighborhood Redevelopment, Planning & Zoning, Economic Development, Health & Environment, and Building Code Enforcement.

  • Director’s Role: The Community and Economic Development Director is intended to be a full-time, accountable city employee. Their job includes overseeing transportation programs, enforcing building and zoning codes, administering grant programs, supporting local businesses, promoting job growth, and advising council on economic development policy.

  • Oversight and Residency Requirements:
    From 2017 to 2025, Freeport required that anyone appointed to the Director role must reside within the city limits within six months of their appointment—ensuring accountability and investment in the community. That changed in early 2025, shortly after Mayor Jodi Miller secured her third term in office. With little public notice, she successfully pushed to remove the residency requirement after City Manager Rob Boyer publicly claimed that the people of Freeport aren’t qualified enough for high-level positions, and that he needed the freedom to find better people from other cities and states. The rule change sparked outrage among residents who saw it as another step in outsourcing public power and excluding local talent from City Hall.

The Director also oversees environmental health and sanitation efforts, holds the power to enforce public health ordinances, and is empowered to issue citations. In emergencies involving hazardous materials, the Director is legally authorized to coordinate citywide responses in consultation with the City Manager.

What Has Actually Happened

From 2022 through August 1, 2025, this critical role was held by Wayne Duckmann—whose tenure has become a symbol of dysfunction in the Miller administration.

Under Duckmann:

  • A rental property registry program—meant to ensure safe housing—failed continuously after three years, draining taxpayer dollars while delivering no measurable progress.

  • He outsourced core duties to an Iowa consulting firm, despite being a full-time city employee.

  • His actions triggered multiple lawsuits against the city, costing Freeport taxpayers in legal fees and damaged trust.

  • He failed to produce results on economic development, business retention, or infrastructure investment.

Fighting4Freeport has been reporting on rumors of Duckmann’s departure since March 2025, following a leak from a recruitment firm hired by the Miller administration. After months of silence, evasion, and refusal to answer questions publicly, the city finally posted the open job on its website last week—mere days before Duckmann officially exited his position.

But here’s the twist: Duckmann isn’t really gone.

The “Fehr Graham” Model: Duckmann 2.0

City Manager Rob Boyer has confirmed what many feared: he has transitioned Duckmann—despite his failed leadership—into a third-party consultant role, allowing him (or his new company) to continue the job for 16 hours a week at an undisclosed rate, outside the accountability structure of the city.

Sound familiar?

This is the same Fehr Graham business model that residents have grown to resent: outsourcing local government roles to private consultants, funneling millions in public funds to contractors who answer to no one—and allowing for questionable, even fraudulent, use of grant money. Projects are planned, grants are secured, but deliverables often vanish into the fog of bureaucracy and private profiteering.

Grant Fraud by Design?

Under Fehr Graham and now the Duckmann arrangements:

  • Projects and programs will continue to be designed not for the betterment of the community, but to simply qualify for state and federal grants.

  • These companies skim their fees off the top, even if the projects fail to break ground.

  • Millions of dollars in local, state, and federal grants have flowed into Freeport—but where did the money go?

Residents have seen crumbling roads, stagnant housing, and empty storefronts, despite promises of revitalization.

A City Manager’s Overreach?

The City Code is clear: the Director of Community and Economic Development is a city employee, accountable to the public and answerable to the City Council through the City Manager. But Rob Boyer appears to have taken it upon himself to circumvent that structure entirely, shifting the role to an outsourced consultant.

When asked, Boyer claimed there are no plans for this to be permanent. Yet at the same time, he told council members he has nine qualified applicants, but doesn't expect to hire anyone for a couple of months.

That delay has raised eyebrows—and suspicions—that the administration is simply stalling until residents stop asking questions.

Where’s the Oversight?

This move—along with Mayor Jodi Miller’s recent efforts to cancel meetings, avoid public scrutiny, and centralize power—is part of a growing trend in Freeport's government: obfuscate, delay, and privatize.

The Miller administration’s refusal to answer for Duckmann’s failings, combined with Boyer’s repeated overreach, makes one thing clear: the government doesn’t want to be questioned.

Fighting4Freeport’s Take

This isn’t just about Wayne Duckmann.

This is about systemic misuse of taxpayer dollars, outsourcing public trust, and the steady erosion of democratic accountability.

Mayor Miller and City Manager Boyer continue to consolidate control, stall transparency, and hope that residents simply forget.

But we won't.

Freeport deserves better.
Freeport deserves leadership that serves the public—not consultants, cronies, and careerists.

—Brought to you and paid for by Fighting4Freeport