***DeKalb city council will consider the special use permit during its regular meeting Monday, April 27.*** While the University Village Planned Development proposal seems to have grabbed the headlines today, last night’s Planning & Zoning Commission meeting was also notable for neighborhood pushback against approval of a special use permit for a new 140-foot cell…
Category: City Watch
A City Narrative and the Aardvark that Ate It
On the February 9 DeKalb city council meeting agenda was this action item: 2. Resolution 2015-011 Waiving Competitive Bidding and Authorizing the Execution of a Website Design Agreement with CivicPlus in an Amount not to Exceed $56,189 in Year One. Staff said they didn’t have time to put out Requests for Proposals (RFPs). They claimed…
Five Reasons to Believe DeKalb Tried to Hide DOJ Communications about Website Compliance Issues
Mayor John Rey had a guest column in the Chronicle this week. As is par for the course with City of DeKalb administrations, he calls criticism of the city’s actions “misinformation” and “rumors.” There are two reasons people are upset. One is evidence that the city withheld information about the U.S. Department of Justice evaluation…
AG Investigating Possible Open Meetings Act Violations by City of DeKalb
Early last month, DeKalb’s city council considered whether they should waive the usual bidding process and immediately sign a contract with a website designer who appears to be “besties” with the city manager. The reason for wanting to waive bidding? Staff claimed the city had a crisis foisted upon it by the U.S. Department of…
Municipalities Could Face Cuts in State Funding
The governor’s proposal to make huge cuts in funding to state universities is the big news today, but municipalities are facing a similar threat. At Monday’s council meeting, DeKalb’s finance director will present the mid-year budget report. The city appears to be pretty much on target for the current fiscal year, but administrators are concerned…
Website Design and DeKalb’s “Suitcase Mentality”
The city council voted Monday on a measure to waive the customary bidding process and award a contract to out-of-towners for a new custom website. Staff insisted only CivicPlus could make DeKalb’s official website comply with Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) rules within a 4-month deadline negotiated with the U.S. Department of Justice. Some city…
Police Station Construction Report, New Custom Website on Monday’s Council Agenda
I placed a couple links and short comments on these topics with the Facebook Group in case anyone feels chatty this weekend.
DeKalb’s Freakishly High Sales Tax Rate Might Actually be Good for Something
**Update** 1/26. Related: “Sales tax coffers could get boost with new law”. Discusses the Marketplace Fairness Act and its impact (if it ever passes the U.S. House) on state revenues. **Update** 1 p.m. Related: “Now comes the Internet Sales Consultants”. It provides more food for thought on this scheme, as well as a description of…
Variable Revenues are Replacing Taxes in DeKalb & This is Not Good News
A few days ago in another post I said this: Fine/fee revenue can be highly variable, as we’ve seen with the disappearance of building permit revenues. TIF districts have time limits and both of ours expire at the end of the decade. These are appropriate sources for making capital improvements as you can. They are…
Post-Recessionary Trends & Responses
The City of DeKalb released its FY2014 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report last month, and as usual there’s plenty to digest. A large part of this report draws data from supplemental reports found in the back of the CAFR, some of which track the past 10 fiscal years and are therefore useful for understanding the lingering…