The setup: The April 2013 workshop meeting between city officials and their contracted financial consultants, Executive Partners, Inc., was coming to a close. EPI’s Larry Kujovich (on the left) and Rob Oberwise have been talking about the importance of image building to economic development. Alderman Ron Naylor remarks that economic development has been a priority…
Category: City Watch
Did You Get Invited? Me Neither.
Last week I decided to email our almost-daily newspapers to let them know I’ve been searching them each day for news of the DeKalb city manager interviews. You’ll remember that last summer the date for the interviews was set for November 1, but a lot could have happened since then. Then an article appeared in…
The Search for John Rey
A reader sent me this yesterday. If you’re new to DeKalb, I should explain that John Rey was elected mayor of DeKalb last spring. To be fair, the city’s website search seems to have made a recovery today. It may even function better than it did before, though I say this cautiously, not having accessed…
Raise Taxes to Gussy Up the Muni Building? Really?
I can’t believe hikes in taxes are even up for discussion. Consultants estimated one option for renovating City Hall – including upgrades to the heating and cooling system, plumbing and fire protection system, among other things – would cost $3.7 million. City Council members also are exploring spending $7.5 million on renovations, with $5.5 million…
An Example of DeKalb’s Default Secrecy
A link to this city council special meeting agenda for Wednesday dropped into my inbox October 9. I am 99.9% sure the closed meeting is about creating a short list of candidates for city manager, which is important to us and by no means a secret. But unless you recognize the significance of the timing,…
The ‘Fake’ City of DeKalb Facebook Page
Your tax dollars are hard at work, threatening people. Last night during the council meeting, city attorney Dean Frieders not once but twice discussed a “fake” City of DeKalb page on Facebook. The first time he described it as “libelous” and the second, egged on by Ald. Naylor, he pondered whether anything about it was…
Sustainable is the Last Thing This Is
A Chronicle article last week talks about all the new building, equipment and personnel the City of DeKalb is investing into its fire department. I read the article after just having skimmed through the city’s check register for August. The police department spent, among other things, $125,000+ on software and $2600 on the new dog,…
The Manning Numbers
A request made by Brad Manning Ford came up in the last DeKalb council meeting agenda: The dealership says it can get $400,000 from Ford to put towards the [$2.3 million expansion] project, but that it still can’t foot the rest of the bill. The $110,000 that it is requesting from the city represents about…
Update on the Search for DeKalb’s Next City Manager
The city manager, not the mayor, is the chief executive officer in DeKalb’s council-manager form of government. Ideally we should be paying as much attention to selection of the city manager as we do the mayoral election — especially these days, when the city council declines to put expiration dates on their managers’ contracts and…
Baker Says City Employees Were Terminated for Conducting Personal Business on City Time
**Update September 15: Here’s the link to the full, 56-minute Housing Bureau discussion (HT M.C.)** The City of DeKalb and the Chronicle recently made a big deal of a Housing Bureau employee’s using city email in negotiating her rent. But now that looks like the tip of the iceberg. For adequate context, I recommend watching…