**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…
Category: City Watch
Manipulation Analysis
Is the City of DeKalb postponing action on its consultants’ recommendations for political or other selfish reasons? When the financial consultants known as Executive Partners, Inc. (EPI) first came to town in 2009, the City of DeKalb made a big deal of them. DeKalb needed to show it was doing something about its financial mess,…
Why the Truancy Ordinance is Probably Doomed
The Chronicle reports that city staff may drop the truancy ordinance. The council voted unanimously to postpone any action on the proposal until Sept. 23, but now staff are considering dropping it completely. Except that’s not their call. It’s council’s. This probably indicates there are not enough votes to pass the ordinance. Too bad. Smack…
Another Example of DeKalb’s Business Friendliness
Remember this, from our financial consultants last April? [I]f you survey potential businesses, would they consider DeKalb business friendly? I don’t know the answer to that question. We have heard anecdotal evidence; some say that DeKalb is one of the most business-unfriendly cities they’ve ever encountered. Well, if that’s the case, economic development will be…
City of DeKalb, Truancy Services are Not Your Job
Do you ever go into a store during a weekday when your own kids are in school, and see similarly-aged kids and think, “I wonder why they’re not in school?” I’ve done so quite reflexively on occasion, and when that happens I say or do…nothing. Because it’s none of my business. This is between the…
Discussion of DeKalb’s Proposed Truancy Ordinance
The public comment included both home schoolers and a Sycamore attorney who has some experience in this area. A companion post is here.
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Proclamation
Among the presentations at Monday’s council meeting was a certificate of appreciation given to DeKalb’s team members in the America in Bloom beauty contest a couple weeks ago (see p. 5). With the exception of the Master Gardeners, the list represents a love-in between bureaucrats plus a business that has managed to get the city…
Power Shifts and Pushback
Let’s cut loose a couple of these agenda items for tonight’s DeKalb council meeting and try to paste them into the big picture. It is odd that this fiscal year’s budget allows for the hiring of code inspectors into the police department’s Crime Free Housing Bureau instead of mingling them with the rest of the…
An Update on Victor Wogen
Yesterday’s post about nontransparent government and our the city manager’s spending authority reminded me that, although city administrators suffered no consequences for hiring an alderman under the table, the disgraced former alderman himself did face a bit of music and not so long ago. Besides being forced to resign his position, Victor “Slick Vic” Wogen…
Mercer County & the Role of Transparency in Good Government
Illinois’ Mercer County lies south of the Quad Cities and comprises part of its metro area. Perhaps you’ve heard that the county’s treasurer, Mike Bertelsen, has been arrested and charged with stealing at least $13,000 from the county’s 911 Fund, the result of investigations that followed a forensic audit in the county office. The Illinois…