I know it’s over a week since the last city council meeting, but I finally found the time to look at the video* of the Irongate annexation discussion and it was an even worse mess than I remembered. The agreement, defeated last month, was brought back via a parliamentary procedure called a “motion to reconsider.”…
Category: City Watch
Chronicle’s Corn Fest 2011
DeKalb Corn Fest just filed its IRS Form 990 this month for calendar/fiscal year 2011. Let’s add the numbers to our chart: [table id=75 /] Corn Fest was able to to reduce its costs over the previous year. Unfortunately, its revenues took another dive. This (along with the sorry parking fee revenue total for 2012)…
Remarks from the TIF Public Hearing Last Night
The Chronicle covered the public hearing on the proposed Sycamore Road and South Fourth Street TIF districts last night. The article seems a bit short but I’m gratified to have been quoted. Three of us spoke at the hearing: Kerry Mellott, Mac McIntyre and me. If you did not observe Mac’s and Kerry’s contributions, let…
The $65,000 “Slight” Expansion of Scope
The August 12 city council regular meeting agenda contains several items that are staff requests to waive competitive bidding for purchases and contracts. Since there seemed quite a list, I took a closer look to see if they seemed legit. Most did. Then I saw the following: 5. APPROVAL OF A STAFF REQUEST TO WAIVE…
Council Will Discuss Possible Changes to Meeting Procedures
From a memo attached to the Committee of the Whole (CoW) meeting agenda for August 12: 1. 2.04(a)This section indicates that regular meetings of the City Council shall be convened no sooner than 7:00pm. As last meeting illustrated, when the City Council does not have material for a Committee of the Whole meeting, the Council…
Central Area TIF Public & Private Investment Totals
If one of the indispensable purposes of Tax Increment Financing (TIF) plans is to spur private investment in a given area, the Central Area TIF District is a failure. Today I received copies of Central Area annual reports for fiscal years 2011 and 2012 in response to a Freedom of Information Act request meant to…
Of DeKalb’s Newly Proposed TIF Districts, South Fourth Would Be a Pill
DeKalb is considering implementation of two new Tax Increment Financing (TIF) proposals for Sycamore Road and for South Fourth Street. The public hearings on these plans are scheduled for August 12. The Sycamore Road plan is small, targeted, and clearly ends with tax-paying private businesses. The South Fourth plan speaks vaguely to buying up private…
Latest Response in Review of EPI Report Redactions
During a special meeting held June 11, officials of the City of DeKalb met with their contracted financial consultant team known for short as EPI. EPI presented observations and recommendations in the areas of strategic revenue production and cost containment. The consultants also reviewed progress on strategic financial recommendations made in 2009, a time of…
City Pay Raises Approved
In reading the agenda for last night’s meeting, I noticed council members were getting set to “reconsider” Resolution 13-56, the same one they shot down last meeting that would have given the contracted attorney a 2% raise. I would’ve liked to have read a summary of the contentious June 24 discussion, but alas! I couldn’t…
Public Access Counselor Will Review Redactions
A bit over a week ago we looked at the City of DeKalb’s failure to provide a non-redacted version of its financial consultants’ latest report. Here’s what the Attorney General’s Public Access Counselor has to say. It comes down to giving up the goods or explaining why they don’t have to — exactly what professionals…