The DeKalb County Housing Authority has not often pinged my radar until now. A few years ago a couple people shared with me their being told by staff that federal rules prohibited bringing their cats with them into public housing unless the animals were declawed; my advice since then is to ask for citation of…
Category: County Watch
Five reasons to slow down expansion plans for DeKalb’s in-house administrative hearings
There’s city council support for a Committee of the Whole meeting to air issues with the city attorney’s project to expand the types of ordinance violations the city will hear in-house. I think the CoW is going to happen, and I’ll keep you posted. If so, it’s an excellent development, and shows council’s responsiveness to…
County support of Frieders’ initiative?
So as we were saying the other day, DeKalb city attorney Dean Frieders made a pitch for in-house adjudication of local ordinance violations via administrative hearings. To be clear, DeKalb already does administrative hearings, but it’s limited to violations related to the administrative towing ordinance, parking citations, and city-issued licenses. So what we’re talking about…
The hidden agenda item
At the end of last week’s council meeting in DeKalb, city attorney Dean Frieders presented an argument for in-house adjudication of ordinance violations. Currently, DeKalb conducts administrative hearings on very minor ordinance violations at city hall once a week as an administrative branch of the circuit court. Frieders’ plan would detach DeKalb from the county-level…
A look at the county’s nursing center renovation project, and what it might mean
I have a dark red brick on my mantel that came from the old DeKalb County Home, now known as DeKalb County Nursing and Rehabilition Center (DCNRC). On one side of the brick is a sketch of the Home, on another a short history of the facility in dates and names. The brick tells me…
Cindy and Ed Must Be Part of Voters’ Conversations about County Tax Referendum
***Note: This was originally published in June 2016. I am posting an updated version today, since the referendum ended up on the April 4, 2017 ballot instead of last November’s.*** The DeKalb County Health Department is trying to persuade our county board to place a referendum on the November election ballot to begin levying a…
Schrader: Loss of KishHealth Holdings, a Community-Owned Asset
**Update: More about this now posted at Barry’s Blog.** KishHealth System officials answered questions from the public following a presentation before the DeKalb County Board last night. While the Daily Chronicle chose not to address an exchange regarding who owns the real estate where Kishwaukee Hospital operates (as well as other KishHealth System holdings acquired…
Former DeKalb County Treasurer is Banned from Banking Activities
Remember Mark Todd? He’s the former VP of Farmers and Traders State Bank in Shabbona who got himself appointed DeKalb County Treasurer, ran unopposed for the same office as the bank failed, and then resigned to move to Hawaii. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) is just finishing up with him. The FDIC considered the…
Another Jail Referendum? Really?
Déjà vu. DeKalb County Board is considering placing a proposed sales tax increase on the ballot next spring, for…an improved jail. “What I plan to do is on the county board meeting on Dec. 17 is to review where we’re at with the jail expansion and some options for where we might go, one of…
We Don’t Know if Dogs are Biting People in Forest Preserves or Not
The key word must be “verified,” though nothing in the story actually is. “Over the years, the amount of dog-walking has increased, so we’ve been getting more complaints and more problems,” said Terry Hannan, DeKalb County Forest Preserve superintendent. Although Hannan said more people have been bitten in DeKalb County’s forest preserves during the past…