**Update 12/24 on the hearing: Kane County Chronicle reports that a decision on the campaign disclosure complaint against Show You Care Kane is not expected until next year.** What would you say if Kish Health Systems were to send its chief executive to open and fund a political action committee (PAC) in order to promote…
Category: County Watch
Counties Generating Revenue from Housing Prisoners
Boone County Watchdog tipped me off about a new revenue source for the blog’s home county: transporting and housing federal prisoners. The full story comes from the Register Star: BELVIDERE — A negotiating firm plans to generate tens of thousands of dollars in new revenue for the Boone County jail without changing day-to-day operations. The…
Fun with Friends of Goliath
The Illinois Supreme Court refused last week to hear an appeal against the DeKalb County Board’s decision to allow Waste Management’s landfill expansion plan. In response, Daily Chronicle editor Eric Olson patted the Stop the Mega-Dump people on the head. Their effort was driven by their convictions. Members of the unfortunately named Stop the Mega-Dump…
Trial to be Set for Free Speech Lawsuit with Implications for Local Government Meetings
The two sides in a settlement conference on a federal lawsuit regarding public input at public meetings were deemed “too far apart” to come to terms, so it is expected a trial date will be set at a conference hearing June 21. Two allegations from Count II of the suit, having to do with possible…
Write-In Candidates in DeKalb County So Far
*Update: Final list of candidates is here.* In the article, “DeKalb County Certifies Preliminary Ballot,” the county clerk stated that there are about six people who have filed as write-in candidates in April’s Consolidated Election so far. As of 9:30 a.m. today there were indeed exactly six: Michael Franckowiak – Genoa Park Board Veronica Bruhl…
Listen Up, DeKalb. Public Meetings Must Allow Public Comment
**Update: You may have noticed we were offline most of the day yesterday, due to the host’s making a change in server hardware. The last step, restoration of data via a backup, left a draft version of this post that I’ve tinkered with and republished. Winnebago County has opened up its board committee meetings to…
Did the DeKalb County Board Violate the Open Meetings Act?
The new state’s attorney for the county is “reviewing” the following incident: Election of the chairman was listed on the County Board’s public agenda. Members, wanting to discuss the contentious subject of who should chair the board after a prearranged agreement fell apart during public discussion at the meeting, first suggested going into recess and…
Chronicle Editorial Board Hasn’t Lived Here Very Long
Chronicle staff should live in this county for awhile before commenting on certain issues, such as what one can find today in “Our View: Falling home values a trying trend in county“. When the housing market was healthy and new homes and businesses were built at a healthy clip, the opposite was true. Property values…
DeKalb’s Daily Chronicle Trashes the Stop the Mega Dump Group
In “Time to Dump Landfill Protests,” the Chronicle lays out reasons for trashing the efforts of the little people. Reason 1: There’s nowhere else for the anti-landfill group to turn short of the Illinois Supreme Court, which might decline to hear the case. Stop the Mega Dump should quit because the Supremes might reject it?…
A Visit to DeKalb County’s New Website
DeKalb County put its new website online this week. The county says the overhaul was not made in response to the Illinois Policy Institute’s recent grade of D-, but has been in the works for about a year. DeKalb County has put lots online for quite some time, but finding it or even getting a…