Turns out, City of DeKalb’s press release this week about hiring outside help has a backstory, and the Daily Chronicle has unearthed it.. New DeKalb City Manager Anne Marie Gaura wants the city to hire an outside financial expert after staff recently broke rules for making purchases in excess of $20,000. … First, the council…
Category: Goo-goo Files
State of Illinois Changes Bond Counsel
This post updates one from August about Ty Fahner, partner of the law firm Mayer Brown, who told the Chicago Civic Committee the following last spring: Last March, during a Civic Committee discussion of the state’s public pension problems, Fahner claimed that some members had talked to bond ratings agencies about lowering Illinois’ bond rating…
Bloomington Alderman Alleges Open Meetings Act Violations
Via The Pantagraph today: Ward 4 Alderman Judy Stearns on Dec. 6 filed a request for review with the Illinois attorney general’s public access counselor, which has since asked for more information from the city. She alleged the council during a Nov. 15 closed session discussed issues not exempt from the state’s Open Meetings Act,…
Trial Set for Free Speech Lawsuit — and It’s Soon
The plaintiff in a federal free-speech case with implications for local government meetings finally has a court date: October 21. From the Rock River Times: The plaintiff in the lawsuit, Rockford resident and former Winnebago County Board chairman candidate Michael Castronovo, alleges multiple violations of his free-speech rights at Winnebago County Board meetings and at…
Belated High Five for District 428
Talk of a possible teachers’ strike last month was tense and emotional for a lot of us. When the school board and the teachers’ union came together at nearly the last minute, I felt relieved and psychologically moved past it right away. But that was wrong. What I should have done, and will do now,…
Freeport Township Board Exploring Legality of Property Purchase Made by Its Old Board
They are doing it by filing a lawsuit to let a judge decide. From the Journal-Standard: Freeport Township now looks to the court system to see if last year’s joint purchase of the property at 206 E. Stephenson St. with the Veterans Assistance Commission [of Stephenson County] was legal. “An opinion by attorney Greg Pelini…
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…
Ethics “In a Nutshell”
Robert Wechsler, director of CityEthics.org, has just released a new intro to local government ethics called “Local Government Ethics Programs in a Nutshell”, in which he has distilled an 800-page digital book and years of blog posts into a 27-page resource for public officials, journalists and others interested in good government. Here’s a bit out…
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…
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…