A member of the City of DeKalb’s Safe/Quality Housing Task Force recently offered me copies of the crime data the group has been poring over this summer — but only if I promised not to publish it, because it’s not for public consumption! Perhaps we should be training these committees, commissions and whatnot in the…
Category: Goo-goo Files
Town Hall Next Week at Conexion Comunidad
Third Ward Alderman Kristen Lash will hold a town hall meeting next Wednesday, August 31. So far, participants are: Kristen Lash, 3rd Ward Alderman Jim Luebke, DeKalb Township Trustee Paul Stoddard, County Board, District 9 Julia Fauci, County Board, District 9 Alderman Lash hopes also to include a representative of the District 428 school board.…
Library Postpones Expansion Until Economy Improves
Good sense rules in Belvidere.
Local Government Transparency Act
A bill introduced into the Illinois Senate would establish minimum standards of transparency for local government websites. SB 37, which is scheduled for a committee hearing today, would expand upon the Illinois Policy Institute’s 10-point Transparency Checklist, with which CB’s readers are already familiar. Links: Illinois Policy Institute summary of the standards contained in SB…
Open Meetings Act Complaint in Oak Park
http://triblocal.com/oak-park-river-forest/2010/12/28/attorney-general-investigating-oak-park-open-meeting-complaint/
Town Council Meeting Protocol Statement
It has been brought to my attention that the Town Council of Fairfax, California, follows a meeting protocol that is printed on every regular meeting agenda and recited at each meeting as faithfully as the Pledge of Allegiance. Long story short, a Fairfax Council member recently viewed portions of a DeKalb City Council meeting on…
Austerity in Cherry Valley
In addition to placing Village employees on a one-year wage freeze, Cherry Valley trustees this week repealed an ordinance that would have raised their salaries (in effect putting themselves on a 7-year freeze). Last April, they passed a resolution making it OK to return their wages to the Village. The village president makes $13,500 annually.…
AG Accepts Request for Review of Denial of City Health Plan Participants’ Names
Last month CB reported that City of DeKalb’s legal counsel had denied a request under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) for the names of City Council members who are currently participating in DeKalb’s health insurance plan. I subsequently filed a Request for Review with the Illinois Attorney General, which you may recall is…
Sanitary District Catch-Up
A couple weeks ago, a neighbor asked about the status of the DeKalb Sanitary District’s pursuit of city approval for a “biosolids barn,” and I realized I haven’t read San meeting minutes since the DeKalb High School lift station fiasco. Here are few items of possible interest gleaned in the catch-up efforts. December 8, 2009:…
Eliminating Health Insurance a Good Move
Looks like DeKalb is on track to eliminating the life and health insurance benefits for City Council members. This is an important move, and not just for the savings. When Council prepares to vote on health insurance plans and premiums for management employees and union workers, its own participation creates conflicts of interest. We’ve also…