I knew the General Assembly was debating the bill last year, but missed the August passage of Public Act 099-0402, which amends an important provision of the Illinois Open Meetings Act (OMA). (5 ILCS 120/3.5) Sec. 3.5. Public Access Counselor; opinions. (a) A person who believes that a violation of this Act by a public…
One Step Closer to the Edge
Look at that nice, wide gap between General Fund revenues and expenditures during FY2011 and FY2012. [easychart type=”line” width=”430″ title=”GF Revenues and Expenditures Net of Transfers” groupnames=”Revenues in Millions, Expenditures in Millions” valuenames=”’11,’12, ’13, ’14, ’15, ’16” group1values=”29.2,29.1,28.9,30.7,32.7,33.3″ group2values=”27.2,27.3,27.9,29.1,31.5,32.9″ minaxis=”27.1″] (All figures are actual as reported in annual city budgets, except FY2015 numbers are the…
Weird and Not-So-Wonderful Things about the Unlawful Assemblies Ordinances
Here are four reasons to be suspicious of the “unlawful assemblies” ordinances coming up for a vote on Monday. 1. The “unlawful assemblies” and counterpart “unlawful weapons” ordinances came out of nowhere on the January 11. Council did not ask for them. There have been no discussions of why the PD needs another tool. The…
City Still Losing Water Customers
These are the numbers of City of DeKalb water billing accounts for the past 10 years, as reported in DeKalb’s FY2015 Comprehensive Annual Financial report released last month. [table id=93 /]
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…
Another Example of DeKalb’s Bad Judgment
Tomorrow, City of DeKalb is sponsoring a business development presentation featuring a local businessman who has already made a lot of money doing business with DeKalb. I understand that this is the second such presentation. Reasonable people could make at least three objections to this series. 1. This is not a core function of city…
Why I’ve Challenged the DeKalb City Manager’s Residency
During the regular city council meeting last night, I challenged DeKalb city manager Anne Marie Gaura’s claim that she lives in DeKalb. The DeKalb Municipal Code does not explicitly require that the city manager live in DeKalb, but the city’s contract with Gaura does. She was obligated to establish residency in the city within one…
DeKalb’s Working Hard to Offset/Hide Increases in Personnel Expenses
During the Committee of the Whole meeting Monday, city staff will present a report showing all of the estimated annual savings they’ve achieved for the FY16 budget and beyond. Some of these cuts — in health care plans, comp time policy, and efficiency through technology in particular — do appear to be real. Bravo, City…
OMA and Real Estate Deals
City of DeKalb just paid for an appraisal of the old Ducky’s/Otto’s building at Lincoln and First. I haven’t heard a peep otherwise, but mindful of possible next steps I’ve done a little homework. The Open Meetings Act (OMA) has a couple things to say about what a local government can do in closed session…
New Illinois Law for Local Gov Audits Is Doing the Trick
Here’s a new state law we can all get behind: Public Act 098-0738, which requires certain disclosures pertaining to city and county audits. Introduced by Rep. Tom Demmer, the law went into effect this month. Here’s another version with the deets. Of particular interest to me is the now-required sharing of the auditors’ letters to…