From the Chicago Tribune today: Buffalo Grove and its firefighters have agreed to defer raises, increase employee health insurance premium contributions and establish a new two-tier wage structure that will pay new hires 10 percent less. There’s an example of the compensation reset some of us have been saying is necessary for DeKalb. Good going,…
Chronicle Misses the Mark with Corn Fest Parking Fees
In “Our View: Corn Fest fee to park is fair,” the Chronicle today makes the case for users of Corn Fest to help pay for it. The city provides, among other things, a location for the festival and police and emergency personnel in case something goes wrong. The emergency personnel are paid out of their…
Library Postpones Expansion Until Economy Improves
Good sense rules in Belvidere.
Council in the Twilight Zone
Better late than never? Here are a few comments on the City of DeKalb meetings Monday night. Group Therapy When I switched on the Committee of the Whole meeting (admittedly not right at the beginning) there was an immediate feeling of disorientation. The mayor was complaining about a constituent taking up too much of his…
The Private Redistricting of DeKalb
The Chronicle reports today that the city has begun to redraw ward boundaries. First of all, what’s the rush? But City Manager Mark Biernacki said the council will try to get a new map approved before this October. That way, if any sitting council member finds he or she is outside of their ward’s new…
Declining Attendance at the Taste / Corn Fest
I am not surprised that after high-profile news reports of mobs of thugs attacking people in downtown Chicago in broad daylight that the attendance at the Taste dropped. But, attendance was down in previous years as well. No matter what anyone says, unless there is a popular band at Corn Fest, its attendance dropped, too.…
DeKalb Spent $1.81 Million on Reduction in Force
After receiving and posting (thanks to the Attorney General) information pertaining to the Voluntary Separation Program (VSP), I then asked the City of DeKalb to produce the figures to account for the $1.1 million they borrowed to spend on the Reduction in Force (RIF), including the VSP. The reply? “There is no public record that…
Brien with an “E”
We’ve added Brien Martin’s satiric look at life, especially midlife, under the “Local Voices” heading of the blogroll. First up: “Non-Apology Apologies.”
FY2012 Raises
In today’s “Our view: Give DeKalb staff its raises,” the Daily Chronicle argues on behalf of cost-of-living adjustments for management staff. Let’s respond to the reasoning for its vigorous advocacy on behalf of Biernacki & Co.
EPI and Compensation
The Strategic Financial Evaluation Report by Executive Partners, Inc., known for short as the EPI report, was issued in May 2009. The consultants were called in because DeKalb had found itself in serious financial trouble beginning in late 2007. The city tends to blame the economy, and it is true that the crash of the…