A couple people asked, “How do we get more of the community to attend these [redistricting] meetings?” It’s a tall order in view of the recent past. For what it’s worth, though, I will tell people that the discussion so far appears to be generally open to input of all sorts and free of predetermined…
Tag: city council
Another Meeting Marathon to Nowhere
City Council’s most damaging flaw is its low overall level of intellectual curiosity. Between the grandstanding and the gotchas and the preening and pomposity, there is little time or inclination left for understanding the fundamental shifts necessary for our continued well-being, much less prosperity. Whatever energy might have been devoted to real study of big-picture…
Fire Fighter Open Thread
From Monday’s City Council meeting agenda: 2) RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR OF THE CITY OF DEKALB, ILLINOIS TO EXECUTE A VARIANCE AGREEMENT TO THE COLLECTIVE BARGAINING AGREEMENT WITH THE DEKALB INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF FIREFIGHTERS, LOCAL 1236, AFL-CIO FOR THE PERIOD OF JULY 1, 2008 THROUGH JUNE 30, 2011. The City and IAFF Local 1236 have…
Your Tourism Dollars at Work, Part 2
Part 1 is here. This was going to be about why the City Council should hold DeKalb Area Convention & Visitor’s Bureau (CVB) accountable for its $50,000 annual allocation. It’s still about that, but also counters a story being floated in some circles today about how Re:New DeKalb nobly requested their $45,000 allocation come from…
Notes & More from 8/10/2009 Council Meeting
When people say, “I am not making this up,” as the public works director did last night in explaining the lack of competitive bids for waste pickup, I begin to wonder about the occasions when they don’t say it. You? ***** Mayor Povlsen is still calling comments he disagrees with “misinformation” based on a continued…
Dear Citizen
An e-mail exchange between a resident of the 4th Ward and Alderman Gallagher was forwarded to me. _____________________________ From: mark cxxx [mailto:markxxxx@xxx.com] Sent: Tue 8/4/2009 3:13 AM To: Gallagher, Brendon Subject: RE: Southside fire station Brendon- When you get a chance I would like to discuss something that I recently came across. Fire Station No.…
CPI & Waste Management
The City of DeKalb is getting ready to approve a new 4-year agreement with Waste Management (pp. 122-128) for residential pickup of trash. One proposal is to tie increases to the Consumer Price Index (CPI), allow for a minimum annual increase of 2% and cap it at 6% no matter what fuel prices are doing.…
The First Step
One of the citizen commenters at the council meeting last night brought up the City of DeKalb’s Management Pay Plan. She was scandalized by the leap from Step 1 to Step 2. It is easy to see why. Grade One starting pay, for example, is $18.158 per hour but on the first anniversary it jumps…
Almost-Live Blog for Council Meeting
Alderman Teresinski has been reporting on happenings in his ward and did so again tonight. What a novel and refreshing use of Agenda Item L, Reports & Communications. He gets points for that. I was disappointed that my own alderman, Mr. Gallagher, had nothing to say about last week’s Economic Development Committee meeting since almost…
Letter to City Officials Updated: Mayor Responds
Update: Mayor Povlsen responded to my letter. The e-mail exhange (so far) appears at the end of this post. The city manager responded to the statements I made Monday at the Council meeting. Here is my reply: