Some municipalities have been hoping to make changes to their clerks’ offices. City of Sandwich recently discussed an alderman’s idea for strengthening the independence of the office of its elected city clerk by eliminating a potential conflict of interest. Sandwich didn’t change anything this time around, but the idea is now out there for people…
Tag: city manager
DeKalb aldermen can’t get items placed on their own city council agendas
Sixth Ward Alderman Mike Verbic has attempted to get items included on DeKalb city council agendas for nearly a year, but the city manager has yet to comply. Emails from a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request show that Alderman Mike Verbic began requesting items be placed on city council agendas in March 2023, and…
DeKalb’s crime-free housing program was a mess when they passed new rules in the fall
This is a follow-up to last week’s post, “DeKalb’s not following its own rules for training landlords.” I’ve received feedback since posting it that the training has been hit-or-miss for several years. Also it turns out the landlord education fails are the tip of the iceberg. When new Crime Free Housing Bureau director Bob Redel…
DeKalb’s commuter rail roadmap, ignored
City of DeKalb is spending $98,000 on a study of the feasibility of bringing commuter rail service to our city. But the information is already available. DeKalb County examined feasibility at the end of 2015. Led by then-county board chair Mark Pietrowski, an informal meeting of the Metra Rail Exploratory Committee included representatives from DeKalb,…
We could strengthen open meetings laws by plugging the ‘walking quorum’ loophole
I decided to find out more about Sycamore’s new city manager (who comes to us from Wisconsin) and ended up adding to my vocabulary. A ‘walking quorum’ is a series of gatherings among separate groups of members of a governmental body, each less than quorum size, who agree, tacitly or explicitly, to act uniformly in…
DeKalb planning to ignore existing policies to sideline the clerk’s office once again
City council will take up a proposal tomorrow to appoint the executive assistant as permanent recorder of the meeting minutes. They can’t bar the city clerk from attending meetings and taking minutes, so here’s what they’ve come up with: The follow-on ordinance…will not prevent the Clerk from taking minutes and presenting them, but the Council…
A look back: DeKalb and its radium water
25 years ago, residents of DeKalb organized to pressure the city to reduce the amount of radium in our drinking water. The city, which already had obtained a variance that allowed it to exceed EPA limits for radium, required a second variance in 1996 to obtain permits to extend water mains for new construction. This…
Defendants added to the 145 Fisk lawsuit against Nicklas and City of DeKalb
New defendants were added last week to the “145 Fisk” lawsuit against city manager Bill Nicklas and City of DeKalb that could potentially cost the city millions if it loses. John F. Pappas, Pappas Development, LLC, and PNG Development, LLC — collectively named “Pappas Entities” in the court order — were previously named as respondents…
Public officials’ ill-advised campaign contributions
We’ve talked about ethics issues and Bill Nicklas before, in the context of his outside employment, which — shamefully — the city council has so far failed to address. Now we see Mr. Nicklas, DeKalb city manager since the beginning of 2019, has been making political contributions to Illinois Representative Jeff Keicher. (“Report Received Date”…
Nicklas Consulting, LLC
Bill Nicklas, city manager of DeKalb, owns Nicklas Consulting, LLC. I did not know this until I read a complaint in which he is named a defendant. At the time of the discovery, I was the city clerk so I hesitated to address it publicly, especially when thinking of him as an abuser guarantees bias…