There’s another special city council meeting, specifically a budget meeting, set for this evening. It’s apparently a follow-up of what they discussed last week. On Thursday, the council held a joint meeting with the finance advisory committee to outline a proposed 5 percent reduction in city department budgets for fiscal 2018. This equates to nine…
Tag: city manager
DeKalb, I’ve got your new police officers right here
DeKalb staff are proposing a one-cent rise in the local sales tax in order to meet next fiscal year’s budget beginning January 1, 2018. They’ll tell you this is about street improvements, but they didn’t care about that last year or the year before, so I believe anything promised for streets is a sweetener to…
Where the city’s interest in Annie Glidden North comes from
***Update 8/12*** Added city manager Anne Marie Gaura and fixed clarity issues. As our city council prepares to discuss a revitalization plan proposal for the Annie Glidden North (AGN) section of DeKalb, we should be aware of the possibility of a “done deal” already worked out by NIU and private interests, promoted by city staff…
DeKalb Park District did not endorse the Annie Glidden North plan proposal. Here’s why
The DeKalb Park District (DPD) did not endorse City of DeKalb’s Annie Glidden North proposal. The resolution on the issue, unanimously passed during a special meeting Tuesday night, reads as follows: NOW BE IT RESOLVED by the Board of Commissioners of the DeKalb Park District, County of DeKalb, and State of Illinois, as follows: That…
Gaura made significant changes to DeKalb’s administrative organization without public discussion
DeKalb city manager Anne Marie Gaura has pulled some police and fire department personnel under the umbrella of DeKalb’s Community Development Department, following private consultation with selected persons but no public discussion. Staff employed in the PD’s Crime Free Housing Bureau, and the FD’s Fire Prevention Lieutenant (FPL), will now report to a Chief Building…
Pie is for Bureaucrats, Not Streets People
A friend of mine asked a couple weeks ago whether there is some way to calculate how much growth there’s been of bureaucrats in city government. Like many locals, I know that the DeKalb city manager has been generally allowed to spin off new departments and hire new administrators without restraint, but we’re somewhat lacking…
This Election, Let’s Discuss Remedial Action for DeKalb
The Chronicle has published a letter to the editor that caught my eye. It’s about local candidates and their positions on the issues. The words that they use may change, but the rhetoric is the same. The writer goes on to list the same old, same old: DeKalb-NIU relations, easing of the tax burden, and…
DeKalb City Manager Oversteps Purchasing Authority Again
Recently I came across this City of DeKalb memo circulated via a council meeting agenda in October: With former Commander Smith’s retirement in June, the City faced an immediate crisis by not having on-call IT personnel who are familiar with the City’s specific computer systems and able to keep them operational at all times. On…
DeKalb City Manager Ignored a Policy She Didn’t Like
Remember this from October? This week, city staff asked the city council to waive the residency requirement for the IT director candidate that they like. It was presented as super-urgent, and council went along. The problem with this (besides their ongoing preference for carpetbaggers, I mean) is that it goes against a policy set by…
Check Out the ‘City Manager’s’ New Admin Assistant
Remember how City of DeKalb never got rid of its legal assistant, even when the city switched to an outside attorney who is contractually obligated to hire and pay his own help? The city is still providing the attorney with hired help, only now they’ve changed the name of the position to “administrative assistant.”