Among the presentations at Monday’s council meeting was a certificate of appreciation given to DeKalb’s team members in the America in Bloom beauty contest a couple weeks ago (see p. 5). With the exception of the Master Gardeners, the list represents a love-in between bureaucrats plus a business that has managed to get the city…
Tag: ethics
Ethics “In a Nutshell”
Robert Wechsler, director of CityEthics.org, has just released a new intro to local government ethics called “Local Government Ethics Programs in a Nutshell”, in which he has distilled an 800-page digital book and years of blog posts into a 27-page resource for public officials, journalists and others interested in good government. Here’s a bit out…
Rockford Rejects Collection of Fee for Electrical Aggregation
Rockford Register Star asked the question: When it comes to municipal electrical aggregation, what’s in it for the city? City brokers deal with other municipalities, lands nearly $20 million in savings for area customers, hands over thousands of accounts and gets nothing in return? Rockford’s Central Services Manager Carrie Eklund says that’s exactly what the…
Plan Commission Resignations
Joe Gastiger and Tom Specht both have sterling reputations, as their dignified resignations from the Plan Commission this week attest. It’s an old-school gesture of protest, and all too rare. The story is here, available for about a week. Keep an eye on Lunatic Fringe of DeKalb at FB, in case there’s some action.
Conflicts of Interest & the Tip of the Iceberg
Council’s affirmation of the mayor’s removal of John Guio from the Plan Commission for reasons of ethics comes as no surprise. I wonder, however, if any of the aldermen get that wife Sue Guio’s former position with the city presented more in the way of potential conflicts of interest than her place on the board…
Ethics in the City
City Council on Monday is set to decide whether the mayor’s removal of chair John Guio from the Plan Commission for an ethics violation is proper. You’ll have to excuse me for not believing the party line here. IMO this was a move based on politics, not ethics. Consider: — Another Plan Commission member, Vince…
Ethics & the Plan Commission
DeKalb’s Plan Commission has a Code of Ethics (PDF pp. 1-2). It’s flawed, but there you go. My emphasis added. d) Code of Ethics. Plan Commission members shall abide by a code of ethics as follows: (03-18) 1. Members shall exercise impartial and independent judgment in their roles as advisors to the City Council. 2.…
A Discussion of Ethics
Lately I’ve been pondering questions of conflicts of interest in political life and recently declared (elsewhere) that since a certain act of omission by a certain politician made me trust him less, I knew he had made the wrong decision. I was mocked for it, I suppose because it sounds simplistic. Short rebuttal: It is…
Ethics & Downtown Revitalization
All we know for sure is this: DeKalb Mayor Frank Van Buer cast a vote against Gavin Wilson’s candidacy as 5th Ward alderman. The mayor is now found to have close political relationships with Wilson’s opponent in the race and with the man who challenged Wilson’s ballot petition. Van Buer’s campaign manager, Don Floyd, says…