As indicated a few days ago, I have concerns about DeKalb’s hotel/motel inspection and licensing ordinance. The good news is, the city does recognize that some people are permanent residents of hotels and motels. “Permanent resident” means any person who occupied or has the right to occupy any room or rooms in a hotel or…
Tag: Freedom of Information Act
An Email Conversation with Mayor Rey about Hope Haven and the Travel Inn Closure
Originally, I had no plans to publish this email exchange. It was just me as Joan Q. Public, sending an opinion on a budget allocation to His Honor and to other DeKalb city council members I thought might be receptive. I expected a generic “thanks for the input” response, which would have been fine. But…
College Town Partners Agreements are Kind of Cray, but Still Important
I’ve read the College Town Partners documents that were leaked to the Preserve Our Neighborhoods (PON) group. (Want copies? Send an email to preserveourneighborhoods@gmail.com.) The agreements, which were never signed, lay out a corporate partnership between City of DeKalb, NIU, a local developer and two banks. They strike me as kind of nuts, actually, being…
DeKalb’s Separation Agreement with Pisarcik
Laura Pisarcik was City of DeKalb’s financial director for three years until her resignation March 7. Despite her position as a department head, Pisarcik’s departure went unannounced until the Daily Chronicle began making inquiries and reported the separation April 12. Since then I’ve obtained the separation agreement from the city under the Illinois Freedom of…
If You’re Cleaning House, Why Keep it a Secret?
From the Daily Chronicle’s weekend edition: The city of DeKalb is without a finance director after Laura Pisarcik resigned the same week city Manager Anne Marie Gaura announced financial consultants would review the city’s financial policies and procedures. Ordinarily I’d applaud the sight of heads rolling for the sake of accountability. This time I can’t.…
Final Payouts to DeKalb’s Retired City Manager
When I told you about City of DeKalb’s policy to allow staff in administrative positions to bank comp time — as well as how much comp certain employees had accumulated — I could not include the comp and other accumulations of former city manager Mark Biernacki because he’d already cashed out in mid-June. But, here…
Comp Time Champs
***Clarification*** added 12/3 due to a question that came up in this Facebook discussion: Firefighters often work overtime and they almost always receive overtime pay for it. However, according to their contract they might with permission accumulate a little comp time instead, up to 205 hours, after which no more comp time is permitted to…
DeKalb Public Library and Greed
In a post from January 10, I told you I’d continue trying to get information about the state’s Public Library Construction Grant Program since we knew so few of the institutions that won them. Part of the reason it has taken so long to get back to you is that I goofed up my chance…
Spending TIF Money on the Egyptian Theatre
Last month I was going through recent City of DeKalb check registers for something or other and came across a payment out of DeKalb’s Central Area Tax Increment Financing (TIF) Fund for $189 with the description “EGYPTN THTR UNCLG BSMNT DRN.” I also found descriptions for “EGYPTN THTR STG DOORS LCKS” and “LGHT FXTR WMNS…
TIF Funds Paid for Airport Signage
Click on the image for a larger version.