The DeKalb Public Library has a current annual budget of $1.9 million, yet apparently has enough funds on hand to buy property valued at $1.8 million. That’s quite a reserve! Normally for slush I’d call for a refund (about $40 per resident) but perhaps we should ask DKPL to help the city save for the police station instead. [/snark]
At any rate, in trying to ascertain whether red flags went up for the auditor regarding DKPL’s budgeting practices, I’ve resorted to a careful reading of Comprehensive Annual Financial Reports (CAFR, pronounced KAY-fur) and am through nearly 40% of the CAFR for FY2009. Generally it’s not as bad a slog as one might fear, though there are exceptions… Read the rest of this entry
According to NBC Chicago.com, 235 of Governor Quinn’s staff received pay raises averaging 11% this year.
Of the 235 who received a pay raise in 2010, 225 of them received more than a five percent pay hike. Those rewarded with a fatter check include a labor relations expert whose pay increase is more than $5,000, to the local tourism marketing manager who received more than a $10,000 pay hike.
“You have to pay people appropriately in order to get them and keep them,” Quinn said.
…
The pay raises range from $300 a year to $40,000 a year. The average raise for these non-union employees is 11 percent — that’s four times higher than private industry expectations.
NBC Chicago discovered the pay hikes through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. Earlier this summer, AP uncovered pay raises given to 43 workers in the governor’s office.
[Update 8/10: I've added my response to the city's response after the jump.]
Click on the photo of the letter if you’d like to view a larger version of it.
Click here for the original Request for Review acceptance letter.
Click here for the City of DeKalb’s response.
Yes, I’ve responded to the response. Read the rest of this entry
On July 22, 2010, the City of DeKalb received a No Further Remediation (NFR) Letter from the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency for the property it owns at First and Locust streets (AKA “skating rink site”).
[A]n NFR Letter signifies that compliance with all applicable regulatory requirements has been achieved, all corrective action (if any) has been completed, and no further corrective action is necessary for the protection of human health, safety and the environment.
Read the rest of this entry
The following is the City of DeKalb’s response to the Illinois Attorney General’s Public Access Counselor regarding its denial of a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for the names of Council members who participate in the City’s health insurance plan. Click on any page of the letter to see a larger image of it.
Read the rest of this entry
Last month CB reported that City of DeKalb’s legal counsel had denied a request under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) for the names of City Council members who are currently participating in DeKalb’s health insurance plan. I subsequently filed a Request for Review with the Illinois Attorney General, which you may recall is the new procedure for appeal of denials since the first of this year. (Under the old FOIA procedure, the city manager would have reviewed and ruled on the appeal.)
Yesterday a letter arrived that confirmed the AG’s Public Access Counselor has “determined that further inquiry into this matter is warranted.” The letter, dated June 22, appears after the jump. Read the rest of this entry
The mayors of DeKalb and Cortland each stood his ground on matters of conscience today in the Northern Star.
–In a letter to the editor, Mayor Povlsen defends his decision to keep applicants to the 3rd and 7th ward alderman positions secret, equating and applying a “code of ethics” he followed as a counselor at Ben Gordon to his current, public responsibilities.
–Mayor Seyller frames the landfill as an either-or question — either the county approves the current expansion proposal or we have to truck our garbage out — and he bemoans the opposition’s having “tied kids to it.” Bonus quote: “I don’t know for a fact but I would think that there is another school somewhere on the face of the Earth that is within a mile away from a landfill.”
–What the heck. Let’s throw Pam Verbic in here, too. The new Third Ward alderman answers the Star‘s questions about her new job, noting that she also works full-time elsewhere but not sharing where that “elsewhere” is. If Ms. Verbic still works for Barb City Manor, a property owned by the City of DeKalb and funded by its TIF 2 District, we have a right to know.
It’s Chicago we’re talking about, but it bodes well for the very similar DeKalb Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests made by our local dailies, does it not?
March 5, 2010 (CHICAGO) (WLS) — The Illinois Attorney General’s office says the Mayor’s office must turn over job applications for the two vacant Alderman positions.
The city had tried to keep the information secret. Late this afternoon, the AG’s public access counselor, Cara Smith, ruled that the public should have access to information about the application process. Read the rest of this entry
The Northern Star has submitted a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to obtain the names of the persons considered by the mayor for the vacated Third Ward alderman spot.
With the questionable past of the 3rd Ward, it is interesting to see that the city has decided to withhold this information from the public, since an aldermanic position is in fact a public position. On Jan. 25, DeKalb Mayor Kris Povlsen appointed Pam Verbic, a long-time 3rd Ward resident, to the position that had been vacant since Victor Wogen resigned on Dec. 14, 2009. Congratulations to Mrs. Verbic.
The Star, however, is still wondering why the other nine applicants have not been announced, since it is a public position.
The Northern Star filed a Freedom of Information request for the names of the 10 applicants, and, in a letter addressed to the Northern Star, DeKalb City Clerk Steve Kapitan said “City Attorney Norma Guess asserts that this request [for the 10 names] be denied because it constitutes a clear unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.”
Let’s take a look at FOIA. Read the rest of this entry
Transparency Growing Pains in DeKalb, Illinois
More about the Sunlight Foundation, which CB has linked to for a couple years under the “Good Government” blogroll heading.
