Alderman Baker’s Phone Use During the Council Meeting Was Personal

Author: yinn

Apr 18

I was ready to get all congratulatory on Alderman Dave Baker for allowing electronic public input during discussions at the April 8 council meeting, but it turns out the celebratory spirit was premature because the texting was of a personal nature.

Baker Cell Phone Use photo BakerTextingFOIA_zps8cabe931.jpg

A Freedom of Information Act opinion says that electronic communications made during meetings are public records, but only if they have to do with public business.

Could be Mr. Baker had an actual emergency, in which case I hope everything turned out OK. However, he does this a lot so I’m guessing most days he’s just being rude.

Some municipalities might choose to ban electronic communications during city meetings, but I’m torn. Sometimes it’s better to know without a doubt who the jerks and louts are.

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Filed under: Council/City Watch | Tagged as:

Police Station Contractors

Author: yinn

Apr 15

Here’s the response to a Freedom of Information Act request filed late last month for the list of contractors/subcontractors who are building our new police station.
Police Station Contractors photo PoliceStationContractors_zps2920e099.jpg

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DeKalb’s Website Transparency Mystery Solved

Author: yinn

Mar 12

Just in time for Sunshine Week, I’ve re-scored the City of DeKalb’s website transparency score from scratch.

Does it come anywhere near the Illinois Policy Institute’s score of 88.1 points? No.

But at least I have found out why. Check out the scoring rubric, here. This is the one I used both in December 2010 and yesterday, but it’s been unhooked from the main scoring page. You can see that six of the 10 categories originally required documents to be searchable for full credit, but this requirement eventually got dropped in favor of simply encouraging the posting of more documents online.

Without further ado: Read the rest of this entry

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What Is the DeKalb City Attorney Talking About?

Author: yinn

Feb 8

In the course of a year I submit to the city at least a half-dozen requests under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The vast majority of requests for information are filled as a matter of routine. Every once in awhile, though, the city denies something I’ve asked for by citing an exemption under FOIA, in which case I ask the Public Access Counselor (PAC) of the Office of the Attorney General to review the decision.

The review process naturally feels a bit combative. Of course I’ve asked for information I feel entitled to under the law, while the city obviously has concluded that its reasons for denial are solid. The PAC acts as referee.

But if the Request for Review under FOIA can get a little contentious, the same process under the Open Meetings Act (OMA) almost surely will be. With FOIA, it’s usually a matter of either being vindicated in the denial or being told to release information. With OMA, the PAC is investigating an allegation of lawbreaking for which penalties can apply.

A video recording from the last city council meeting alerted me to the PAC review of an alleged OMA violation by the City of DeKalb in October 2012. Since you probably will not hear about it anywhere else, I want to tell you.

Even more importantly, I would like to compare the facts as I understand them, to the city attorney’s report of the matter. Read the rest of this entry

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Something Odd About the Public Library Construction Grant Program

Author: yinn

Jan 10

Because the local library applied for a state construction grant in 2012, I decided to read up on these grants. One result of the research is doubt that all the money from a new library grant “pot” has all gone to libraries — but I am having a difficult time finding out for sure. This is a progress report for citizen watchdogs and others interested in state level grant programs, the Illinois State Library and/or the Freedom of Information Act.

Sandwich Public Library found out about its $1.6 million construction grant award months ago, but word is just now circulating. DeKalb Public Library was likewise notified in July that it wouldn’t receive an award this fiscal year, yet suddenly now it’s getting $8.5 million from the state for its planned expansion.

The questions that arise out of these announcements — and their peculiar timing — are related to what I would describe as an uncharacteristic lack of transparency by the Illinois State Library in administering a $50 million construction grant program. I’ve used the Internet and, just lately, the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to try to part the curtains.

Though the FOIA adventure continues, having local libraries and their good fortunes in the news seems a reasonable excuse to lay out the story so far, so here goes. Read the rest of this entry

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NIU Enrollment by Campus — Er, Mostly

Author: yinn

Dec 20

When we talk about NIU enrollment we are usually referring to the enrollment at all four campuses, which is the number NIU must report to the state.

With a drop of 4.9% as we had this year, a lot of questions come up. Hypothetically speaking, what if DeKalb had lost 10% but nobody knew because growth at other campuses made up for it?

I requested a more detailed breakdown under the Freedom of Information Act and was denied. During the subsequent review by the Public Access Counselor of the denial, however, counsel for NIU offered these numbers:

LocationFall
2008		Fall
2009		Fall
2010		Fall
2011		Fall
2012
DeKalb Only21, 68521, 37420, 82520, 00519, 012
Hoffman
Estates Only		505458438438381
Naperville
Only		476460483461398
Rockford
Only		170921305849
Other/Multiple
Locations		1, 5612, 0401, 9742, 0282, 029
Totals24, 39724, 42423, 85022, 99021, 869

“Other/Multiple Locations” means there are about 2,000 students who attend classes on more than one campus, and for whatever reason NIU assigns them to none. Leaving room for speculation is not ideal, but this is more information than we had before so to me it was worth the effort.

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DeKalb’s Population Illusions

Author: yinn

Oct 24

**Update: DHS enrollment projections for next year have been corrected from 17,000 to 1,700 and I appreciate receiving the email heads up.**

Possibly the worst argument in support of the land swap deal between District 428 and Shodeen is this:

The land near [DeKalb High School] offers more promise for the district than Kiwanis Park. School officials said 1,800 students are enrolled at DHS now, but that number could expand to 2,500 or 3,000 students in the future, making it necessary to plan for a expansion of DHS facilities in the future.

I see that a commenter at the online newspaper site has already pointed out, “The most recent report done by an actual demographer and not an extrapolater shows flat enrollment for 20 years.”

It’s true. There was a demography report done pre-referendum, while our community enjoyed tremendous growth; then a second one was completed at the insistence of District 428′s Facilities Planning Committee after the economy tanked. Projections from the second show DeKalb’s high school enrollment dropping under 1,700 next year and the year after (which makes me wonder how close an estimate is the 1,800 reported above).

Unfortunately, the school board had their fingertips packed firmly in their ears during the presentation of the second demographer’s report, and they built DeKalb High School for 3,000 students. This has led to operational difficulties such as having to open DHS short four of the custodians they needed.

So, talking about expansion of DHS with any urgency right now is just…just…

Colonel Sandurz: Prepare ship for light speed.
Dark Helmet: No, no, no, light speed is too slow.
Colonel Sandurz: Light speed, too slow?
Dark Helmet: Yes, we’re gonna have to go right to ludicrous speed.

Yeah, that’s it: ludicrous speed.

Read the rest of this entry

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A Visit to DeKalb County’s New Website

Author: yinn

Sep 21

DeKalb County put its new website online this week.

The county says the overhaul was not made in response to the Illinois Policy Institute’s recent grade of D-, but has been in the works for about a year.

DeKalb County has put lots online for quite some time, but finding it or even getting a real sense of what all is there could be a problem. Read the rest of this entry

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Filed under: County Watch, Goo-goo Files, Honor Roll | Tagged as: , ,

Daily Chronicle Still on Top of NIU Resignation Story

Author: yinn

Aug 30

In “NIU hired outside firm to investigate employees” we learn that NIU paid about $25,000 for investigations into what have previously been described as serious allegations of misconduct.

A contract between the university and Sycamore law firm Foster & Buick Law Group shows that attorney John Countryman was hired June 4 to investigate “named individuals within the organization.” The contract was obtained by the Daily Chronicle through a Freedom of Information Act request.
…
NIU hired Countryman at an hourly rate of $300. Palian said he didn’t know the exact amount NIU paid for the full investigation, but said it cost about $25,000.
…
University officials refused to provide findings and reports compiled by Countryman because they said they are exempt from disclosure.

The Daily Chronicle obtained the employee agreements through a Freedom of Information (FOIA) request, and I hope the paper also requests a review by the attorney general’s office of NIU’s above-claimed exemption.

Meanwhile, between the costs of the “investigation” and the severance for the employees in question, we’re up to $106,000 paid out by a public university that, in effect, keeps the facts from being known.

This is unacceptable, NIU.

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Corn Fest Has a Liquor License. Guess Where the Bar Is?

Author: yinn

Aug 24

DeKalb Corn Fest, Inc. now has its own liquor license, and its own special permit to serve liquor at Corn Fest in the great outdoors. My companion and I saw them about 5:30 p.m.

We had to request to see these documents, because they weren’t posted anywhere: not at the gate to the beer garden, not in the regular serving area nor the VIP area. A nice staff person had to go looking in an office in the hangar used by VIP. All told it took about 10 minutes to get a peek at them, even though Corn Fest was already serving.

The name of the licensed establishment is “Corn Fest” and the address is 1586 Barber Greene Road, which, as I’ve commented and Tweeted before, is the address of the Daily Chronicle.

The Knights of Columbus ran the beer garden for Corn Fest until this year. KC has, you know, an actual bar.

On Monday I’ll submit a Freedom of Information Act for these documents so you don’t have to depend upon my memory for details.

Stay tuned.

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