City Again Deprived of State of the City Address

Author: yinn

Jul 20

Here’s what the mayor is supposed to do:

Sec. 3.1-35-5. Mayor or president; general duties. The mayor or president shall perform all the duties which are prescribed by law, including ordinances, and shall take care that the laws and ordinances are faithfully executed. The mayor or president from time to time may, and annually shall, give the corporate authorities information concerning the affairs of the municipality and may recommend for their consideration measures the mayor or president believes expedient.

Here is what he did.

Eggs & Issues: State of the City
Date: 7/19/2011
Time: 7:30 AM TO 9:00 AM

Hopkins Park Community Center
1403 Sycamore Road
Terrace Room
DeKalb, IL 60115

Phone:
(815) 756-6306

Event Description: This is a great opportunity for Chamber members and the community to gather with DeKalb Mayor Kris Povlsen and DeKalb City Manager Mark Biernacki for a discussion on the State of the City. The presentation will also include information provided by T.J. Moore, Director of Public Works, an update on ReNew DeKalb, and an introduction to the economic development plan for the city by Roger Hopkins. Breakfast will be provided with registration.

Surprise! There’s nothing necessarily wrong with that. DeKalb’s Number One Super Duper role model, Naperville, allows its Chamber of Commerce to host its State of the City address in similar fashion.

However, Naperville’s is conducted as a public meeting, with easy-to-find full transcript, video and presentation materials put up at its website.

From the local newspaper coverage today, it looks to me like care was taken not to have more than one alderman attend the DeKalb meeting, in order to avoid technical violations of the Open Meetings Act. Reminders: allowing reporters does not in itself fulfill OMA; and one alderman does not “corporate authorities” make.

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The Private Redistricting of DeKalb

Author: yinn

Jul 11

The Chronicle reports today that the city has begun to redraw ward boundaries.

First of all, what’s the rush?

But City Manager Mark Biernacki said the council will try to get a new map approved before this October. That way, if any sitting council member finds he or she is outside of their ward’s new boundaries, there would be enough time to consider moving, satisfying the city’s rule that candidates must be residents of the ward they intend to run from for at least one year.

“You try to minimize the impact as much as possible,” Biernacki said.

I’m not sure that minimizing the impact for Mr. Biernacki and his fave aldermen is really the point — but even if there is a point, is it more important than taking some time to promote an open process with plenty of public input?

Also:

  • How can work on redistricting even be allowed before the census appeal is finished?

  • When did city council vote on a resolution to redistrict this way instead of, say, appointing an ad hoc committee like other municipalities do?

  • Where’s the map?

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    Local Government Transparency Act

    Author: yinn

    Mar 2

    A bill introduced into the Illinois Senate would establish minimum standards of transparency for local government websites.

    SB 37, which is scheduled for a committee hearing today, would expand upon the Illinois Policy Institute’s 10-point Transparency Checklist, with which CB’s readers are already familiar.

    Links:

    Illinois Policy Institute summary of the standards contained in SB 37

    Current status of SB 37

    Online document repositories referred to in the IPI article, docstoc.com and scribd.com

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    ‘Open and transparent’ town locks up public records as bars buy village president’s insurance – chicagotribune.com

    Author: Kay Shelton

    Dec 26

    ‘Open and transparent’ town locks up public records as bars buy village president’s insurance – chicagotribune.com.

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    2010 City of DeKalb Website Transparency Scores

    Author: yinn

    Dec 23

    The first task was to select a grading system. The Sunshine Review Transparency Checklist seemed like a good place to start, but its City Websites wiki page lists criteria that are different from the checklist used for rankings and awards. It was confusing, and left the impression that check registers and ethics were casualties of a list determined to remain at 10 and only 10 items no matter what.

    The Illinois Policy Institute’s 10-Point Transparency Checklist was developed in consultation with Sunshine Review so checklist items, rationales and examples are quite similar, but there is greater consistency of information across pages. IPI additionally employs a scoring rubric based on a possible 100 points, which makes the obsession with 10 a bit more understandable. It also generates greater confidence that two audits of the same website at the same point in time would score pretty much the same. IPI also forgoes ethics policy posting requirements, but did manage to save check register criteria by consolidating the elected officials with the administrative.

    Without further ado: Read the rest of this entry

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    AG Rules Against Release of Names of Council Members Receiving Health Insurance

    Author: yinn

    Sep 12

    Yesterday I received a letter from the Office of the Attorney General regarding its ruling on the FOIA request to release the names of council members who take the City of DeKalb’s health insurance. Click on any page of the letter to see a larger image.

    Ruling p. 1 Read the rest of this entry

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    Library Timeline & Pertinent Expenditures

    Author: yinn

    Aug 21

    The DeKalb Library (DKPL) board passed a resolution at the beginning of 2007 to expand and improve Library facilities. This indeed has happened; since its passage, the Library started a fund for a new boiler, accepted TIF money for window and other improvements, and remodeled the Youth Services department and the lounge.

    Almost immediately, however, DKPL also began looking beyond its own premises. We know this because starting April 2007, DKPL began meeting in closed sessions under 5ILCS 120/2(2)(5), which is an exemption under the Open Meetings Act for discussing the sale or lease of real property. Also, DKPL paid for a consultation with Guio Real Estate in June of that year. Read the rest of this entry

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    It’s Still On

    Author: yinn

    Aug 4

    [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.

    2010 FOIA RfR Response Notification

    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

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    City’s Response to Request for Review

    Author: yinn

    Jul 11

    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.

    FOIA Response p. 1 Read the rest of this entry

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    Let’s All Go

    Author: yinn

    Jul 6

    If you’ve been frustrated with the lack of real dialog at DeKalb city council meetings, fret no longer. Turns out we are invited to discuss “the state of the city” with the mayor and city manager at a cost of only $25 per citizen.

    Eggs and Issues- State of the City
    Date: 7/28/2010
    Time: 7:30 AM TO 9:30 AM

    Hopkins Park Terrace Room
    1403 Sycamore Rd.
    DeKalb, IL 60115

    Phone:
    (815)-756-6306

    Event Description: DeKalb Chamber of Commerce Presents: Good Morning Kishwaukee Valley EGGS & ISSUES – The State of The City. This is a great opportunity for Chamber members and the community to gather with DeKalb Mayor Kris Povlsen and DeKalb City Manager Mark Biernacki for a discussion on The State of the City.

    [H/T M.M.]

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