By:  Diane Benjamin

It should be clear by now that Bloomington doesn’t want taxpayers to know what they do.  I didn’t file a lawsuit because Renner is transparent.  The City didn’t hire a communications director to communicate, Nora is paid to filter and spin information.

Now there is more proof – h/t JS.

At the last Council meeting a vote was taken to release some of the minutes of Executive Sessions – the Councils SECRET meetings.  What they released was obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.  I’m sure these minutes would never be released if there wasn’t law saying the Council had to review the minutes and release any that didn’t qualify to be kept secret.  They went for years without releasing any until they were forced to by Alderwoman Stearns.  She had to point out the law and demand compliance.

The potted Council plants don’t want you to know who gave big raises to David Hales.  They love SECRET meetings and they love keeping the minutes secret.  But now they have a new plan:  Let’s make the minutes so general they don’t reveal anything:

 Mr. Hales encouraged the Council to keep minutes general in nature. He recommended that the Council avoid the use of quotations and noted that verbatim minutes were not required. Minutes should be a summary of the discussion and not too specific. He added that in some cities, minutes were very brief. 

Here’s the back story:  This discussion took place because Alderwoman Stearns did not want to approve the minutes as recorded from the meeting in November 2013 that led to her filing an Open Meetings Act violation.  She felt they did not accurately reflect what happened at the meeting – including Renner’s statement that he wouldn’t stand for public criticism of David Hales.

By the way, Lisa Madigan’s office has still not made a final ruling on Stearn’s case.  The AG’s office ordered the minutes released, by since the meeting violated the Open Meetings Act, they will eventually rule that the tape of the meeting must be released.  Renner tried to bypass Bill Brady and get the $750,000 grant directly from Springfield, so is it too hard to believe he also called Madigan’s office and begged for a final ruling not to be made?  Maybe this explains it:

Mr. Jurgens informed the Council that the verbatim recording could be destroyed eighteen (18) months after the written minutes were approved.

Evidently I have to file another lawsuit to keep the tape from being destroyed!  Come spring the City will destroy the tape illegally – it’s still an open case, the tape can not be destroyed .

Mayor Renner agreed that Mr. Hales had made a good point. He added his hope that this item could be put behind the Council.

Renner wants YOU to forget about his arrogance too.

You can see the minutes here, there is more interesting items worth reading:  ex032414 partial release

If you want a Council who works for citizens, not Renner and Hales, April can’t come soon enough.  Plan now to vote and get your neighbors out to vote too.