By:  Diane Benjamin

Being a citizen watchdog has two purposes:

• Report what the media is refusing to report
• Make sure laws are followed

Bloomington is showing again Monday night that laws don’t matter.  On the agenda for the “Special Meeting ” at 5:00 pm is approving the minutes from the August 8th meeting.  http://www.cityblm.org/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=11077

See page 6.  At that meeting the minutes reflect the following:

NINE meeting minutes were approved.  What is the LAW?

I believe the City Manager creates the agendas for meetings along with input from the Mayor.  It seems pretty basic that approving the previous meetings minutes should always be on the agenda.  David Hales is responsible for this Open Meetings Act violation because that didn’t happen.  It’s a pattern and one reason why many Requests for Reviews have been filed with the Attorney General.

We see on the State level that laws don’t matter – the Illinois Constitution requires a balanced budget be passed every year.  Illinois hasn’t had one in over a decade and nobody is held accountable.

If laws aren’t enforced at the local level, they never will be at the State or Federal level.

Why does it matter?  Not posting minutes makes it more difficult to complete research.  See this story:  https://blnnews.com/2016/04/08/minutes-finally-released/   The minutes from the meeting where the Sales Tax was raised 1% (9/21/15) weren’t released until April of this year.  Review what was said during the discussion in that story.  Obviously hiding information for as long as possible is the reason for not following the law.

Even though non-compliance carries penalties, the people charged with enforcing laws never do.  The media isn’t going to investigate.  Therefore it’s up to citizens to hold their government accountable!  (That’s YOU)

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