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 […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Public Access division of the Attorney General’s office was designed to hold government accountable and give citizens a voice. As with Judy Stearns’ case against the City for violating the Open Meetings Act, justice can take years of mostly no action. I lost count of how many Request for Reviews have […]
By: Diane Benjamin Tari was on WJBC again this morning: Tari Renner Bloomington Mayor 8-10-16 Starting around 12:40 Tari discusses the Liquor Commission yet again. Kudos to Scott Laughlin for questioning some of Tari’s statements. Tari is trying to justify the Open Meetings Act violations by using State Law. He seems to forget Bloomington is […]
I was notified last night approval of release will be on the 8/22 agenda. Lawsuit pending until then. . By: Diane Benjamin Laws evidently don’t matter to the current City of Bloomington Leadership. Government “for and by the people” has become sit down, shut up, and we might get to you eventually. They have until […]
By: Diane Benjamin The approval of a Liquor License was left off the agenda last night. Since the recipient has a Father’s Day event planned, he can’t wait until the next meeting for approval. Therefore the Council is planning a quick meeting whenever they can get 5 aldermen together to approve it. Who dropped the […]
A special 3 minute meeting was just called for later this week. Put approval on that agenda Tari! By: Diane Benjamin The last time the City Council looked at their Secret Meeting minutes, as required by law, they refused to release the old City Manager Tom Hamilton’s performance reviews. In other words, people still […]
By: Diane Benjamin Today’s edition has a story on the Attorney General’s ruling about the Bloomington City Council violating the Open Meetings Act: http://www.pantagraph.com/news/local/government-and-politics/ill-ag-city-council-violated-open-meetings-law/article_5dfb7bef-4515-52af-96a9-e8fb37c8abb0.html See this story from June 4th: https://blnnews.com/2016/06/04/renner-is-guilty/ Of course the paper’s version contains errors. The AG ruled the “verbatim recording” must be released in addition to the closed session minutes […]
Tari, It’s wonderful that the Illinois Policy Institute rated Bloomington’s website 100% on their 10 point scale. It’s great that citizens can see information without filing FOIA requests. But that’s just a website Tari, and only 10 things IPI thinks are important. You now have the opportunity to prove you are really transparent. (Of course, […]
Re-posted only to change how it was originally posted. By: Diane Benjamin The Attorney General finally ruled on the Open Meetings Act Violation filed in 2013 by then Alderwoman Judy Stearns! A couple of weeks I wrote about Madigan’s failure to rule and asked readers to call. https://blnnews.com/2016/05/19/madigan-too-busy/ I know at least a few of […]
By: Diane Benjamin I wonder why nobody ever noticed CIRA was violating the Open Meetings Act? Illinois has a HUGE problem with too many units of government, the Central Illinois Regional Airport being just one. Since I didn’t want to FOIA them every month for information or just be on their email list, I filed […]
Tomorrow’s meeting doesn’t say cancelled but the agenda for the other meeting got changed! “Assoc” used to be a shorter abbreviation. Use your imagination. By: Diane Benjamin On the City of Bloomington calendar for tomorrow is a Property Maintenance Board of Review meeting. Since no agenda has been posted 48 hours in advance – […]
By: Diane Benjamin Action can’t be taken on any items not publicized 48 hours prior to a meeting. You could decide to double salaries in Executive Session, then vote in open session without anybody knowing it until it’s done. That’s why the OMA exists. I see you finally got the “Any Other New Business” right! […]
(Food was planned for the now cancelled retreat too!) Source: http://edgarcountywatchdogs.com/2014/10/bloomington-city-council-feeding-their-face-on-your-dime BLOOMINGTON, IL. (ECWd) – People wonder why taxes keep rising while their living conditions deteriorate. Here is one of those reasons. On the agenda for the Monday night’s Special Meeting (Oct 13, 2014), that states it will start at 5:00 p.m., is a comment […]
by: Diane Benjamin As previously reported, the State’s Attorney General is investigating an Open Meetings Act violation by the Bloomington Library Board. http://blnnews.com/2013/09/16/states-attorney-demands-answers-from-the-library-board/ One recent appointee to the Board was present at this meeting should have known better. Emily Kelahan had recently completed the Open Meetings Act training: Information received under the Freedom of Information Act […]
