Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Rockford's economic development chief Janyce Fadden resigns - Rockford, IL - Rockford Register Star

Is there another story; another reason for Ms. Fadden’s move?

By Isaac Guerrero

Janyce Fadden stunned a lot of people Wednesday when she announced her resignation after nearly eight years of leading the agency tasked with retaining and attracting jobs to Rockford area.

Fadden told her board of directors that she is leaving town to be closer to her family. The board is interviewing candidates and she will continue to serve on the board until a replacement is found

Rockford's economic development chief Janyce Fadden resigns - Rockford, IL - Rockford Register Star

Township supervisor being challenged in bid for re-election | Belvidere Daily Republican

Written by Bob Balgemann

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Incumbent Belvidere Township Supervisor Pat Murphy is being challenged by resident Les Reid as he seeks to be elected to a second four-year term.

The Republican primary election is Tuesday, Feb. 26

CLICK ON THE FOLLOWING TO READ ALL OF THE STORY:  Township supervisor being challenged in bid for re-election | Belvidere Daily Republican

Bill Pysson abstains from voting on appointments of Regional Planning Commission, Housing Authority and Capron Rescue Squad

I will be abstaining tonight on the vote for appointments. I thank the appointees for coming forth and volunteering their valuable time and please do not consider this an affront to your personal abilities or motivation. However I cannot condone the actions of the County Board Chairman whose process of soliciting and selecting candidates appears not to be in the best interests of people of Boone County.

The Chairman with the advice and consent of the county board makes numerous appointments to fire districts, county advisory boards, the Health Department and other semi-autonomous boards representing the people of Boone County. These appointments occur at various times during the calendar year and are not well known by the general public. The dates and length of terms are not always even available in the Boone County Year Book, the unofficial government fact book compiled by  Boone County’s Clerk & Recorder.

In my opinion, actions by the Chairman and the administration have not enlightened the public regarding the need for citizen participation nor granted a real opportunity for new people to apply for these open positions.

  • · The Chairman and the administration of the county have the responsibility to advertise and post vacancies for such appointments. In today’s electronic age this is usually done by use of email news releases and special postings on the county’s website. I fail to see that this has been even attempted.
  • · Please note the appointments for less than full term terms with the Regional Planning Commission. These positions were occupied for over a year by individuals who continued their duties despite their appointed terms being expired. Some submitted requests for reappointment months ago. One member of the Planning Commission with several decades of professional experience in planning withdrew his application and resigned because of the Chairman’s inaction on his request for reappointment.* This is not right.
  • · It is standard business practice for an applicant for any post to submit a letter of introduction or a resume. One of the proposed appointee has submitted only a one sentence request to be appointed to the position. Is this acceptable? I do not criticize the applicant but rather the Chairman, who apparently did not give a suitable request for written information and who accepted such a short letter.

For the above reasons, I regrettably will be abstaining from voting on these appointments this evening.

SEE the application letters:  http://www.boarddocs.com/il/boone/Board.nsf/files/94WU4H7A3C79/$file/appointments%20Feb.%2020%2C%202013%20mtg.pdf and http://www.boarddocs.com/il/boone/Board.nsf/files/94WU527A5026/$file/planning%20commission%20appointments%20Feb.%2020%2C%202013.pdf

*See Mr. Luhman’s letter of resignationhttp://boonecountywatchdog.blogspot.com/2012/12/mrwalberg-decides-not-to-reappoint-bill.html

Boone County Zoning Board of Appeals meeting changes location

BELVIDERE - BOONE COUNTY
PLANNING DEPARTMENT
401 Whitney Boulevard, Suite 400 - Belvidere, Illinois 61008 – 815 544-5271 - FAX 815 547-9214
February 20, 2013
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For additional information contact:
Kathy J. Miller, AICP
Interim Planning Director
401 Whitney Boulevard
Belvidere, IL 61008
815 544-5271
kmiller@boonecountyil.org
The Boone County Zoning Board of Appeals will have their regularly scheduled meeting
on Tuesday, February 26, 2013 at 7:00 pm at the Poplar Grove Fire Station, 305 West
Grove Road, Poplar Grove, Illinois due to the Primary Election in the Boone County
Board Room. The wind energy conversion system setback text amendment is one of
the items on the agenda. The preliminary agenda is attached.
For further information contact Kathy Miller at the Belvidere-Boone County Planning
Department.
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Financial emergency': Economic review finds Detroit unable to fix budget woes - U.S. News

By Andrew Rafferty, Staff Writer, NBC News

The report found the Motor City faces a cumulative cash deficit of more than $100 million by June 30, 2013 if "significant spending cuts" are not made. Detroit has $14 billion in employee retirement liabilities and unfunded pensions, and will need $1.9 billion over the next five years to pay off other long-term liabilities. The city has been running deficits every year since 2005, according to the review team…..

lot of the ingredients for the turnaround of the city are in place," said Frederick Headen, legal advisor for the Michigan Department of Treasury and member of the review panel. "Now we just need to execute and I do believe strongly that Detroit is fixable."

Click on the following for more details:  'Financial emergency': Economic review finds Detroit unable to fix budget woes - U.S. News