I received this list of newspaper articles regarding Dr. Steven Baule [ New Superintendent of North Boone District 200] from an anonymous source.  Dr. Baule currently is the Superintendent of Westmont, District 201.  The list is for the Westmont, Illinois newspaper—For the individual article links, go to District 100 Watchdog:  http://district100watchdog.blogspot.com/2010/04/highlights-of-newspaper-chronology-of.html

Highlights of newspaper chronology of Dr. Steven Baule at CUSD 201 Westmont & New North Boone Superintendent

Full List of Articles

District 201 ponders closing South School

District 201 votes to shut South’s doors

District 201 incumbents win re-election

District 201 parents form advocacy group

Public allowed to speak at School Board meetings

Parent frustrated with communications

Board told by state it must respond to public's request

School Board defies attorney general regarding superintendent contract

School Board reverses closed session policy after contacted by state

Residents shown doors at District 201 meeting

Miller parents concerned about composition of fourth-grade class

Special ed parents upset about communication lapse

High school nets poor test score rankings

Park District to sponsor canceled trip

Eight residents running in District 201 School Board race

District 201 School Board needs new leadership (letter # 2)

A Better 201 slate wins all board seats

Post Election Articles

Boone County Health Department Discusses Employee Grievances

Below are the open session minutes of the March 17, 2010, Board of Health meeting at which Stephanie (Seaworth) Crawford resigned.  At this meeting 90 days of severance pay was authorized by the board of health.

Among  other items I question, how can this board authorize such a large amount of compensation without a role call vote.  Apparently none of the members wish the public to really know how they voted or they all believed that level of severance was deserved by Ms. Crawford, who did not meet the initial qualifications for the job and served approximately 13 months. 

Were not the employee grievances against Ms. Crawford and her mentor, Mr. Empereur?   If these grievances were justified ,why would severance pay be award to Ms. Crawford?  

Susan Karras was the employee who resigned because  of the grievance and her record was expunge of the questionable disciplinary action.  Why did Ms. Karras not receive severance?  If someone deserves severance, I believe it is Ms. Karras.

Click on the photocopy to enlarge.

Transparency bill would put earmarks, FOIA results online

bill, introduced by U.S. Rep. Mike Quigley, (D-Chicago), March 25, would increase the public’s ability to access information about lobbyists, Congressional committees and executive agencies

federal agencies to post on the Internet their responses to public requests for information filed under the Freedom of Information Act.

Congressional committees would be required to post votes, hearing transcripts and video online. In addition Congressional earmark requests would be posted in a public database. All legislation would need to be made available to the public at least 72 hours prior to consideration by the House of Representatives. And lobbyists would need to disclose the names of legislators and officials with whom they met.

Click on the following for more details:   Transparency bill would put earmarks, FOIA results online

State pension funds could be insolvent in a decade, biz leaders

  That's the claim of the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club [Chicago]

The funds or the state could borrow again, "but that will just make the problem worse," with the state now without a way to make up an estimated $80-billion-plus in unfunded liability in the pension funds.

Click on the following for more details:  State pension funds could be insolvent in a decade, biz leaders say | Greg Hinz | Crain's Chicago Business

10 percent of Ill. gov leases are expired 5 years

the state rented office space in 116 locations where its leases had expired. That's 22 percent of its 525 leases. Ten percent have been "holdovers" for five years or more.

Procurement reform that took effect Jan. 1 prohibits any holdover lease of more than six months. Beginning July 1, the comptroller begins withholding payment for any rented space where the lease has been expired that long.

Click on the following for more details:  Pantagraph.com | News from Associated Press

Stimulus bonds for sport complexes take step forward

McHenry County may have allocated all of its bonds and Boone County has not allocated a single dollar.  Look at the final paragraph—the Northwest Herald believes all the unused funds will go back to the State.  Boone County Board could do nothing until Growth Dimension passed judgment on the stimulus bonds—perhaps Growth Dimension can see to it that the stimulus bonds are allocated locally before the June cutoff.

allocate the last of McHenry County's economic stimulus bonding authority to two sports ventures are now on their way to the McHenry County Board.
Its Finance and Audit Committee voted Tuesday, 6-1, to recommend giving the proposed Lakewood Sportsplex $18 million of its bonding authority from the 2009 economic stimulus bill. The remaining $3.57 million will go to the proposed McHenry County K-Nines baseball stadium in Woodstock, far short of the $15 million asked for by its developer, EquityOne Sports Development.

McHenry County received $27.5 million in bonding authority for private projects under the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act. The bonds are meant to encourage lending for ready projects by giving investors a 45 percent refund of the federal taxes payable on them. The county only grants the ability to borrow and not the bonds themselves.

The state likely will collect the unused bonding authority in June from county and municipal governments, and authorize the Illinois Finance Authority, a self-financed state bonding and loan agency, to disburse it to shovel-ready projects. The state’s 102 counties and eight of its largest cities divided up $1.67 billion in stimulus bonding authority.

 

For the next seven days you may read the rest of the story by clicking on the following:  Northwest Herald | Stimulus bonds for sport complexes take step forward

Look for McHenry Co. tax rates to rise as property values decline

Take a look at the community college increases—McHenry County College is up only 2% but Harper and Elgin CC are up 20%

….economy that continues to hammer the housing industry. But another factor appears to be a growing number of property owners challenging their assessments and, far more often than not, winning.  Last year, the county's Board of Review heard a record 4,328 challenges and, Mayberry estimates, about 90 percent of them succeeded.

By levying the same or more, the taxing bodies force the county clerk to set a higher tax rate, allowing them to come up with the chosen amount amid declining assessed valuations.

Daily Herald | Look for McHenry Co. tax rates to rise as property values decline