Wdk. BOFPC gets OMA training

The Woodstock Board of Fire and Police Commissioners (BOFPC) met at 5:00PM in City Council chambers. Chairman Ron Giordano and Commissioner Tom Schroeder were present; Commissioner Larry Howell was absent. Chief Lowen attended, and Deputy City Clerk Cindy Smiley was there.

The Minutes of the September 8, 2009, meeting were approved. I had wondered when they decided on the 2010 Calendar of Meetings, since there was no meeting in December. It happened on September 8.

Eligibility lists for patrolman and sergeant were posted at the Police Department in February. The sergeants' list is good for three years, and the patrolman's list is good for two years. The department is short three officers and one deputy chief, according to Chief Lowen.

Cindy Smiley conducted the long-awaited Open Meetings Act training. OMA training has been ordered by Mayor Sager for all Boards and Commissions of the City. Cindy is the authorized employee to receive FOIA requests and will conduct the OMA trainings. That got the City Attorney off the hook (and also saves the City some big bucks).

Highlights of the OMA training are:

1. Since the BOFPC has three commissioners, a quorum is 2. If two members talk about any Board business, then they are "meeting" and they must follow the OMA. If two commissioner talk on the street about Board business, they would be holding a meeting in violation of the OMA. Cindy made it plain that they cannot discuss Board business outside of a meeting. They can chat or have breakfast and talk about each other's health or family, but no Board business conversation.

2. Likewise, they cannot e-mail one another about Board business; that would constitute a "meeting." They can, however, email individually to their Board liaison, Chief Lowen, or to Cindy, who can reply to each.

They must meet in a place that is accessible by the public; they cannot meet in a home or restaurant on Board business. This is not a problem for the BOFPC, now that it meets at City Hall and not in the Chief's conference room at the police station.

Action can be taken only on items on the public agenda. They can "discuss" anything but, if it's not on the agenda, they cannot take action. There are provisions for emergency action.

Closed sessions must be audio- or video-recorded (with audio). Cindy clarified that a roll call vote must be taken to 1) go into Executive Session; 2) once in Executive Session, and 3) upon returning to open session.

After the presentation and the adjournment of the meeting, I posed questions to Cindy.

1. Does a telephone call between two commissioners that includes Board business constitute a "meeting"? Yes. She will clarify that to BOFPC members.

2. Can Chief Lowen communicate one commissioner's comments to the other commissioners? Would doing so create a "meeting" between them? Cindy will check into that.

3. Can commissioners communicate by personal, non-City email accounts about Board business? No. She will clarify that for the commissioners. She added that the City does not condone email from City officials or City Council members about City business by their personal email accounts. She added also that City email will not be re-directed to personal e-mail accounts, from which replies can be sent.

The problem with this is the high likelihood that such e-mails would not be found through Freedom of Information Requests. If a City official or elected person did use a personal e-mail account for City business, that would expose the personal e-mail account to FOIA inspection and release.

Thanks to the City of Woodstock for taking a very clear and firm position on compliance with the Open Meetings Act and the Freedom of Information Act.

Beth Bentley investigation - who's on first?

What department is leading the investigation into the disappearance of Beth Bentley, 41, on May 23? The news finally hit the Northwest Herald today, more than a week after she was reported missing to the Woodstock Police Department. (Click on the Missing poster to enlarge it; then click on the Back button on your browser to come back here.)

There is still nothing on the PD's webpage for Crime Stopper Alerts/Press Releases/Crime Alerts. Is that because it is believed that she didn't disappear from here?

There is a Facebook page for Beth that now has over 3,000 members.

What department is leading the investigation? Centralia, Ill.? Mount Vernon, Ill.? Chicago? There seems to be some uncertainty as to whether she boarded the northbound Amtrak shortly after 6:00PM on Sunday, May 23. A Chicago paper reported that she was dropped off at the station prior to train time; the poster seems to read that she boarded the train.

Who is making sure that someone is investigating this disappearance? How common is it for some departments to take a wait-and-see-if-she-shows-up position? The more time that passes, the harder it is to trace a person.

Was someone at the train station at 5:30PM last Sunday with posters and pictures? Since it was a holiday week-end, maybe someone should have been there Monday afternoon, looking for a regular commuter who might recall having seen her.

No friends or family should "assume" that anything is being done to find her. They should be in constant contact with the lead investigating agency, and they might have to press firmly to find out who is the lead law enforcement agency. And stay in contact with the local police in southern Illinois, the Amtrak police, the Chicago police who work the train station in Chicago where that train arrives.

What are buses for?

Here's a picture of one of the three white schoolbus-type vehicles used by the McHenry County Sheriff's Department?

Earlier today a question was asked of me, "Why does the sheriff's department have three buses?"

My guess is that the buses have something to do with Immigration Service detainee transportation. Maybe they are part of the deal made by MCSD with I.C.E., since the McHenry County Detention Facility is located about 63 miles from the Immigration Court in downtown Chicago.

Where were the other two buses today? Were they off on "field trips?"

Is providing transportation to and from the court in Chicago and/or the processing center in Broadview, Ill., part of the $90.00/day that the County receives for housing each detainee? Or does MCSD get a flat-rate or per-mile fee for transporting each detainee? Is each bus a "profit center"?

What if you are under-charged at a store?

In a recent survey on this blog I asked the question, “If a store under-charges you for an item, do you inform store personnel?”

Many thanks to the 55 readers who responded. The results were

Yes – 27 (49%)
No – 28 (51%)

Please vote in the new survey.

Why $0.10/gal. difference?

Ever wonder why gas prices vary from town to nearby town?

For example, today the price of regular gas in Marengo was $2.779/gal. This was at the Road Ranger station on U.S. 20 on the east end of town.

Back in Woodstock? $2.859, $2.899 and $2.939 per gallon.

Ever visit www.gasbuddy.com/? There you can not only check on local gas prices, you can enter them yourself (and help others).

Is it just "market" or free trade that governs gas prices? You'd like to think so. But, then, why are the gas prices of all stations in a town within a few pennies of one another?

Unfair anti-smoking enforcement

As I drove by a Woodstock business yesterday and noticed smokers standing within 15' of the entrance, I wondered again why the Illinois law is enforced against businessowners and not against the smokers themselves.

It's not the businessowner who is smoking.

The businessowner has no authority outside his business, when the smokers are standing on a public sidewalk.

If the businessowner complains to his customers, won't they just shop elsewhere?

Why won't the police enforce the law? I was told previously that enforcement is handled by the County Health Department, when it could easily be handled by the local police departments and their officers. Why should a Health Department employee be dispatched and hope to catch a violator, when a cop driving by could just pull in and write the ticket?

Does anyone else think this enforcement is mis-directed (and even possibly unlawful to cite a businessowner, not a smoker)?

High energy in Marengo

Friday I had a little shopping to do in Marengo and I dropped by Marengo Main Street, Inc. to say hello to Lucia Matlock. Lucia is the executive director over there.


You can just feel the energy on State Street (Route 23). The businesses are bright and clean and feel inviting to customers. Lucia's office is located in the same office as the Marengo Chamber of Commerce and the Economic Development office.


She spoke positively about the good working relationship with the Chamber and the complementary programs they offer. And you should see the attractive quarterly publication of the Main Street Minute!


Remember the effort in Woodstock to build the Woodstock Downtown Business Association and the Illinois Main Street Program?


Just exactly what is the matter here in Woodstock? Why doesn't Woodstock have the charm that other small towns have? We have the Square, the Opera House, the Historic District. And the energy is flat! Or does that really mean "no energy"?


There was intense jealousy between the Woodstock Chamber and the Woodstock Downtown Business Association. There were those at the Chamber who ran down WDBA. Where there should have been cooperation and teamwork, there was a tug-of-war and bad-mouthing.


Woodstock started on the path toward becoming an Illinois Main Street Community and then lost steam and couldn't complete the requirements. It lost a good opportunity, when it didn't hire Lucia as the Executive Director of the Chamber two-three years ago. Woodstock's loss; Marengo's gain.


Sometimes it takes an outsider to see what's wrong. I remember talking with the late Rich Neuffer (owner of Cobblestone's) back in the late 1990s, when he was president of the Chamber. The Chamber was in-between Executive Directors at the time, and we had coffee one morning to chat about the Executive Director's position. It didn't take me long to realize that working as Exec. Dir. of a small town chamber was definitely something I did not want to pursue. I had worked for large chambers with over 1,000 members, and I wasn't interested in playing the game in small-town politics.


But this town needs a leader with vision to step forward and carry the Chamber and the City of Woodstock through the next ten years. That leader can't be a schmoozer; he or she must have substance and true leadership qualities. Woodstock could transform itself into a vibrant business community in 5-10 years; however, at the current pace it might just slide in the opposite direction.