McHenry County Blog

West Elementary School in winter.

I have to say I am disappointed that Crystal Lake District 47 has no idea of how much it might cost to shift the financing of teacher pensions from state taxpayers to local taxpayers.

In a Freedom of Information Request, I asked for the ““estimated increase in local taxes in total and by home if teacher pensions have to be paid by property taxes, as being considered by the General Assembly.”

The reply:

“District 47 does not possess records containing the information you are requesting.”

Wouldn’t you think the administration and school board might be interested in that number, even if the plan is no longer under active consideration?

Part of the Barrington Hills Observer masthead.

I see the mention of the Village of Barrington Hill’s failure to answer Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas’ request for debt information in Tuesday’s Chicago Tribune editorial.

That failure was noticed and memorialized by The Barrington Hills Observer.

On that site is the press release that Pappas sent out which, I assume, led to the editorial.

In the FOI request, Pappas says, ““We are taking this extraordinary step of using the FOIA provision because government may not flout the law any more than an individual. If anything, government should set the example in obeying the law.”

Here is what she requests:

“This Office hereby requests a full, complete, unabridged and unedited copy of (your) most recent audited financial statement.”

And the reason for the headline?

I called the Treasurer’s Office seeking the press person. Before I was connected to Bob Benjamin I was able to file a Freedom of Information request via email for the Pappas Freedom of Information request.

So, I’d make two suggestions.

Get more people to answer the phone.

There is such a long introductory message pointing callers everywhere but the Treasurer’s Office that most people probably just hang up.

After pushing the button “8″ to talk to a real person, the phone rang, many, many, many, many, many, many…times. Not that the woman who answered wasn’t pleasant. She was.

There just aren’t enough of her, so to speak.

You can read the names provided after a previous Freedom of Information request.

The first time I asked, I had no problem getting applications from those applying for the vacant McHenry County Superintendent of Schools post.

This is the elected official, you will recall, whose shoes have been filled by the Lake County Regional Superintendent of Education.

The clerical folks are still pushing the teachers’ and other paperwork, but, when signatures are needed, the Lake County official has kindly agreed to affix hers.

After the last nominee withdrew, three school board members, past and present, wrote comments that the post was unneeded.

Now, it’s

“TOP SECRET, HUSH, HUSH!”

I’m guessing it’s because a daughter of a former elected county official is interested in the job.

Undoubtedly qualified, considering the statutory requirements.

But, come on.

Even the Circuit Court releases the names of applicants for Associate Judge vacancies.  Surely that’s are more important than a Regional Superintendent of Schools vacancy.

Here’s the reason for hiding the name or names.  It involves

“an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy due to the disclosure of information that may be highly personal or objectionable to a reasonable person in which the person’s privacy outweighs any legitimate public interest in obtaining the information.”

What’s that all about?

Think “a reasonable person” might decide to vote against such a person if the information surfaced before the fall election in which the appointee will be on the ballot?

In any event, here is the Freedom of Information denial letter. Read it for yourself.

The game of hiding information from the public that Sheriff Keith Nygren is playing with regard to his firing of Deputy Scott Milliman after he gave a deposition in Deputy Zane Seipler’s wrong termination suit has had a couple of holes poked into it.

Here’s the original response:

The first page of what was provided last year when Scott Milliman's dismissal letter was requested.

Hee's the second page of Scott Milliman's dismissal letter supplied last year pursuant to a Freedom of Information request.

Very informative, aren’t they?

Below is what the Sheriff’s Department released today:

The second time around, there is actually something that can be seen in Scott Milliman's dismissal letter.

Let’s take a closer look at what has not been blocked out:

The reasons for the dismissal that are being made public. It ties back to the deposition that Scott Milliman gave in Zane Seipler's wrongful termination case in Federal Court.

Here is a key sentence:

Scott Milliman

“During your testimony, you knowingly provided numerous statements about your personal knowledge and alleged criminal acts  by Sheriff Keith Nygren over a period of several years.  The allegations you made in your deposition regarding the conduct of Sheriff Nygren were false.  You provided additional testimony that indicated you are in direct violation of multiple general orders, included but not limited to

• Conduct unbecoming to a Sheriff’s employee
• Conduct toward superiors, subordinates, and associates
• Reporting violations of laws, ordinances, rules, or orders
• Criticism
• Insubordination or disrespect toward a supervisory member on or off duty
• Neglect or inattention to duty
• Responsibility to take action
• Truthfulness
• Extra duty and secondary employment

No black marks (just missing white areas) through every word in Scott Milliman's dismissal letter after intervention by Lisa Madigan's Public Access Bureau.

The second page tells of the opportunities that Milliman had to attend tow per-disciplinary meetings.  In the first, he “did not provide any information or evidence to back up the allegations you made.”

Milliman did not attend the second meeting, according to the letter, on the advice of his attorney.

The case is about to go to an arbitration hearing, pursuant to the Fraternal Order of Police union contract.

The Northwest Herald's Keven Craver's Blog's masthead.

The Northwest Herald’s Kevin Craver is again pointing to the incongruity of our tax dollars being used to lobby against our self-interests as citizens and taxpayers.

McHenry County government and other tax districts from townships to school districts belong to associations that lobby in Springfield.

McHenry County Blog found these groups lobbying against Jack Franks’ bill to limit this year’s taxes to last years (because the assessed value had decreased):

• Townships
• School Boards
• Cities & Villages

Right after the new, broader Freedom of Information law went into effect, the House and the Senate voted to exempt employee performance evaluations.

Craver zeros in on House Bill 3137, sponsored by double-dipping Republican State Rep. Roger Eddy.

Eddy has received $60,000 from the Illinois Education Association’s Political Action Committee.

Here’s what he wants to keep secret:

• the date of birth of public employees,
• medical and health information of public employees,
• the names of applicants for public employment, a
• applications for public employment,
• recommendations and opinions regarding the qualification of public employment applicants,
• investigative notes of public employees, and
• outlines or drafts of oral statements, presentations, or remarks

So, FOIA filers wouldn’t be able to get applications of those who apply for the empty Regional Superintendent of Schools slot…nor their names.

Back to the good ‘ol days for the good ol’ boys.

Craver points out that your tax dollars are going to the Metro Counties Council (on which my father used to serve when he was on the County Board) to lobby in favor of this bill.

Today, we move to the fourth installment on the motion filed by former Deputy Sheriff Zane Seipler’s lawyer Blake Horwitz requesting sanctions against McHenry County Sheriff Keith Nygren for releasing confidential information.

This is occurring in Seipler’s Federal wrongful termination suit being heard in Rockford.

Paragraphing and formatting has been added in the text to make the text easier to read on a computer screen.

A second alleged violation of the Court’s Protective Order is described next.

“Second Violation of Court Order

“On April 9, 2007, a police report was filed by Rosalinda Saucedo-Seipler with the Woodstock Police Department, Woodstock Police Report #07-4183. The report contains very personal information regarding a domestic incident between Plaintiff Zane Seipler and his wife, Rosalinda Saucedo-Seipler (Exhibit E).

“On or around January 22, 2010, the Woodstock Police report #07-4183 was widely disseminated to the deputy officers at the McHenry County Police Department [Foot Note 2].

= = = = =
Foot Note 2.  “Deputy Tim Matteson, a deputy of the McHenry County Sheriff’s Department personally observed a copy of the report in his mailbox and saw several reports placed in the mailboxes of various deputies and on a table in the Patrol Roll Call room in the McHenry County Sheriff’s made available in roll call two weeks prior to the primary.= = = = =

= = = = =

“The report was unlawfully placed in the mailboxes of several Deputy Officers and put on tables in the Patrol Roll Call room in McHenry County Sheriff’s Department without the permission or knowledge of Rosalinda Saucedo-Seipler or Zane Seipler.

“Mr. Seipler was a Republican candidate for Sheriff. The Woodstock police report was placed in the boxes and
made available in roll call two weeks prior to the primary.”

“Department (Exhibit F). Deputy Matteson spoke to Deputy Milliman regarding the report, who stated that he saw several copies of the report in various areas of the Squad room in the McHenry County Sheriff’s Department.

“At the time, Zane Seipler was running for the position of Sheriff of McHenry County and the illegal distribution of the report negatively influenced his political campaign.

“Newspaper reporters, Chuck Keashan of the Daily Herald and Jillian Duchowski of Northwest Herald, contacted Zane Seipler to inquire about this personal matter.

“Finally, Seipler’s domestic incident was discussed on online blogs (e.g. http://antiwoodstockadvocate.blogspot.com) and in the comment sections of numerous Northwest Herald articles.

“The release of this report affected both Zane Seipler’s career and reputation in McHenry County.

“On February 23, 2010, Robert W. Lowen, the Chief of Police of the Woodstock Police Department wrote a letter to Rosalinda Saucedo-Seipler regarding the results of the investigation (Exhibit G).

“Chief Lowen wrote that there were two different requests to access the report through the City of Woodstock Freedom of Information Act. Chief Lowen and Officer Cindy Smiley recommended denial of these requests and stated that the report was not disseminated to the two entities that requested the report via FOIA.

James Sotos

“Chief Lowen also stated in this letter that the report was released by subpoena.

“The only firm that subpoenaed the materials was James G. Sotos and Associates. This firm admits having secured the documents via subpoena.

“As illustrated above, the law firm of James G. Sotos and Associates and the Defendant Officers were the only entities who were given access to the report through the use of a subpoena. As a result, they were the only persons who could have unlawfully distributed the report to the McHenry County Sheriff’s Department.”

Addition detail is included, then…

“Defendant’s distribution of the report was in direct violation of the Confidentiality Order entered by both parties: ‘The Parties will not use or disclose the PHI and/or Confidential Matter released in this proceeding for any other purpose or any other proceeding.’

“The dissemination of the report is a clear violation of Illinois law. 20 ILCS 2630/7 Sec. 7.

“No file or record of the Department hereby created shall be made public, except as provided in the ‘Illinois Uniform Conviction Information Act’ or other Illinois law or as may be necessary in the identification of persons suspected or accused of crime and in their trial for offenses committed after having been imprisoned for a prior offense …Violation of this Section shall constitute a Class A misdemeanor.

“In this instance, the distribution of the report by Defendants is a clear abuse of their official position.

“By releasing private information with regards to a candidate and citizen who was running for political office, the public good was harmed and the law was violated.”

= = = = =

More tomorrow.

Most of what outside auditors do is pretty dry.

Having served on the Illinois Legislative Audit Commission, I’ve read enough of them.

The real interesting stuff is in the Management Letter.

When I saw McHenry County College Board Agenda for October 27th had the Management Letter on it, I filed a Freedom of Information Act request for it.

It took the maximum length of time to receive a reply and it was, in a word:  “No.”

The denial letter is below. Click to enlarge.

So, again MCC retreats into its secret chamber and refuses to reveal problems, this time discovered by its outside auditor

Two days after Kurt Milliman was murdered at a house on Woodstock Doty Road, I filed a Freedom of Information request with the Sheriff’s Department for various information.

Although testimony which I assume duplicates what I requested was given at the McHenry County Coroner’s inquest, so far nothing has been provided.

Naturally, I appealed to the Attorney General’s Public Access Counselor.

Late last week I received a letter from Senior Assistant Attorney General John Schmidt which contained part of the response sent by McHenry County Sheriff’s Department FOI Officer Jan Weech. It was dated June 28, 2011.

The June 28, 2011, letter from the McHenry County Sheriff's Department explainng what is available to be released to the public, what isn't and the reasons why. Click to enlarge.

She explains I asked too early, that “we were not prepared to release any further information at that time.”

She says she attached a printout of some of the information I requested, but the Public Access Counselor’s Office did not forward it with his letter.

The letter was written about a month after the murder was committed, but the Sheriff’s Department says, “The police report has not been completed…”

Not knowing much about police procedure, I’m not sure whether is unusual or not.

The same paragraph (separated below to make its content easier to read) talks of the 911 call/recordings I requested:

“The 911 call/recordings concerning this homicide is a very important part of the evidence in this case.

“The release of the 911 recordings at this point would interfere with any pending charges and there is a strong likelihood that the information contained there could potentially affect the jury pool if released, thereby depriving the Defendants of a fair trial.”

There is another interesting sentence:

“We do not have any recordings of phone calls from the scene as cell phones were used.”

Don Harmon's press release about his bill to restrict the Freedom of Information Act says it "Addresses Concerns." Had he been forthright, the headline would read, "FOIA Concerns of Governmental Officials Addressed."

Since many, many state legislators have held local public office first, I guess people shouldn’t be surprised when they forget that they are representing people in Springfield, not cities, villages, school districts, etc.

When the Northwest Municipal League issued the pre-election ratings of local legislators, I usually was down at the bottom.

The reason is that what is good for municipalities may be very bad for people.

Local governments don’t like the new Freedom of Information law…in the worst way.

They have to provide information in a week, unless they double the time for any or no good reason.

Their judgments can be overruled by the Illinois Attorney General’s Office of Public Access Counselor.

They can’t charge for the first fifty pages of information.

They can’t bill for the time it takes employees to find and copy the information.

So, before the law has been in effect even five months, it was rollback time.

Here is sponsor State Senator Don Harmon’s statement of victory upon passage of his “reform” legislation:

Concerns voiced by public bodies from across the State regarding the Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”) led to the passage of House Bill 1716, sponsored by Senator Don Harmon (D-Oak Park).

This legislation makes several changes to the system of processing FOIA requests while still protecting the core purpose of this widely used transparency tool.

Major changes contained in House Bill 1716 include giving public bodies additional time to process FOIA requests made by “recurrent requesters”, people who have made more than 50 total requests in the last 12 months, 15 requests within a 30-day period or 7 requests in a 7-day period.

“Recurrent requestors” will receive notification within 5 business days stating that their requested information will be delivered in a reasonable amount of time.

Additional changes to the FOIA system include giving local bodies the ability to charge a $10 dollar per hour fee to satisfy commercial requests for information, exempting the first 8 hours of work. Commercial requestors are businesses that use FOIA information to further their business goals, for example, marketing purposes.

Non-profits and the media are exempted.

These changes take into account suggestions from many government bodies from across the state that have been struggling to meet requests for information in the mandated amount of time.

With these reforms, individuals and organizations seeking information can trust that their requests will be granted while ensuring that our local governments are able to fulfill the requests without undue financial burden.

It also ensures that the FOIA requests of infrequent requestors receive priority, giving everyday citizens the access to vital local government information.

Note the line, “changes take into account suggestions from many government bodies.”

What could better tell people that Don Harmon represents governments, rather than people?

This is an Oak Park liberal, folks. This is what passes for a reformer in Springfield today.

As you can see from the Senate roll call below, State Senator Pam Althoff voted in favor of the FOIA restrictions, which Dan Duffy voted, “No.”

Showing you how important this bill was to the House Speaker, he arranged for it to be called the last night of the session, so the Senate amendments could be approved by House members.
The House roll call below shows State Rep. Jack Franks on the side of openness, which State Rep. Mike Tryon voted to help shutter the Freedom of Information process.

Chris Williams of  Grafton-Algonquin-Nunda-Dorr Community Advocates shares a request that Crystal Lake High School District 155 make public details of the most expensive part of the school budget–teacher salaries.

It comes on the rejection of the following Freedom of Information Request:

Chris Williams asks for "a copy of the Board's and IEA's other correspondences related to the teacher's contract under negotiation. Huntley D158 provided this transparency during their teacher's contract negotiation.

Here is District 155′s reply to Williams’ request:

April 27, 2011

Mr. Chris Williams
GAND Community Advocates
3951 Willow View Dr.
Lake in the Hills, IL 60156
crswms@comcast.net
VIA ELECTRONIC MAIL

Re: Response to FOIA Request – Community High School District 155

Dear Mr. Williams:

This letter is in response to your Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”) request
dated April 19, 2011 and received on April 20, 2011 by Community High
School District 155 (“District”). You requested “a copy of the Board’s and IEA’s
offer correspondences related to the teacher ’s contract under negotiation.”
Your request is respectfully denied as records relating to collective negotiating
matters between public bodies and their employees or representatives
are exempt from FOIA (5 ILCS 140/7(p)).

Please be aware that our response to your request is pursuant to our understanding of your FOIA request. If we have misunderstood your request, please let us know as soon as possible so we may provide the correct information.

You have a right to have the denial of your request reviewed by the Public Access Counselor (PAC) at the Office of the Illinois Attorney General. 5 ILCS 140/9.5(a). You can file your Request for Review with the PAC by writing to: Public Access Counselor, Office of the Attorney General, 500 South Second St., Springfield, IL 62706.

You also have the right to seek judicial review of your denial by filing a lawsuit
in the McHenry County circuit court (5 ILCS 140/11).

If you choose to file a Request for Review with the PAC, you must do so within
60 calendar days of the date of this denial letter. 5 ILCS 140/9.5(a). Please
note that you must include a copy of your original FOIA request and this denial
letter when filing a Request for Review with the PAC.

Sincerely,

Jeffrey Puma
Freedom of Information Officer

The follow-up from Williams is below:

Subject: District 155 Teachers Contract Negotiations

Hello,

Thank you for giving our organization a voice in January 2011. GANDCA remains engaged in the D155 budget and taxpayer impact. We believe that our involvement has influenced the board to abate $2.5 million for FY12 in February 2011 from the tax levy, which they unanimously passed on December 14, 2010. It is also worth noting that D155 did not take the legally available 1.6% budget increase for the 2011/2012 school year as many other districts have; saving D155 property taxpayers ~1.2M. To date GANDCA believes that it has influenced a total D155 property taxpayer savings of ~$3.7M.

We have remained abreast of the teachers’ contract negotiations to the best of our ability.

On April 17, 2011, we shared with Jill Hawk our desire to inquire with the board at the forthcoming board meeting on the teachers’ contract negotiations to learn of the progress, any impact that the local and national teacher layoffs has had, as well as, the Wisconsin Governor, Scott Walker’s actions on the negotiations. It would be insightful to learn the mood and atmosphere. Jill Hawk has not replied to date.

We submitted the attached FOIAR and received the attached response, which we are inquiring with Lisa Madigan’s office to learn if D155 correctly interpreted the law.

We urge D155 to make the teachers’ contract negotiation dialog/offer public just as D158 did the last time around.

The public deserves to know how our school board proposes to spend out tax dollars, especially since District 155 teachers are already the highest paid in McHenry County.

The current economic and political environment is conducive to negotiate anything but the status quo contracts of the past.

The record property tax appeals are proof that the property taxes that support D155 are at the tipping point; D155 employees are included in those that appealed.

We are in the process of identifying all D155 employees that have filed for a 2010 property tax appeal with McHenry.

Please share if you are interested in meeting.

Chris Williams, President
GAND Community Advocates
3951 Willow View Drive
Lake In The Hills, IL 60156
847.340.8531