"...Johnson stated that she would not oppose efforts to make publically available DVDs of meetings..." Source: "Shut Up" on City Barbs, July 29, 2007.
First, City Clerk Donna Johnson processed the FOIA request on Steve Kapitan's home to help make the "smear mailer" that Alderman Wogen distributed to the community before the April 17th election. Then, she sanitized the public comments of concerned citizens who objected to Victor Wogen's campaign tactics when they spoke at council meetings. Now, she's either unaware of, or withholding details about, city policy.
At the Committee of the Whole meeting last night, the city manager's office claimed that making records more available to the public is a strategic goal. This statement follows a letter sent to Lynn Fazekas last week where City Manager Mark Biernacki writes: "Currently, DVDs of any City Council meeting are available for purchase at City Hall for $5.00. This price helps defray the cost of the materials to produce the disk." As far as we know, this policy didn't just take effect.
So, why didn't the city clerk tell Lynn Fazekas when they met in mid/late July? You would think that if city hall is attempting to provide greater access, then all officials would be informed about the changes that have already been made. Is this an oversight, or did she (Donna Johnson) purposely withhold the information so the city could later publicly promote itself in response to the concerns and suggestions of local citizens?
Note: Please read "Council Pre-Watch: Public Access" on City Barbs because it inspired this post.
First, City Clerk Donna Johnson processed the FOIA request on Steve Kapitan's home to help make the "smear mailer" that Alderman Wogen distributed to the community before the April 17th election. Then, she sanitized the public comments of concerned citizens who objected to Victor Wogen's campaign tactics when they spoke at council meetings. Now, she's either unaware of, or withholding details about, city policy.
At the Committee of the Whole meeting last night, the city manager's office claimed that making records more available to the public is a strategic goal. This statement follows a letter sent to Lynn Fazekas last week where City Manager Mark Biernacki writes: "Currently, DVDs of any City Council meeting are available for purchase at City Hall for $5.00. This price helps defray the cost of the materials to produce the disk." As far as we know, this policy didn't just take effect.
So, why didn't the city clerk tell Lynn Fazekas when they met in mid/late July? You would think that if city hall is attempting to provide greater access, then all officials would be informed about the changes that have already been made. Is this an oversight, or did she (Donna Johnson) purposely withhold the information so the city could later publicly promote itself in response to the concerns and suggestions of local citizens?
Note: Please read "Council Pre-Watch: Public Access" on City Barbs because it inspired this post.
2 comments:
Donna has shown her true colors in recent months. She's a political hack, who despised former alderman Kapitan, and who would have sold her soul to the devil (many think she did) to get Steve out of office and out of her hair.
She hitched her wagon to Wogen's "star", and she will most likely pay the price the next time she runs for office. That picture of her and Wogen will probably be the "poster child" for cronyism and favoritism in the next City Clerk's race.
A third possibility occurs on the availability of the DVDs, that Johnson was speaking the truth. It's not outside the realm of possibility that staff decided to make DVDs available in response to the written request for them. If that is so, it ended up making Johnson look uninformed or worse.
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