Mayor Kris Povlsen

Is Mayor Kris Povlsen turning a new page in DeKalb municipal governance? Is he raising the bar on ethics to eliminate any appearance of conflict of interest among the administrative, council, commissions, committees and stakeholder members of the City of DeKalb?

He has certainly demonstrated a very high standard of ethics in his decision to remove John Guio as chair of the plan commission. Guio’s wife is on the board of Hope Haven, an agency that serves the area’s homeless population. She is a retired city employee. The agency is petitioning the City of DeKalb for approval of variances to its current zoning to allow expansion of its facilities. According to reports Guio deliberated for some time as to whether he should vote on the matter when it came before the plan commission because of his wife’s affiliation with Hope Haven. He voted cautioning that his vote may be negated.

The mayor saw the infraction as serious enough to warrant Guio’s removal.

Raising the ethics bar could not have come at a better time for DeKalb residents and taxpayers.

Roughly $1.6 million in property tax dollars were raised over the past few years in large part due to a couple of library tax levy increases that were illegally decided in closed session meetings in which no minutes are available to the public.

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