Updated 6:37pm 7/29/13
DeKalb’s Annual ‘State of the City’ event will take place this Thursday, August 1st, 2013. The event will begin with a buffet breakfast starting at 8:00am followed by a presentation about the City of DeKalb by Mayor John Rey and Acting City Manager Rudy Espiritu wrapping up 2012-13 and looking ahead to 2013-14. New NIU President Dr. Doug Baker will also be covering some upcoming plans for the university.
Be sure to come out to meet and greet the speakers and network with others in attendance. The State of the City event will be a the Hopkins Park Community Center this year at 1403 Sycamore Road in DeKalb and will run from 8am to 9:30am Thursday. The cost to attend this event is $15 per person for Chamber members and $25 for ‘future members’.
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8 Comments
Mark, Good question! Took me some digging but I found out the cost to attend and updated the article.
Thanks! Gracie~
Gracie- you are awesome!
I have some questions. Is it the Park District hosting, or the chamber of commerce?Does the event require registration and is there a cost to breakfast? Will a recording and/or transcript be available at the city’s website afterward, as our neighbors to the east do it? In what ways will the Open Meetings Act be upheld?
Lynn, More good questions! Of course I couldn’t find answers to any of them online. It’s not even clear who is hosting the event. What I did find, however, was a funny blast from the past (2005) about Mayor Van Buer’s first ‘State of the City’ event. Click this for a laugh: http://www.daily-chronicle.com/2005/11/03/state-of-city-not-a-meeting-says-dekalb/aqriqsz/news02.txt
Gracie~
Thanks for your work to find out, Gracie. I do remember the ruckus the Chronicle reporter made over the Van Buer event, and I appreciated it. The “state of the city” address is actually an annual requirement set by state statute, which in my opinion makes it a public meeting and the Open Meetings Act must be followed — and this is reinforced by being held in a public place, with other public officials. If I decide to attend, there should be no question of charging me (or any of my neighbors who attend who do not care about breakfast). I also assume that Mayor “Public Input” Rey will insist upon meeting minutes, a recording of the event and a transcript of the address available online for those unable to make it in person. The state of the city belongs to everyone, not just a “chambered” elite.
So I get it. A municipal corporation must file an annual report thus the state of the city. I, too, think if the majority of a quorum of the city council is in attendance of a meeting that discusses city business then that meeting is subject to OMA. There appears to be a mindset that if the penalty is not severe or costly enough then to heck with the rules. That’s expected of hooligans but not government. I guess not.
One of these things is not like the others:
The State of the Union belongs to all of the American people. The State of the State is shared with the citizens of the State of Illinois. The State of the City of DeKalb belongs to the DeKalb Chamber of Commerce as a private fundraising activity.
That our elected council goes along with treating its residents like second-class citizens is outrageous.
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How much to attend? There has always been an exorbitant fee each year to attend. let’s get the full story.