Incoming

restaurants, that is.  Kelly's Irish Boxies hopes to open this weekend in the space that Gumby's Pizza used to occupy next to 710 Bookstore.  Meanwhile, C'dale icon and purveyor of countless platters of biscuits and gravy, Mary Lou's, is set to expand into the space next door that most recently house Hothead's styling salon.

Police Department FOIA Officer

Apparently the city/police department is getting quite a bit of heat over the recent shooting with the gun stolen from Chief O'Guinn as it has appointed a representative to handle FOIA requests directed to the police department:

In the interests of streamlining the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) process and expediting the requests for information, City Manager Allen Gill has appointed Assistant City Attorney Lenoard “Jamie” Snyder as FOIA Officer for the Police Department.  All future requests for Police Department reports and records are to be directed to Mr. Snyder’s office. As City Prosecutor, Mr. Snyder is very familiar with Police Department record keeping procedures and the critical nature of confidentiality in ongoing criminal investigations. As an attorney, he is also very familiar with FOIA requirements and exemptions. This shift of responsibilities will also help ease the growing workload on the Clerk’s office, so that other FOIA requests can be processed in a timely manner. The City Clerk will continue to be the FOIA Officer for all other requests.

Based on analysis of recent experience with providing adequate response to FOIA requests, City Manager Allen Gill has identified an area where service can be improved.  Most of the perceived delays and lack of response come in regard to requests for Police Department records and reports.  The Open Records Act provides numerous exemptions for police-related documents. Each of these exemptions for police-related records provides specific procedures and requirements for meeting the exemption.  On numerous occasions there have been differences of interpretation between the City Clerk’s office and the Police Department. When these differences come to the City Manager’s attention, Mr. Gill asks the City Attorney to rule on the request and each department is expected to abide by the City Attorney’s ruling.  The City Attorney’s opinion of these rulings must be final, as he is the one who must defend the City if the City is accused of violating FOIA regulations. This is the procedure agreed upon after the new FOIA rules were announced a year ago. Since that time, there has been a dramatic increase in FOIA requests, and this has also contributed to some of the delays.

State law allows for organizations to have more than one FOIA officer. The City had elected until now to have one FOIA officer for the entire organization, so as to centralize record keeping.  Increasing workloads and increasing complexity of requests have caused the City Manager  to reconsider this option. This recommendation has been discussed with Mayor Fritzler and he is in agreement with this proposed change.

Merrily Marching Forward

Civic service union employees at SIUC voted to authorize a strike yesterday.  Dollars to donuts the other two follow along within the next couple of days. 

Update:  Just heard that, with 88% attendance, 92% of the Faculty Association members voted to strike.

Why Strike?

From the Deo Volente blog, Dave Johnson gives his reasons for voting for a strike at SIUC

Fat Patties

Fat Patties now has beer.  The restaurant got every finally set up that week and added three varieties last Thurday:  PBR, Miller Lite and Sam Adams (don't remember which variety).  Lance Jack's plan is to add 3 new beers per week until the restaurant offers a total of twelve, six mass brewed beers and six craft brews.

Strike Vote

Jonathan Bean, history professor at SIUC (and author of the blog FreeU) has posted his reasons for voting planning to vote No in the Faculty Association's upcoming strike vote.

1 Down

and four to go.  Looks as if the Service Employees International Union has signed a four year contract with small slaary increases each year. that leaves four other unions to go, including the faculty union, which has a strike vote scheduled for the 28th.

I find it hard to work up a lot of sympathy for the faculty union.  Compared to almost every other job in the area, they are quite well paid and the job is hardly as onerous as one of the fruit pickers in the migrant labor camps near Cobden.  The administration must really be abusing SIUC faculty if they feed the need to call a strike vote.