ACTION Week 103:
Protect transparency in our village government

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Script

Trustee/Mayor XXXX I am calling / writing to you to demand that you restore FOIA responsibilities to the office of the Village Clerk. It is critical to transparent government that this responsibility lie with an elected official.

Target (click the phone icon to call on your mobile device)

Village Board (everyone) email 708.358.5784
Mayor Anan email 708.358.5797
Trustee Andrews email 708.358.5788
Trustee Boutete email 708.358.5787
Trustee Button email 708.358.5796
Trustee Moroney email 708.358.5789
Trustee Taglia email 708.358.5794
Trustee Tucker email 708.358.5793

Summary

FOIA requests are one of the most powerful tools we have as citizens to hold our elected leaders accountable. It is absolutely critical that the people processing these requests are elected members of our community. In an unannounced move, just before the holidays, our village manager removed our elected village clerk as FOIA officer for the village. She put the FOIA responsibilities under the legal department which she oversees. What’s more, this was done WITHOUT A VOTE - or even a discussion - by the elected village board. This move was yet another undemocratic move by our village manager (and mayor) to reduce transparency in village government. We can not let this stand.

Please call or write the mayor, village manager, and village board trustees today. Tell them that this decision needs to be reversed - or at least VOTED ON. Also, please show up to the board meeting at Village Hall on 01/28 when we think they will be discussing this issue. (We don’t actually know if it will be on the agenda, because that responsibility was also removed from the Clerk’s office and given to the unelected village manager.)

Also, please vote for candidates in April that will stand up to our mayor and the village manager and their anti-democratic agenda.


01/28/2019