Oversight Ensures that Government Works for the People

At the last City Council COW meeting Alderman Dean Kilburg brought up his unsuccessful efforts to obtain information on workmen’s compensation claims against the city. At first, like city administrator Mary McKittrick, I wondered why he would need that information. After giving it some thought though, I came to the conclusion that the question we should be asking instead is why shouldn’t he have that information. After all, he is a member of the city council, the “corporate authorities”, charged with serving the public interest. Any information on how the city spends public funds should be available to any council member as long as providing it does not violate any law, such as HIPAA, as the Mayor mentioned in reference to some previous request for information. Any other argument for withholding information seems very hollow and self-serving. 

Ms. McKittrick went on to explain the role of the council and the staff as she understands it and she felt that the role of the council is to craft public policy and to create legislation to implement it. However, much of what becomes public policy starts out with staff discussions and recommendations.  So creating public policy is often a shared function with staff and city council, preferably with input from the public. 

However, the most important role of the city council may actually be one of oversight. This does not mean the day to day management of city operations. But it does require budgetary review and awareness of how public funds are spent. We’re all familiar with cases of outright theft of public funds. We’ve had that happen right here in Geneva, although not on the grand scale we’ve seen in other communities. But there are also cases of mismanagement of programs and funds, such as the IRS audit of the DuPage Housing Authority revealed a couple of years ago. That audit resulted in HUD demanding a return of over ten million dollars of misspent federal funds and the forced resignation of all of the governing board members. 

I’m sure the DuPage Housing Authority board members felt that their professional staff was handling the housing budget appropriately. However, that doesn't appear to be the case, and one or more staff members faces possible indictment. However, the ultimate responsibility for the situation falls on the board, which is why the county board chairman insisted on their resignation. That action comes a little late and does nothing to resolve the repayment of misspent federal funds. The taxpayers are on the hook for that. But it does illustrate the need for governing boards to be more attentive to how public funds are spent and how public programs are managed. 

When the Mayor suggests that the council should just sit back and let our professional staff do the job they were hired to do, he is either very naïve or enabling. The council is accountable to the public and needs to maintain a strong oversight role. This doesn’t mean that we don’t trust or shouldn’t trust our city staff. It does mean that we are following the sound principles of checks and balances that form the basis of our entire system of government. If this creates an adversarial situation between city staff and council members, it’s only because one or the other or both do not understand or accept their roles in governing and managing the city. Each staff member and each elected official has the job of serving the public. Each person must understand their respective roles in that mission and each should assist one another doing the best job possible for the citizens of Geneva by living up to the responsibility that each of their roles demands. Government suffers when ego, hurt feelings, pettiness, or personal ambition are allowed to interfere with that goal.