Evanston-area government officials are either among the best in Illinois at keeping the public informed about their doings or the very worst.
That’s the bipolar conclusion of a study on government transparency released June 15 by the Illinois Policy Institute. Based on the availability of information about taxes, Freedom of Information Act requests and other community matters on the City of Evanston’s website, the libertarian thinktank gave the city a transparency score of 91.7 out of 100, the second highest in Illinois. But Evanston Township, which shares the city’s boundaries and is responsible mainly for property assessment, received a 3.1, the lowest grade of any government.
The Illinois Policy Institute typically contacts governments it plans to assess eight weeks in advance and offers to work with them to improve their online transparency, said Brian Costin, the organization’s director of outreach. When it reached out to Evanston, the city was highly receptive, Costin said. Government officials added budget and audit records from past years to the city’s website, as well as information about taxes and lobbying.
“This isn’t about a ‘gotcha’ moment,” Costin said.
In contrast, Evanston Township, which receives about $1.3 million from taxpayers each year, was unresponsive, Costin said. It had very little information online and did not add any, he said.
When contacted Wednesday, Township Assessor Bonnie Wilson agreed the lack of information online poses a problem to residents. The township has never had a website, and she has been working to create one since she took office a year and a half ago, she said. It is currently under development.
“It’s so important for us because people want to know where to get information,” Wilson said. “It’s ridiculous that we don’t have one.”
Transparency has always been a priority for the Evanston City Council, City Manager Wally Bobkiewicz said.
“It’s part of what we do, like mowing the lawns of the parks and making sure the beaches are ready to use in the summertime,” Bobkiewicz said.
Bobkiewicz said he did not think the township’s lower score reflected negligence or intentional attempts to mislead residents. As a much smaller entity than the city, the township has lesser legal obligations to disclose information, he said.
In Evanston resident Kevin O’Connor’s opinion, the city is not living up to its own obligations, despite its high score. When the City Council recently considered shutting off the water supply of the Frank Govern Memorial Golf Course, which has not paid $13,000 in water bills, it held meetings with Northwestern about the issue and initially denied that it had done so, O’Connor said. Such occurrances are comMonday, O’Connor said.
“I think we need to know before they present their already agreed-upon plan to the citizens,” O’Connor said.
Bobkiewicz said the City Council had gone through its usual process of posting agendas and notifying citizens when dealing with the golf course.
“We try to share with the community at the earliest possible point when issues are being discussed,” he said. “The challenge is always, where does that start?”
Evanston’s city government intends to keep working to improve its transparency further, Bobkiewicz said.
