16 Jun 2014

Governor Quinn Signs Legislation to Ban Police Ticket Quotas

By Andrew Mason

Senate Bill 3411 Will Eliminate Ineffective System and Improve Safety

CHICAGO - Governor Pat Quinn today signed legislation to prohibit municipalities from requiring police officers to meet ticket quotas. The new law also prevents quotas from being used to evaluate an officer's performance. Today's action is part of Governor Quinn's agenda to maintain integrity in local government.

"Law enforcement officers should have discretion on when and where to issue traffic citations and not be forced to ticket motorists to satisfy a quota system," Governor Quinn said. "This new law will improve safety and working conditions for police officers and prevent motorists from facing unnecessary anxiety when they encounter a police vehicle."

Senate Bill 3411, sponsored by State Senator Andy Manar (D-Bunker Hill) and State Representative Jay Hoffman (D-Swansea), prohibits a county or municipality from requiring a law enforcement officer to issue a specific number of citations within a designated period of time. It also says a county or municipality may not compare the number of citations issued by the law enforcement officer to the number of citations issued by any other law enforcement officer for purposes of job performance evaluation. The new law applies to local, county and state police officers, and is effective immediately.

"With today's technology, there are more effective ways to evaluate the performance of a police officer," Senator Manar said. "Using the number of citations is an outdated and ineffective evaluation tool. It doesn't lead to better policing, it doesn't lead to better use of taxpayer money and it doesn't lead to better relationships with the community, all of which are challenges we face."

"Arbitrary quotas on the number of tickets that have to be issued by police officers undermines the public trust in the police departments' priorities," Representative Hoffman said. "By eliminating these quotas, we can restore that trust and ensure that police officers are free to do their job protecting the public."

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16 Jun 2014

Governor Quinn Takes Bill Action **Friday, June 13, 2014**

By William Palmisano

CHICAGO - Governor Pat Quinn today took action on the following bills:

Bill No.: HB 1711

An Act Concerning: Local government

When a regional superintendent of education position is abolished, transfers the powers and duties of that office to the chief administrative officer of the educational service center. Applies only to Cook County.

Action: Signed

Effective: Immediately

Bill No.: HB 5546

An Act Concerning: Education

Establishes a process to recall educators who have been honorably dismissed and gives school districts more latitude in developing learning condition surveys.

Action: Signed

Effective: July 1, 2014

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11 Jun 2014

Governor Quinn Takes Bill Action **Monday, June 9, 2014**

By William Palmisano

CHICAGO - Governor Pat Quinn today took action on the following bills:

Bill No.: HB 4527

An Act Concerning: Education

Requires charter schools to comply with all federal and state special education and

English language learner laws.

Action: Signed

Effective: Immediately

Bill No.: HB 4591

An Act Concerning: Education

Establishes a "fee follows the student" approach regarding charter schools and school

districts.

Action: Signed

Effective: Immediately

Bill No.: HB 6060

An Act Concerning: Appropriations

Makes supplemental appropriations to various state agencies.

Action: Signed

Effective: Immediately

Bill No.: SB 1922

An Act Concerning: Public employee benefits

Reforms the Chicago Municipal and Chicago Labor Pensions Funds.

Action: Signed and accompanied by signing statement.*

Effective: Immediately. Major components take effect Jan. 1, 2015.

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09 Jun 2014

Governor Quinn Takes Bill Action **Friday, June 6, 2014**

By William Palmisano

CHICAGO - Governor Pat Quinn today took action on the following bills:

Bill No.: HB 5815

An Act Concerning: State government

Clarifies existing law regarding the sealing of municipal ordinance violations resulting in orders of supervision or conviction.

Action: Signed

Effective: Immediately

Bill No.: SB 2945

An Act Concerning: Education

Allows additional Illinois students to enroll in out-of-state special education programs at the usual rate for these programs.
06 Jun 2014

Governor Quinn Takes Bill Action **Friday, June 6, 2014**

By William Palmisano

CHICAGO - Governor Pat Quinn today took action on the following bill:

Bill No.: HB 2453

An Act Concerning: Local government

Extends the repeal date for the Wireless Emergency Telephone Safety Act from July 1, 2014 to July 1, 2015 and lays the foundation for a statewide 9-1-1- system.

Action: Signed

Effective: Immediately

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06 Jun 2014

Governor Quinn Takes Bill Action **Thursday, June 5, 2014**

By William Palmisano
CHICAGO - Governor Pat Quinn today took action on the following bill:

 

Bill No.: SB 3287

An Act Concerning: Employment

Clarifies existing law regarding safety service organizations.

Action: Signed

Effective: Immediately

 

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04 Jun 2014

Governor Quinn Announces $1.4 Million for Construction Projects in Mercer and Whiteside Counties

By Dave Blanchette

VIOLA - Governor Pat Quinn today announced an investment of $1.4 million for road construction projects in Mercer and Whiteside Counties. Funded by his Illinois Jobs Now! construction program, the projects are part of Governor Quinn's commitment to creating jobs and driving Illinois' economy forward.

"These projects will make sure our Mercer and Whiteside County infrastructure is well-maintained to improve safety and longevity," Governor Quinn said. "The projects will also employ a number of construction workers, which will drive local economies forward."

The projects will be managed by the Illinois Department of Transportation.

Mercer County

U.S. Route 67 will be resurfaced from Ridge Road north of Matherville to 10th Avenue in Viola for $1,246,243 by McCarthy Improvement Company of Davenport, Iowa, the lowest of four bidders.

Whiteside County

Pavement patching will be done on U.S. Route 30 from Hillandale Court to Bartlet Street in Morrison for $242,320 by G.M. Sipes Construction, Inc. of Rushville, the lowest of five bidders.

The projects are part of Governor Quinn's $31 billion Illinois Jobs Now! program, which will support more than 439,000 jobs over six years. Illinois Jobs Now! is the largest construction program in Illinois history, and is one of the largest construction programs in the nation.

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04 Jun 2014

Scott County is amongst best value for property tax dollars in Iowa

By Linden Kohtz

According to a new report from SmartAsset, Scott County, is amongst the top in the Iowa in best value for its property tax dollars. This means Scott County is getting a deal - better public schools and lower crime rates compared to the amount of money they pay each year in property taxes for the state.

SmartAsset today released an interactive infographic that shows the breakdown for each county. Please take a look and let me know if you have any additional questions. I'd also be happy to set you up with a company spokesperson if you have any additional questions.

Methodology

As a bit of background on the methodology, SmartAsset answered 3 questions to determine which counties in the country were getting the best deal. These included: how good are the schools, how safe is the area and how much are the property taxes. This was evaluated by county.

Only counties with populations greater than 50,000 people were counted in the nationwide rankings. Those with one or more of these data factors missing could not be ranked, so out of the 3,144 counties in the US about half of them were included in our list.

For some comparison, the average US county, with a population of 92,840, charges a 1.52 percent property tax rate, has schools ranked at 5.53, and sees 101.3 violent crimes and 826.6 property crimes per 100,000 people yearly.

About SmartAsset

SmartAsset makes life's biggest decisions easier by bringing full transparency to the financial decision making process. It's the Web's first personal finance platform designed to empower people with highly personalized information and recommendations around major financial decisions. SmartAsset's platform currently helps answer 79 questions including those related to life-changing financial decisions like home buying, going back to school, retirement planning and more. Founded in 2011, SmartAsset is based in New York and funded by Y Combinator, Javelin Venture Partners, North Bridge Venture Partners and many others.
03 Jun 2014

Davenport site search options Zooming forward

By T. Brecht

The City of Davenport has partnered with ZoomProspector in the creation of a super-helpful, super-thorough new site selection and economic analysis tool to help attract new businesses and assist those already calling Davenport home.

Check out DavenportSiteSearch.com to take this immersive new tool for a test drive, and be sure to share it with anyone you know who might be looking for a new place to open a business, anyone who needs demographic information on Davenport or the entire Quad-Cities area, or local businesses who might want to create reports on employement and consumer spending data.

DavenportSiteSearch by ZoomProspector

Davenport's ZoomProspector site allows people to find available commercial properites along with discovering why that location makes sense. Some of its features include :

  • Simple search options that make it easy to find properties
  • Extensive demographic and employement data for every property
  • Business search to build industry clusters visually
  • Community comparison and demographic tools
  • Demographic mapping of more than 700 variables to visualize demographic, employment and consumer spending data
02 Jun 2014

Community Development Packet for June 4, 2014

By Jackie E. Holecek
You will need to view the Community Development Packet at the city's website at www.cityofdavenportiowa.com or at the following link: http://www.cityofdavenportiowa.com/egov/documents/1401632975_5179.pdf Due to its size it can not be sent by email.

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