What CAC interns are working on this summer

Projects include but are not limited to:  

Legal Research

• Citizen Participation Act Memo referencing updated Illinois Supreme Court and Appellate Court cases
• DuPage County Ethics Ordinance: Are public bodies availing themselves of the DuPage County Ethics Commission?
• Research consolidation of the township assessor's function to become a county function in Lake County citing successful consolidation efforts such as the ACT (Accountability, Consolidation, Transparency) Initiative in DuPage County.
• Fair Housing Ethics Complaint regarding systemic and discriminatory practices and problems surrounding Section 8 housing.
• What is the process of modifying the size of a city council (either to increase or decrease the number of board members)?

Government Surveys

• Confirm that DuPage County elected officials filed the required Statement of Economic Interest.
• Survey municipalities regarding ‘fire wireless’ maintenance costs to businesses.
• (The cost of automatic alert to local fire department.)  
• Comparison of library budgets to establish a rough baseline or “norms” across the state and then check for outliers and inconsistencies. (This is a continuation of a project started in the summer of 2013).
• Minorities in government positions in Dupage County (data requested by the DuPage NAACP

Projects

• Public Access Counselor (PAC) Determination Letter Project - In reviewing complaints of violations of FOIA and OMA, the Public Access Counselor issues written decisions, the majority of which are not published on the Illinois Attorney General website. Thanks to cooperation of the Public Access Counselor, CAC is cataloging these decisions and making them available to the public in conjunction with the Chicago Headline Club., with generous support from the McCormick Foundation.

• Guides for Electoral Boards - Creating brochures for active citizens who face a referendum or electoral board challenge. These brochures will cover how to write and format a referendum question, common challenges to referendum questions and electoral board hearings and more. Once written, these standards can be used to make recommendations to legislators in Springfield regarding changes in the election code.
• Updating Citizen Guides - CAC is currently seeking funding for this project.  CAC currently has close to 60 different Citizen Guides, one-quarter of which are posted on the CAC website. Our current goals are to (1) update content to reflect changes in the law since their creation (2) situate the topics in a contemporary context and (3) reformat/redesign for easier public consumption. 

Intakes: Legal Questions, Community Organizing and Government Monitoring Assistance Requested from Citizens
Some current places CAC is working:

• Elmhurst
• Lyndon
• Park Ridge
• Plainfield
• Schiller Park
• Villa Park
• Whoever else contacts us in person, via email, or by phone!