According to the Mississippi River Parkway Commission brochure, “[i]n 1938, the MRPC was established by order of Congress to preserve, promote and enhance the scenic, historic, and recreational treasures along the Mississippi River.” It states that the MRPC “is the only organization that unites all ten Mississippi River states, north and south, in a common effort to improve life, travel and local economies along the Mississippi River corridor.”

To find this information on the IllinoisOpenGov site, go to “Checks to Businesses & People” and enter “Mississippi River Pkwy Comm” in the vendor field. To download the data, click on the CSV or Excel icon below the search results.

You can find this information by going to IllinoisOpenGov.org, clicking on “Checks to Businesses & People” and searching for “Western Kentucky Carbon” in the “vendor” section.

Why did the state give the Village of Allendale $225,678.72 in 2009?

You can find this information by going to IllinoisOpenGov.org, clicking on “Checks to Businesses & Individuals” and searching for “Village of Allendale” and “Allendale Village Treasurer Of” in the “vendor” section.

There were nearly 500 entities that received payments for registration fees and conference expenses, including both reimbursements to state employees and payments to vendors. The three entities that received the largest payments were the University of Illinois ($46,455), Lincoln Land Community College ($44,080) and Learning Tree International ($33,145).

To find this information on the IllinoisOpenGov site, go to “Checks to Businesses & People” and scroll down “Category of Spending” to “Boothrental Costs for … Conf,” “Conf Fee…,” “Reg Fee …,” “Registratin Fee …,” “Registration & Conference Pymnts To Vendors,” “Registration Fee …,” “Registratn Fee …,” and other similar categories. To download the information, click on the Excel or CSV icon below the search results.

*Expenses listed as $0 have been classified by their respective departments and are not available through the Freedom of Information Act.

You can find this information by going to IllinoisOpenGov.org, clicking on “Checks to Businesses & People” and searching for “Electrical Support for the Ethnic Village Lighting” in the “category of spending” section.

There are 44 vendors listed for these expenses, and fourteen vendors received more than $1,000. The largest payments went to HMH Supplemental Publishers ($9,976.50), NovaTech Solutions ($9,550.00), and J J Keller & Associates Inc ($8,746.87).

To find these expenditures on the IllinoisOpenGov site, go to “Checks to Businesses & People” and scroll down “Category of Spending” to “Educ & Instructional Materials,” “Educational & Instructional Materials,” “Educational and Instructional Materials &Supplies,” “Educational and Instructional Materials& Supplies,” and “Educational and Instructional Materials&Supplies.”

*Expenses showing $0 have been classified by their respective departments and were not available through the Freedom of Information Act.

Average federal salaries exceed average private-sector pay in 83% of comparable occupations.

Citizens want transparent government for many reasons, and being able to easily review government salaries – at all levels of government — is one huge (and crucial) reason. Salaries (and benefits) make up a significant chunk of local and state budgets, and it’s important to measure whether government salaries are in line with market pay rates.

See USA Today’s report here and check out an eye-opening comparison chart showing the difference between government and private sector salaries for the same profession.

To find these payments on the IllinoisOpenGov site, go to “Checks to Businesses & People” and scroll down “Category of Spending” to “Sn 4446 Ui Benefits H&book -.” To download the data, click on the Excel or CSV icon below the search results.

You can find this information by going to IllinoisOpenGov.org, clicking on “Checks to Businesses & People” and searching for “Global Insight (USA) Inc” in the “vendor” section.

Havermale remarked, “With as active as the electorate is starting to become in politics, which is a good thing in my book, I feel the more transparent we can be, the more it keeps us on our toes as elected officials and it makes us do our job a little bit better.”

This is great news for the city of Quincy, and kudos to Alderman Havermale.

Quincy could get started on the path to more transparent government by referring to the Illinois Policy Institute’s 10-point Transparency Checklist, which outlines clear benchmarks for making government transparent.