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The following is a resolution from the Village of Golf, IL, which passed a comprehensive fiscal transparency resolution in June 2008. You may use this language as a model for your own transparency laws or resolutions at the village, township, city,  and county levels, and with school, library and park district boards. It appears on page 10 of the Institute’s Transparency Packet.

A RESOLUTION TO PROVIDE FULL SPENDING TRANSPARENCY FOR THE VILLAGE GOLF

WHEREAS, the Village of Golf (the “Village”) is a home rule municipality in accordance with the Constitution of the State of Illinois of 1970;

WHEREAS, the Village has the authority to adopt resolutions that pertain to its government and affairs that protect the health, safety and welfare of its citizens;

WHEREAS, the Village has determined that transparency in the operation of Village government provides a substantial benefit to its residents;

WHEREAS, the Village seeks to provide the public with greater transparency with regard to its budgeting and spending;

WHEREAS, the Village intends to create and maintain an official Internet web site (the “Web Site”) to foster greater communications with Village residents;

WHEREAS, the Web Site will provide an easily accessible forum in which to communicate information about government ethics, actions, budgeting, spending, and policy; 

WHEREAS, the Web Site shall be launched and made available to the public no later than September 30, 2008, and will be maintained and updated, at a minimum, on a monthly basis thereafter; and

WHEREAS, the Village intends to post information on the Web Site, including information about government ethics, actions, budgeting, spending, and policy.

NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, by the President and the Board of Trustees of the Village as follows:

Section 1: The facts and statements contained in the preamble to this Resolution are found to be true and correct, and are hereby adopted as part of this Resolution.

Section 2: The Village shall implement the following directives and procedures:

(A) The Village Clerk shall make and keep available at Village Hall and publish on the Village’s Web Site a current roster of all the following persons and a record of the following acts, rules, and transactions: 

(i) A roster of all Government Personnel. “Government personnel” means a village employee, officer, elected official, or member of a board or Commission. 

(ii) A roster of all governmental or non-governmental entities, and their respective Persons in Control, who have a written contract with the Village and who receive a cumulative total of at least $2500 annually from the Village. “Persons in Control” means officers, directors, trustees, and owners of each such entity, and members, partners or shareholders with a 10% or greater ownership interest in each such entity.

(iii) A record of the date, amount, and purpose of each and every payment of Village funds made by the Village government, regardless of the amount of such payment and, except where further disclosure is prohibited by law, the identity of the payee.

(iv) The following public records, to the extent they are not specifically excluded from disclosure under state or federal freedom of information, privacy, homeland security or other laws:  village council resolutions, ordinances, codes, rules and zoning regulations.  Failure to strictly comply with this disclosure provision shall not affect the validity of any law, resolution, ordinance, code, action, zoning regulation or rule.

(B) As to any contract subject to Section 2(A)(ii) of this Resolution, the roster shall include a basic summary of the nature of the contract, the goods received or services performed under the contract, the start and end date of the contract, the contract’s estimated amount or rate of payment, whether the contract is a no-bid contract or the competitive nature of the bidding process, and other information as determined by the Village Clerk which is not in violation of federal or state law, improperly divulges trade secrets or otherwise injures intellectual property rights. 

(C) The Village Clerk, or the trustee responsible for maintaining and reporting the Village’s finances, shall promulgate rules to facilitate this Section 2 and are hereby given the authority to do so. 

(D) “Publish” means indexed and placed in a reasonably searchable format that is available for viewing free of charge via the Internet on the Web Site.

(E) Except where prohibited by law, collective bargaining agreement, or other instrument, disclosure of the information required for the roster shall be a condition of conducting business with or otherwise receiving funding from the Village.   

Section 3: The information identified in Section 2 above, except as otherwise provided therein, shall be made publicly available on a monthly basis, and in no event later than forty-five (45) days after such information comes into the possession of the Village.

Section 4: Nothing in this Resolution shall impinge on the right to request identical information from the Village under the procedures set out in the Illinois Freedom of Information Act, 5 ILCS 140/1, et seq. (the “FOIA”).

Section 5: Nothing in this Resolution shall require the Village to provide information on its Web Site that is otherwise exempt from disclosure under state or federal FOIA laws.

Section 6: If any provision of this resolution or the application thereof to any person or circumstance, is held invalid, such invalidity shall not affect other provisions or application of this resolution that can be given effect without the invalid provision or application, and to this end the provisions of this resolution are declared to be severable.

PASSED this ____ day of ____________, 200_.

AYES:   

NAYS:   

ABSENT:   

APPROVED by me this ____ day of ______, 200_.

President of the Village of Golf, Cook County, IL

ATTESTED and FILED in my office the

____ day of ________, 2008.

Clerk of the Village of Golf, Cook County, IL